For those of you considering playing low stakes cash games instead of tournaments or new to poker or if you’ve been on a break. There are some things going on in low stakes cash games that you may want to know about. Fortunately, it’s mostly good news! There are lots of weird poker plays happening that people need to be attentive to. After all, the less surprise you face at the table, the better equipped you should be to tackle these unusual moves. So, in this article we’re going to share some of the weird stuff going on in micro and low stakes games online.
The Limp Raise
For years, it was taken as a given that a limper will either fold or flat call our iso-raises. Not anymore, it seems there is a growing number of players at low stakes cash games adopting a limp-raise approach. This presents those who iso-raise thinly with a dilemma, do they simply overcall, call the 3 bet lightly or 4 bet?
Most of these limp-raises that I’ve seen have been shown down as premium holdings. That’s the good news here. The majority of these limp-raises are not exploitative adjustments with a wide range to counteract part-time poker professionals abusing them. They are limping almost all their range of hands so its only a small percentage of the time that they’ll actually 3-bet you. Therefore, despite the growing trend of limp-raises it should not put you off isolating these fishy limp style players. It just means where they used to open-raise their pocket aces or kings, they are now throwing them into their limping range too.
Minimum Bet Strong Hand
When facing a minimum bet post-flop, many expert players treat this bet almost as a check. This is unsurprising as one big blind is literally the smallest you can bet. Therefore, players will often re-raise these bets with impunity, citing, quite logically, that any hand worth betting would surely bet a higher portion of the pot. Surprisingly though, many “donkeys” at the low stake’s games are actually betting the minimum with very strong hands. Drawing from loads of hand history reviews we’ve done; it seems many fishy players will min bet/call or min bet/raise with hands as strong as a flush or top two pair.
The best way to exploit this weird poker play is to call some down to see their strength, to understand what types of hands the player is doing it with. Once you’ve sized up if your opponent is doing this with strong hands, you can attribute them a stronger range and limit your bluffing, if necessary. The best part about this weird move is that it’s very exploitable and a huge online poker tell. By only betting the minimum they are losing out on loads of value.
Pot Control to the Extreme
This is a fairly common trait among the regulars at the micro stakes. They’ve clearly learnt some fundamental strategy about pot control but misapplied it. Loads of regulars are missing heaps of value by pot controlling far too much. As such, you may find yourself value betting into hands that are better than yours more frequently. This can be a tad frustrating when it appears your 2nd pair must be good but it’s not a problem per se. After all, you are likely to be value betting in a smaller pot size if your opponent has shown tendency to manage the pot size heading to the river.
Summary
There you go, some weird poker plays you can expect to find online these days. Now you’re aware of them, you will be less confused and better prepared at the table. These leaks from opponents can easily be exploited with capable hand reading skills and a honed tight aggressive or even LAG style of poker. If you are playing low stakes games and wanting support, why not get in touch to see if we can help? Fill in your details below to get in touch.
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Narciso Baldo
Narciso Baldo is the Director and Head Coach of Texas Hold'em Questions. He has been playing poker for over 16 years. After spending many years as a professional, he now runs UK poker training site Texas Hold'em Questions. Narciso regularly writes poker articles sharing tips, strategy, news and experience with gambling enthusiasts. Narciso also writes for reputable gambling portal Casino City Times, (bio here). Contact: [email protected]
