Micro Stakes Holdem

Originally posted by ssdex for 2+2 forums

I started playing poker 4 years ago. I got lucky very early on at pokerroom and made 3 final tables of the 20k guarenteed in 2 weeks, finishing 2nd twice, its a 20 rebuy with like 700-100 ppl usually. Before that I was 8 tabling sng’s at pokerroom while running 8 at stars (mostly 10’s and 20’s). Anyways these multitable cashes instarolled me for 200nl I had like 10k, I went on a superheater my first 3 months, god the games were so soft back then, and I was quickly playing 5/10 with a roll around 50k (5max at pokerroom) , i was only 18/19 at the time and am not from a wealth family, so i decided to take 30k out and put it aside for a car, eventually i got an audi A4(I love the car, but should have left my $ in poker, effectively ruined my earning potential and poker career, but may have been a blessing)… after my cashout over the next month I had a 30 buyin downswing at 400nl and lost 12k. Leaving me with only 8k in my roll. I played the next 3 months at breakeven at nl200 and then I took 6 months off poker and started studying the game, I didn’t know how bad I was or how lucky I got initially. When I came back (I had 8k in neteller), I sent 6k to my bank, and deposited 500 at 4 different sites (Stars) (UB) (Pokerroom) (Absolute). I ran up every account above 5k with 15 months (with rakeback bonuses ect). I started with SNG’s + MTT’s, it sucked, but its my bread and butter. Then i moved slowly into 6max I never played above 200nl during this time. I don’t have as much time for poker anymore and am content at lower stakes. I have a lot of $ locked in neteller, its a long story and it sucks. I play almost exclusively at stars right now (close to supernova) Since then I have learned some things I think all microstakes people should take into account so i’ll list them.

1) Leave your money in poker if at all possible, it is very hard to move up if your constantly cashing out, Invest in your game!
2) Play as much online at first as you can, even if your a live player, go back to live after your good online and you’ll kill the game.
3) Play as much possible heads up, Ub offers 50nl heads up tables, Full tilt offers 100nl tables, im not sure about other sites, this will help you with cbetting and playing isolated opponents heads up, learning tendencies, metagame, and exploiting them (pokerroom used to have custom tables<probably still do, but i cant player there anymore> and i would recommend if you can setting up 3max tables, its very valuable as well.
4) only play as many hands as your comforatable with per month, if you feel burntout dont play
5) MOST IMPORTANT: this has been discussed various places but i’m going to sum it up the best way I can– when you decide what limit your going to play as compared with your bankroll, you should establish a range of limits. For example, if you have 1k and you are going to play 50nl, your range is 10nl-50nl, nl50 being at the top of your range (you should only be playing at the top of your range when your playing your best poker), full tilt had an article awhile back which I think is amazing. If you have 3 winning sessions in a row– move up in your range– if you have 3 losing sessions in a row– move down in your range
6) Being a bankroll nit is fine early on, make sure your killing the level your playing before you move to a new range level
7) This may sound crazy, and I don’t care but take it for what its worth– It is my firm belief, if your not a huge shottaker and you want to do it right, you need to have AT THE MINIMUM 8 buyins for every table at the limit you are playing ( I use 12, but 8 is fine)— 1000 is rolled for 50nl, but I wouldn’t play more than 2-3 tables– the more tables you play the lower your winrrate therefore increasing variance by every table you play. If you practice this I promise you will never go busto
If your not playing your best poker, but you want to keep playing, take a 5-10 minute break, review your hands, clear your head, the tables will be there when your ready to play again
9)Tilt happens, combined with variance, some really sick downswings can occur, I am a little more prone to tilt then others and I play vary high variance, but 20+ buyin downswings will happen to many players, practice good br management and these will never cripple you
sidenote: i’ve had 6 20+ buyin downswings 2 over 30, one of them was at 400nl the other at 25nl, in april i started the month on a 25 buyin downswing but ended up for the month 35 buyins.
10)know yourself and make goals and stick to them
11)playing overrolled is way better then playing underolled.
12)don’t move up to chase your losses
sidenote: I have only done this once in the last 2 years and I moved up within my range and only moved up b/c i felt i was playing very good but running very bad and would be able to focus more and play tilt free
13) please please please make your first purchases with poker $ towards pokerhud and pokertracker, they are absolutely positively necessary for 200nl and below. after that feel is much more important than stats.