The very bottom limits at most sites start at 10nl, with blind levels of $0.05 and $0.10 with a maximum buyin of $10. This starting level is where many future cash game professionals first cut
their teeth learning the trade of playing poker. At this level there aren’t too many nitty players but a few solid players learning the game and the rest being people playing irrational
witless poker. Let’s take a look at some of the hands from a player, Custo80, who is an accomplished Sit and Go player who is making the transition to cash game play.
Hand 1 – Pocket Kings on the Cutoff
Pocket Kings in late position is a mandatory raise or shove no matter what the action is playing micro-stakes full ring play. At these micro-stakes the appropriate raise is 4x the Big Blind
plus 1 Big Blind for each limper. With two limpers in front, I would have liked to see Custo80 raise to $0.60 here but his amount is no sin. The button and original limper both call and
the flop is a good one with 898 rainbow and a check in front. At this point it’s time to make a cbet for 66%-75% of the pot and I like the amount of $1.50 here because we are facing two
opponents. The button makes a flat call and the turn is a three of clubs and it’s definitely not time to check the Kings, and I like our hero’s bet here but given the amount
left in the opponent’s stack he should have just bet the amount in his stack and gotten it in at this point. As it is he does that at the river (which is good) and takes down a big
pot against an inferior hand.
Hand 2 – Pocket Aces on the Cutoff
Again, I like the 4x the Big Blind raise to lead out at both 10nl and 25nl, but the 3.5x raise isn’t horrible. The small blind with a half stack calls and the flop comes 83Q with two
hearts and our villain checks. It’s time to cbet and to keep things normal I think a bet of $0.75 is appropriate, and that’s exactly what Custo80 does, so good job there. The
5 of clubs comes and he checks again, and at this point there’s $2ish in the pot and he has $4ish behind, so I think potting it is appropriate but we see Custo80 shove it in which might be a
villain dependant move but I think a pot sized bet is best here. Shockingly he is called by Ace Seven of hearts for nothing more than a flush draw and the villain hits which is unfortunate,
but Custo80 should feel good about outplaying his opponent on this hand.
Hand 3 – AK Offsuit in the Small Blind
With AK offsuit in the big blind and two limpers it’s definitely time to be raising, and usually if you’re in the Small or Big Blind adding another Big Blind on top of the regular 4x+1
rule. In this case the appropriate raise might have been $0.70 but $0.50 isn’t horrible but seems a little small. The original limper calls with barely anything behind (bizarre) and
then the second limper shoves all in (beyond bizarre). The limp shove is a real weird move and I’ve personally seen it done with mid-pocket pairs, AA, KK, QQ, AK and AQ so you really are
dealing with any hand here. Given that situation and holding AK I like calling this, although you might think you might be behind, a lot of the time you’ll be ahead. In explicably
the preflop shover shows Ace Ten offsuit which is just beyond reasonable behavior and Custo80 is in a great position to take down a big pot. Unfortunately we see the donkey villain go into
Godmode and take it down, but again, this is a situation where you made the right move and have to put the result out of your mind, however difficult that might be.
Impressions
- Make sure bet sizing preflop is done correctly with 4x Big Blind + 1 Big Blind extra per limper as your rule of
thumb, and add 1 more Big Blind to that raise if you find yourself on one of the blinds.
- Don’t let making the right decision and coming out with the wrong result cloud your judgment for next
time. Everyone takes strings of coolers every month, just keep our head up and play through it without tilting.
Read Related Playing Specific Situations Articles:
In this article we'll look at some hands from my hand histories at low stakes, specifically $0.50-$1 No Limit Hold'em (both 6max and Full Ring) and also give HUD stats of the villains and see
how that might affect our thinking in terms of making a decision.
