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Strategies for Beating Small Stakes Poker Cash Games

By Jonathan Little
www.JonathanLittlePoker.com

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What’s Your Cash Game IQ?
I created a short quiz as a companion to this book. Use this quiz to quickly test your knowledge
about small stakes no-limit hold'em cash games.

Take the quiz now at:

CashGameIQ.com

It's only 10 questions long, and each question relates to a specific concept I discuss in this book.
After you answer each question, I will give you a short analysis of the concept being covered.

If you get a question wrong, the quiz will direct you to the appropriate section in this book to
learn more about that topic.

To get the most out of this quiz, I suggest you take it before you read this book to help you
identify the cash game concepts you need to work on. Take it again after you have finished
reading this book to make sure you have mastered every concept. Finally, keep taking this quiz
until you get a perfect score.

Take the quiz now and get your Cash Game IQ by visiting:

CashGameIQ.com

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Contents
What’s Your Cash Game IQ? ......................................................................................................................... 3
Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................................... 6
Personal Message from Jonathan................................................................................................................. 7
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Combating Your Opponents ....................................................................................................................... 10
Straightforward Loose Passive Players ................................................................................................... 10
Weak Tight Passive Players..................................................................................................................... 14
Straightforward Tight Aggressive Players ............................................................................................... 15
Good Tight Aggressive Players................................................................................................................ 17
Maniacal Loose Aggressive Players......................................................................................................... 20
Calling Stations........................................................................................................................................ 22
Which Strategy is Ideal?.......................................................................................................................... 23
Preflop Strategy .......................................................................................................................................... 26
Preflop Raise Sizing ................................................................................................................................. 26
When the action is folded to you............................................................................................................ 28
When your opponents will call large preflop raises ............................................................................... 33
When you get reraised............................................................................................................................ 33
When the reraiser is tight ................................................................................................................... 33
When the reraiser is loose .................................................................................................................. 34
When there is a raise before you............................................................................................................ 36
When a tight player raises .................................................................................................................. 37
When a loose player raises ................................................................................................................. 38
When there is a raise and a caller........................................................................................................... 39
When there are limpers.......................................................................................................................... 41
When there is one limper ................................................................................................................... 42
When there are multiple limpers........................................................................................................ 46
Limp-reraising ..................................................................................................................................... 48
When the limpers don’t fold to preflop aggression............................................................................ 51
Abnormal Stack Sizes .............................................................................................................................. 51
Playing with a straddle............................................................................................................................ 52
Postflop Strategy......................................................................................................................................... 54
Heads-Up................................................................................................................................................. 55

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 When you have a premium hand........................................................................................................ 55
When you have a strong one pair hand.............................................................................................. 55
When you have middle or bottom pair .............................................................................................. 57
When you have a drawing hand ......................................................................................................... 58
When you have junk ........................................................................................................................... 60
Additional Tactics................................................................................................................................ 61
Multiway ................................................................................................................................................. 64
When you have a premium hand........................................................................................................ 64
When you have a strong one pair hand.............................................................................................. 65
When you have middle or bottom pair .............................................................................................. 65
When you have a drawing hand ......................................................................................................... 66
When you have junk ........................................................................................................................... 66
When the pot is large.............................................................................................................................. 67
Overbetting ............................................................................................................................................. 67
Other Topics................................................................................................................................................ 69
Tells ......................................................................................................................................................... 69
Bankroll management............................................................................................................................. 71
Mindset ................................................................................................................................................... 72
Quiz Time!................................................................................................................................................... 75
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................... 77
Other books by Jonathan............................................................................................................................ 77

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Acknowledgments
First and foremost, thank you to my wonderful wife, Amie, for always loving and supporting me.
She inspires me to do my best every single day. Infinite thanks are also due to my business
partner, Dan Stanley. He works hard to ensure our business runs smoothly. This book would not
have been possible without the help of many of my students. On JonathanLittlePoker.com, they
submitted numerous excellent questions that helped make this book as thorough as it is. I also
asked some of my students to proofread this book. Thanks entirely to them, this is the cleanest
book I have ever written. The proofreaders for this book are:
Ken Adams
Johanna Jäckli
Suzan Baroni
Thomas Weight
Robert Piper
Paul Friedman
Michael Sully
Eric Bianco
Garrett Smith
Ben Chouinard
Jody Keeling
Raymond Kim
Parasuram Allumpalam
Rufus Fowler
Filipe Anjos
Nikolopoulos Anthanasios
Adriano Alves

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Personal Message from Jonathan

Thank you for purchasing this book! As my way of saying thanks, I'm giving you complementary
access to the recordings of an advanced cash game class I taught LIVE. These videos are 82
minutes long and are worth $97. Please tweet to me @JonathanLittle to let me know what you
think about them.

To claim your free cash game videos, visit:

jonathanlittlepoker.com/cashbookbonus

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Introduction

You may be wondering what a two time World Poker Tour champion can teach you about small
stakes cash games. Some people assume I don’t even play cash games. In fact, about half of my
poker play is in the cash game format, although it is primarily at $10/$20 no-limit and higher. I
even have two best-selling books, Jonathan Little on Live No-Limit Cash Games, Volumes 1 and
2, which extensively discuss my strategies for beating tough cash games.
That being said, I realize that high stakes games are drastically different from small stakes
games. So, in preparation for this book, I spent a decent amount of time playing $1/$2 no-limit
in local casinos, primarily at Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey. While I was perplexed by some
of my opponents’ plays at first, I developed a solid strategy that was effective against my
opponents. In this book, I will share with you the strategies that enabled me to win at the rate
of $35 per hour at $1/$2 no-limit. Throughout this book I will use as examples many of the
actual hands I played in order to demonstrate key concepts you must master if you want to
succeed.
Small stakes cash games are an extremely profitable form of poker because the average player
is quite weak. As long as you maintain a bankroll of at least 2,500 big blinds, you will rarely go
broke, assuming you are a good player. This means that if you learn to play well, you can quickly
progress up through the ranks to the middle stakes games where you can win more money.
Please note this book is not for total beginners who have no poker experience at all, nor is it
meant to be an exhaustive guide on how to beat cash games. Instead, the purpose of this book
is to teach you to play at a skill level that will get you to the middle stakes as fast as possible,
allowing you to realize your dream of making significant money from poker. Once you get to
that level, I strongly suggest you check out my other books, Jonathan Little on Live No-Limit
Cash Games, Volumes 1 and 2, which present my complete strategy for beating middle and high
stakes games.
In order to bring your skills up to the level of being proficient enough to crush the small stakes
games, you may have to forget a lot of what you have previously been taught about poker.
Bookstores (particularly online) are filled with books by people touting a system they claim will
teach you to win at poker. These books often suggest playing an overly tight strategy where you
only put money in the pot when you are confident you have the best hand. I hate to be the
bearer of bad news, but if you want to get good at poker, you must learn to play a technically
sound strategy while being able to get out of line in order to take advantage of your opponents’
errors. If you are only capable of thinking inside the box, expect to stay boxed in at the small
stakes forever.
As a quick example, suppose someone raises from middle position and you have A-J on the
button. (Throughout this book, if suits are not listed, assume the hand is offsuit. Suited hands

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will either have an “s” after them or the corresponding suit symbols.) Against overly tight
players, you should fold because they are only raising with hands that dominate yours. Against
reasonably active players, calling is probably best because if you reraise and get much action,
you will usually be in bad shape. Against wild players, you can reraise for value because they
will call your reraise with numerous worse hands that you crush. As you can see, following a
simple preflop chart that says “always reraise with A-J” will get you in a ton of trouble. In order
to succeed at cash games, you must adjust your strategy based on how your opponents play,
which means you must pay attention to your opponents. The first section of this book will teach
you to do exactly that.
The second section deals with how to play a fundamentally sound preflop strategy. The most
common spot where amateur players make huge mistakes is when the action folds to them.
Since these mistakes occur almost every hand, they become quite costly in the long run, even if
each individual error is not too significant. Most small stakes players routinely limp when they
should raise or fold, costing themselves huge amounts of equity. After discussing what you
should do when the action folds to you, we will discuss what to do when someone raises before
the action gets to you. After that, we will discuss what to do when your opponents limp before
the action gets to you. Finally, we will review how to apply aggression and how to deal with
aggression from your opponents. Sometimes you should fight fire with fire and other times you
should quickly get out of the way, even with strong hands.
The third section covers how to play after the flop. Most small stakes poker books suggest you
play a simple postflop strategy, such as “raise with draws and top pair and better hands, call
with middle pair and bottom pair, and fold everything else”. I will be the first to tell you that if
you follow a simple, formulaic strategy, you will fail. Fortunately for you, almost all small stakes
players commit this egregious error. I will show you how to get well out of line in order to take
full advantage of your opponents’ mistakes, allowing you to fold strong hands when you are
crushed and steal the pot when it is clear your opponents have nothing.
The final section of this book discusses “other topics” which must be mastered if you want to
succeed at small stakes cash games. If you cannot pinpoint your opponents’ tells, you will not
win nearly the maximum amount. If you can’t manage your bankroll, you will almost certainly
go broke. If you approach poker, which can be infuriating at times, with a poor mental attitude,
you will be miserable, which will lead to failure. All of these topics and more will be discussed in
the final section.
I am excited to begin this journey with you. If you have any questions at all, please post them
on my personal poker forums at JonathanLittlePoker.com/forum. If you would like to continue
learning about small stakes cash games after finishing this book, check out my exclusive
webinar where I review 30 educational hands I played at $1/$2 no-limit at
JonathanLittlePoker.com/livecash.

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Combating Your Opponents

I want to make it perfectly clear that you make money primarily by taking advantage of your
opponents’ mistakes. Your own great plays certainly matter, but taking advantage of your
opponents is where most of your profit comes from. That is why you can achieve such a huge
win rate in small stakes cash games compared to other forms of poker. If your opponents all
played well, you could not expect to make much money. If you ever hear someone say “I would
win if my opponents would stop making bad plays,” they are clearly unaware of this most basic
concept.
Most poker books start by laying out a default strategy. A much better way to approach poker,
assuming you already know the basics, is to figure out what your opponents are doing
incorrectly so you can develop a strategy that takes advantage of their errors. In high stakes
games you should strive to play in a fundamentally sound manner that is unexploitable, electing
to slowly grind out a small edge. An unexploitable strategy aims to play in a game theory
optimal manner such that no matter what your opponent does, he cannot profit versus you.
This strategy will lead to you breaking even against other excellent players and winning a small
amount from amateur players.
In small stakes games, where your opponents constantly make blunders, you should look to get
well out of line in order to exploit them. An exploitable strategy is one that is tailored to take
advantage of your opponents’ mistakes. Since the players in the small stakes games will make
plenty of mistakes, you should play in an exploitable manner.
No two players are exactly the same, but you will find that you will be better able to formulate
your plan of attack if you classify your opponents in some way. While you can classify them
based on a wide range of metrics, it is usually best to figure out where your opponents fall on
the loose/passive and the tight/aggressive spectrums. From there, you can quantify specific
tendencies each opponent exhibits that you can exploit. To help you get started classifying your
opponents, I will outline the six basic types of opponents you will encounter and also list
adjustments you can make to your default strategy in order to take advantage of them. Rest
assured, I will cover my default bet sizing and general strategies in the Preflop and Postflop
sections.

Straightforward Loose Passive Players

You are likely to find that most of your opponents in small stakes cash games play in a
straightforward, loose, passive manner. These players have usually been playing poker for a
long time but have not grasped the concept that they do not need the best hand to win the pot.
They also do not understand that if a lot of money goes into the pot when they have top pair,
they will usually be crushed by a premium made hand.

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Their general strategy is to limp, or call a raise, hoping to see a flop with a wide range of hands
they think have potential, including 4-4, A-J, A-4, K-9, 9-8, K-5s, Q-7s, and 5-3s. After the flop,
when they make top pair or better, they tend to apply immense pressure because they are
afraid of getting outdrawn. With a made hand worse than top pair, they will usually check with
the intention of calling down to the river, where they will typically fold to one last bet if they fail
to improve to a hand that beats top pair. They tend to also play their drawing hands in a passive
manner, calling down to see if they improve to a premium hand. If they are fortunate enough to
complete their draw, they usually bet or raise big, hoping you will pay them off. When they
miss their draw, they usually fold. You will find that most of these players rarely bluff because
they think the only winning poker strategy is to make strong hands and then pile in their
money.
For simplicity, all hand examples in this book will be from $1/$2 with $200 effective stacks
unless otherwise stated. The effective stack is the shortest stack involved in the pot. Suppose
three of these loose, passive players limp for $2, one from the lojack (the seat three to the right
of the button), one from the hijack (the seat two to the right of the button), and one from the
cutoff (the seat directly to the right of the button). You decide to call $2 on the button with 8-7.
Both blinds see the flop as well. It comes 8-6-3. If someone bets and someone else calls, you
should usually fold, assuming that you are against some combination of (a) made hands that
beat yours, (b) worse made hands that will win 25% of the time against yours, and (c) draws
that will win about 35% of the time against yours. While you could have the best hand, unless
you think your opponents will play in an overly weak manner if you raise, you should get out of
the way. Some players elect to call a bet to try to improve to trips or two pair, but you will often
find that when you improve, you will not get paid off or that you still have the second-best
hand. If only one player bets on the flop and everyone in between folds, you should tend to call,
opting to see what develops on the turn. If everyone checks to you, you should certainly bet
both for value (because worse made hands and draws will call) and protection (because you do
not want to give a free card to various overcards, such as A-T and Q-J). It is important to realize
that you should have a logical reason for every bet you make. If you routinely make bets
without having a logical reason, you are certainly making errors.
Straightforward, loose, passive players are easy to beat because they usually play in a blatantly
straightforward manner. They raise when they love their hand, call when they are unsure, and
fold when they know they are crushed.
You will find that a decent chunk of your profit comes from folding when it is clear these
opponents have premium hands. If you know your opponent really likes his hand and you have
a marginal made hand, such as top pair with a weak kicker or middle pair, you should get out of
the way, assuming you are not getting the proper price to draw to a better hand. Do not be
stubborn and stick around until the river, hoping to luckily improve.
You will also crush these players by value betting in such a way that they can realistically call
when you have the best hand. For example, assume you raise to $6 with A-Q and three players
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call. If the flop comes A-7-5, you should bet about half the size of the pot on all three streets.
You will find that most opponents will happily call you down with any Ace, which you crush,
whereas if you check, they may or may not value bet, fearing they could be beat. By betting on
all three streets, you extract a huge amount of value from your opponents’ good, but second-
best, made hands. However, if you instead bet the size of the pot or more on all three streets,
unless your opponents are incapable of folding marginal made hands, they will usually make
snug folds. You rarely want to make a bet that forces your opponents to play perfectly, as a
large bet does in this situation.
You may be wondering why I used the preflop raise size of $6, as it is much smaller than most
people’s raises are in a typical $1/$2 game. The logic for this bet sizing will be addressed in the
Preflop section. I will also discuss how to deal with players who choose much larger bet sizes. In
general though, before the flop you typically want to raise to a touch less than the size of the
pot. You can figure out the size of the pot by multiplying the last bet by three then adding in
any additional money that is in the pot. In this situation, when you are the first to put money in
the pot, three times the last bet (the big blind) is $6 plus any dead money (the small blind),
equals $7. So, a bit less than $7 is $6. This same formula applies when the pot gets large.
Suppose there are two limpers for $2 each, someone raises to $10, and someone else reraises
to $26. If you want to reraise to a bit less than the size of the pot, you should make it a bit less
than 3 x 26 + 10 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 = $95, so perhaps $88. Once you memorize this simple formula,
you will never again be confused about how much to raise before the flop. Of course, there are
times when you should drastically adjust your bet sizes based on your opponent. These
situations will be discussed in the Preflop section.
Always think about the range of hands you are trying to get value from and adjust your bet size
accordingly. There are times to make big value bets and other times to value bet tiny. If you
have the nuts and think your opponent has either the second nuts or nothing, you should bet
huge, perhaps way more than the size of the pot, because very few people are capable of
folding the second nuts and they will fold to any bet when they have nothing. If you have
middle pair and think your opponent has bottom pair or Ace high, you should bet tiny, perhaps
25% of the size of the pot or less, because few people will call large bets with trashy made
hands.
While betting for value will allow you to crush your opponent when you have a better made
hand, you must be disciplined enough to make a big fold when it becomes clear that your
opponent has improved to a superior hand. For example, if you bet the flop, turn and river with
A-K on A-7-5-J-2 and your opponent called on the flop and turn, and then raised on the river, it
would be a total disaster to call your opponent’s raise. Betting for value with the intention of
folding if your opponent raises is a skill that simply must be mastered if you want to succeed
against loose, passive, straightforward players. Remember, these players call when they have
marginal hands (that your A-K beats) and raise when they have premium hands (which probably
beat your A-K). This means you can profitably bet for value while still being able to fold if you

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get raised. Most small stakes cash game players are not capable of making a “big” fold in this
spot, which is one of the main reasons they never move up in stakes. It is nearly impossible to
build a bankroll if you always pay off your opponents when they outdraw you.
Another way you beat these opponents is by allowing them to overvalue their good, but not
premium, made hands. Suppose three of these players limp from middle positions and you
raise to $14 with A-A from the big blind. All the limpers call. The flop comes J-T-5. You bet $26
and one of your opponents raises to $60. At this point, both calling and going all-in are fine
options, depending on what you think about your opponent’s raising range. It is up to you to
figure out which play your opponent will view as the weakest, resulting in him paying you off
with the vast majority of his range. Of course, he could have you beat, but you will find that
most of the time you are against a marginal top pair such as K-J or Q-J.
Before we progress further, it is important to realize that you are always playing against a range
of hands, not one specific hand. If you ever hear someone at the table say “I put him on A-J so I
went all-in”, that player probably makes the mistake of putting his opponent on one specific
hand. That is simply not how poker works in the real world. In the previous example, when
your opponent raises the flop, his range could be quite tight, perhaps only A-J, K-J and Q-J, or it
could be much wider, including all sets, two pairs, overpairs, top pairs, strong middle pairs, and
draws. Of course, your opponent will only have one specific hand this exact time, but if you ran
this situation a million times, you would find that your opponent does not have that one
specific hand every single time. For this reason, you have to play your hand against your
opponent’s range. If you happen to be against the wide range of all sets, decent made hands,
and draws, your A-A will win roughly 67% of the time. While you will occasionally be against a
set or two pair that has you crushed, on average you will be in great shape. In turn, if you find
that your specific opponent has exactly a set or two pair almost every single time he raises, you
should fold your A-A because it only has 19% equity.
This illustrates why it is so important to understand how each of your opponents thinks. If you
get your stack in with 67% equity every time, you will crush the games, but if you instead get it
in with 19% equity every time, you will quickly go broke. It is up to you to figure out how much
equity you have in each situation and respond accordingly. In every hand you play for the rest
of your life, you should focus diligently on putting each player on a range and narrowing it as
play progresses.
One other way you can crush straightforward, loose, passive opponents is by picking up the pot
when it is clear they are not interested. Suppose one of these players limps from the lojack and
you raise to $10 from the button with K -5 (a risky, but probably correct play, depending on
what you think about the limper’s limping range). Only the limper calls. The flop comes
A -6 -2 . Your opponent checks. This is an excellent spot to bet $10 into the $23 pot. If your
opponent doesn’t have top pair or better, he will usually fold, giving you the pot. Seeing how
your opponent will only connect with the flop roughly 33% of the time (meaning he will have

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nothing 67% of the time), and you only need to win the pot 30% of the time based on your bet
size, you will steal the pot way more than is required to show a profit. To figure out how often a
total bluff needs to work, you divide your bet ($10) by the pot you are trying to steal plus your
bet ($23 +$10) giving you 10/33 = 30%. If you know roughly how often your opponent will call a
bet based on his range, you can tailor your bluff size to ensure your bluffs are profitable. Keep
in mind that as your bet size decreases, your opponent is likely to call with a wider range.
You can also attack multiway pots if it is clear no one is interested. If two people limp, you limp
from late position, and the blinds come along, if the flop comes K-8-3 and everyone checks to
you, feel free to take a stab with a bet of about 50% of the size of the pot with any two cards.
When everyone checks to you, especially on the flop and turn when you are last to act, do not
be afraid to bet. While most players in these games tend to bet large, usually near the size of
the pot, you will find smaller bet sizes usually result in the same outcome. There is no point in
betting the size of the pot when you are bluffing if betting half of the size of the pot will induce
your opponents to fold roughly the same range of hands. By betting the minimum required to
get the job done when you are bluffing, you save money every time your bluffs fail. You must
realize that if your bluff needs to work 30% of the time but it will actually work 35% of the time,
you will show a profit, even though your bluff will fail 65% of the time. If your bluffs succeed
almost every time, you are not bluffing often enough.

Weak Tight Passive Players

Weak, tight, passive players tend to act in an overly weak manner until it becomes clear to
them that they have a premium hand. They abhor the idea of putting their hard-earned money
at risk unless they are completely confident they will win the pot. In general, these players are
usually older, opting to play poker to pass the time, although that is not always the case.
These players tend to limp with most of the hands they deem to be playable. It is not
uncommon for them to limp with strong hands such as J-J and A-K from early position, call a
raise, and then check-call down with top pair, top kicker or an overpair, fearing they could be
beat by A-A. They see monsters in the closet because, to them, losing money is a traumatizing
experience that must be avoided at all cost.
Against these players, you should be overly cautious when they call your preflop raises, flop
bets, and turn bets. It is important to recognize that when they put money in the pot, even in a
passive manner, they can easily have a strong hand. For example, four players, some loose
passive and others tight passive, limp and you decide to raise to $18 from the small blind with
Q-2s (another risky, but probably correct play, which will be discussed later). Only the second
limper, with a $100 starting stack, calls. The flop comes A-J-4. You bet $18 and your opponent
calls. The turn is the (A-J-4)-6. You both check. The river is the (A-J-4-6)-9. You check, your
opponent goes all-in for $64 and you fold. He proudly shows his J-J as he scoops the pot. Once

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your opponent called your preflop raise and flop bet, you can be confident he has a strong hand
he will never fold, allowing you to swiftly abandon your bluff.
An alternative version of this player type will only enter the pot by raising, usually to a huge
amount, perhaps to 7.5 big blinds ($15) because they want to be sure they win the pot
immediately or force their opponents to pay dearly to see the flop. They despise getting
outdrawn because they feel like they deserve to win with their strong hands. Feeling like you
deserve anything in poker (or life) will cause you to make mistakes. This significant error, which
they commit every single time they are dealt a premium hand, makes them the easiest player
type to play against. You should simply fold and wait for an overly premium hand that has their
strong range in bad shape. When someone raises huge before the flop, especially if they are
incapable of getting away from their entire range, which is perhaps 9-9+ and A-Q+, just wait
around for A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-K to crush them.
Since most of these players are not capable of folding a premium hand, if you happen to make a
hand that beats their premium range after the flop, it is usually best to bet it strong. If one of
these players raises to $10 from early position and three players call, you should call with all of
your pairs and suited connectors, regardless of your position. Suppose you call with 3-3 from
the big blind and the flop comes J-6-3. You check and the initial raiser bets $40. Everyone folds
around to you. While slow playing against most players would be ideal, since you know this
type of player only puts in significant money when he thinks he has a premium hand, you
should raise, perhaps to $90 or all-in. Your opponent will either call or go all-in with his entire
range, which will usually be exactly J-J+. Of course, you lose to J-J, but you beat everything else.
There is no point in slow playing if your opponent will happily jam his stack into the pot
immediately.
While the main way you crush these opponents is by staying out of their way unless you have
the effective nuts (a hand so strong that it might as well be the nuts, such as 3-3 on J-7-3 or J-7
on T-9-8), you will find that you can also slowly steal their stack by raising when they are in the
blinds. These players don’t like to invest money in a pot without a premium hand. Because of
this, they are quick to fold to preflop raises, even when getting decent pot odds in the blinds. If
everyone folds to you in middle or late position, do not be afraid to raise with a wide range of
reasonable hands, including 2-2, A-2, K-9, T-9, 6-5, and 9-5s. If only the weak, tight, passive big
blind defends, you should make a half pot continuation bet. If you have nothing and your
opponent calls your flop bet, it is usually wise to concede the pot. If you have a marginal made
hand, check the turn and try to get closer to the showdown. If you have the effective nuts,
continue betting in order to extract maximum value.

Straightforward Tight Aggressive Players

Straightforward, tight, aggressive players tend to play in a similar manner as the weak, tight,
passive players, except they understand there is value in aggression. These players are

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generally capable of raising with a slightly wider range preflop, including all pairs, Broadway
hands (hands containing two cards ten and higher), suited Aces, and suited connectors. They
frequently enter the pot with a raise, opting to rarely limp. They typically have a somewhat
solid tight, aggressive preflop strategy.
Despite their reasonably sound preflop play, most of these players play poorly after the flop.
They tend to overvalue any decently strong made hand. They realize they play very few hands,
so they feel they must win most of the pots they enter. This leads them to pay off their
opponents too often. For example, they raise with A-Q and four players call. The flop comes
Q-J-8. They continuation bet, get raised, then respond by going all-in. They are usually
disappointed to see that they are crushed by two pair or better. They do not accurately assess
their hand’s actual value in light of their opponent’s range. In order to take advantage of this
flaw, look for situations where your opponent is likely to have a strong hand, usually when he is
making a large bet into multiple opponents, and then try to invest as much money as possible
in a manner that ensures he stays in when you can beat his somewhat obvious top pair or
overpair.
These players usually know they should continuation bet with most of their range, especially in
heads-up pots. Once their continuation bet fails, they are lost as to what to do on the turn
when they do not have a premium holding. Especially heads-up, it is often a good idea to call
these players’ continuation bets on boards that should be good for your range and bad for their
range. As an overgeneralization, flops good for the preflop raiser contain either an Ace or high
cards and flops good for the preflop caller contain middle and low cards. You can then apply
pressure on the turn either when the board gets overly scary or when your opponent checks to
you.
For example, a straightforward, tight, aggressive player raises to $7 from the lojack and you call
on the button with 4-4, A -T , K -Q , or 7 -6 (you should usually call with all of these
hands). Everyone else folds. The flop comes 9 -8 -6 . Your opponent bets $12. This is an
excellent spot to call to see what develops on the turn. If your opponent checks, on any turn
card that fails to improve your hand, you should bet $27 into the $41 pot, hoping to force your
opponent off almost his entire range. If you improve to a premium hand, you should probably
bet smaller, around $14, to induce him to stay in the pot. If your opponent continues betting on
the turn, it is a good idea to get out of the way, making the assumption that he usually has a
premium hand he will not fold to additional pressure. Unless you know this specific player likes
to fire multiple barrels with hands like A-K and K-Q, it is best to fold.
It is important to realize that by betting two different sizes based on your hand’s strength when
your opponent checks to you on the turn, you open yourself up to being exploited. In this
situation, if your opponent figures out you bet on the larger side when you are bluffing and on
the smaller side when you have a premium hand, he will be able to check-raise when you are
bluffing and check-fold when you have a premium hand. If your opponent plays perfectly

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against you, expect to quickly lose all of your money. But in the time I spent at the $1/$2 tables,
I did not encounter anyone who played anywhere close to perfectly.
Fortunately, as long as your opponents are not keenly aware of your strategies and you don’t
play with them on a regular basis, playing in an exploitable manner is okay because they will
not adjust to take advantage of you. If they happen to become aware of what you are doing, it
is usually best to adjust to a more unexploitable (game theory optimal) strategy. In the previous
example, a less exploitable play would be to bet the same amount on the turn with your entire
range when your opponent checks to you. While you will likely get less value from your
premium hands (because you will usually be bluffing), you want to make the bet that maximizes
fold equity, which would be the $27 bet. Fold equity is simply the equity you gain when your
opponent folds a hand that has some potential. You typically rely on fold equity to make a
situation profitable when your hand is weak. If you don’t have fold equity (perhaps because
your opponent is a calling station, you have a wild image, or your opponent only plays strong
hands), playing a weak hand in an aggressive manner is a bad idea.
In general, as your opponent’s skill level goes up, you should play in a less exploitable manner.
You will find that almost everyone who plays the small stakes cash games is either oblivious to
what you are doing or will not have the courage to do anything about it. This allows you to play
in a blatantly exploitable manner almost all of the time with little fear of retaliation.
You should relentlessly attack straightforward, tight, aggressive players’ blinds, especially from
middle and late position. This will usually result in them either folding preflop or calling preflop
and then check-folding to a flop continuation bet when they miss, both of which are excellent
results for you.
If your raise plus continuation bet is met by a raise or check-raise from one of these players, it is
almost always a good idea to fold unless you have a strong overpair or better. Most of these
players will only raise the flop with top pair or better, meaning you simply must have a strong
range to continue. Of course, some of these players will also check-raise draws, but realize
when you have J -J on T -9 -3 , if you bet and face a raise, if you think your opponent’s
range is sets, top two pair, overpairs, good top pair, and strong flush draws, your J-J only has
40% equity. So, you should fold. If you accurately comprehend how your hand fares against
your opponent’s raising range, you will be able to get off the hook with a minimal loss in spots
where other players lose their entire stacks.

Good Tight Aggressive Players

Good, tight, aggressive players are similar to straightforward, tight, aggressive players except
they tend to understand relative hand values, both preflop and postflop. They will not make the
huge error of losing their entire stack every time they get A-A on 9-8-5 or A-K on K-J-7. Instead
they play intelligently, sometimes calling raises and other times folding, depending on their

17
perception of their opponent. These players will almost never mindlessly put their stack in the
pot simply because their hand is normally strong.
This player type also knows how to continue applying pressure in an intelligent manner.
Whereas straightforward, tight players will continuation bet with K-Q on 9-6-3 and then check-
fold on the turn unless they improve to top pair, good, tight, aggressive players will continue
betting when any overcard comes and perhaps even check when they improve to top pair,
hoping to induce you to bluff. When your opponent is capable of taking various actions with
their entire range, they become much more difficult to play against because you cannot know
with a high degree of certainty what any of their actions indicate.
Fortunately, you will rarely run into this type of player because they quickly move up to the
middle and high stakes games. If you play well and do not make the mistake of playing like
everyone else at your table, you will win money in the long run. If you play well enough to beat
$1/$2, you almost certainly play well enough to beat $2/$5.
These players, and all other forms of good players, are quite difficult to exploit. These are not
the players you are winning a huge amount of money from. Since you make money primarily
because of your opponents’ errors, you should tend to avoid playing with good players who
make few errors unless you have a reasonably strong hand.
One of the easiest ways to exploit this type of player is to continually apply pressure. You
mainly accomplish this by reraising their preflop raises, raising their flop continuation bets,
raising their turn bets, or bluffing them on the river.
For example, if one of these players raises to $6 preflop from the hijack, feel free to reraise
from the cutoff or button with a reasonably wide range of hands, depending on how you expect
your opponent to react. If you think he is on the tighter side, only raising with premium hands
before the flop, do not reraise him as a bluff too often. If you know your opponent has a
premium hand, bluffing is a terrible idea. If you think he is a bit looser, raising with hands like
A-3 and Q-9 from the hijack, you should aggressively reraise him. You should typically reraise to
about $17. This will either result in him folding or calling preflop and then playing overly
straightforward on the flop, both of which are great results for you.
Your reraising range should consist of premium hands and hands that are not quite good
enough to call your opponent’s initial raise. This is referred to as a polarized range. As an
example, you could reraise with hands like J-J+ and A-Q+ for value plus some occasional bluffs
like A-5 – A-2, K-8s – K-5s, Q-8s, J-7s, a few other marginal suited hands, and perhaps unsuited
connectors like T-9, 9-8, and 8-7. You should notice that if you always reraise with all of these
hands, you would be bluffing way more than you are value betting, which is usually an error
versus a strong player. For this reason, you should not bluff every single time you have the
opportunity. Instead, either do it sporadically or when you have a physical read that the initial
raiser is opening with a weak hand.

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You can attack these players on the flop by raising their flop continuation bets on boards that
should be good for you and bad for them. Great boards to liberally attack include T-9-7, 8-7-5,
J-7-7, and 8-8-6. If there is a flush draw on the flop, that provides an additional reason to apply
pressure. For example, if your opponent continuation bets $10 into the $13 pot, feel free to
raise to $26 with any marginal draw, such as a gutshot, or perhaps even complete air. Similarly
to your preflop bluffing range, you should notice that it is more common to have a bluff than a
premium hand on any board. For that reason, you should not bluff every time you have the
opportunity, unless your opponent assumes you only raise with premium hands.
It is important to understand that most good players will be somewhat aware of your general
playing style. If you are aggressively raising and reraising in every pot, do not expect good
players to assume your raises must indicate strength. If you have been overly tight for the last
hour, either because you have been card dead or you generally play a tight strategy, you should
expect your good opponents to fold when you apply pressure. Use this knowledge to your
advantage and do the opposite of what they expect you to do. If you find that your opponents
always fold to your aggression when you have a premium hand, you are most probably playing
too tight.
Against good, tight, aggressive players, you can call the flop with a wide range and then bet the
turn when it is checked to you. This is referred to as “floating” the flop. Additionally, you can
also raise if they bet the turn with a decently wide range. Most good players in small stakes
cash games assume their opponents will only raise the turn when they are willing to get their
stack in. This means that in order for them to continue against a turn raise, they think they
must have a premium hand. Since it is difficult to have a premium hand, they will usually
concede the pot.
Suppose a good, tight, aggressive player raises to $6 from middle position out of his $300 stack,
the Button (a tight, passive player calls) and you call with A -3 in the big blind. The flop
comes 8 -5 -2 . You check and the initial raiser bets $10. The Button folds. Both check-
calling and check-raising are fine options, depending on how you expect your opponent to
react. In general, most players fear turn check-raises more than flop check-raises, so you will
find that check-raising the turn gives you a bit more fold equity. However, your opponent may
not bet the turn, meaning you may not have the opportunity to check-raise. This time, you
decide to check-call. The turn is the (8 -5 -2 )-6 . You check and your opponent bets $23.
This is an excellent spot to check-raise to $57 or so. This will apply immense pressure and make
your opponent think you may be willing to put your entire stack in on the river.
It is important to realize that you can easily have a set or a straight whereas your opponent
almost certainly has either an overpair or unpaired overcards. This means your range should be
significantly stronger than your opponent’s, assuming you are not check-raising the turn too
often. Of course, he could have a set, but that is quite unlikely, and if he does, he may reraise
immediately on the turn, allowing you to abandon your bluff.

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If you check-raise the turn and your opponent calls, you should occasionally consider bluffing
on any river besides an Ace or 4. If you are convinced your opponent has an overpair, he will
almost certainly not fold to a typical less than pot sized bet. Instead, you should make a giant
bet, electing to go all-in for $227 into the $153 pot. Of course, if your opponent is not capable
of folding an overpair, bluffing would be like lighting money on fire.
Remember the earlier discussion about how often a bluff needs to succeed in order for it to be
profitable. In this case, your bluff needs to work 227/(227+153) = 60% of the time to make you
money. While 60% may sound like a huge amount of the time, most good, tight, aggressive
players will not want to put their entire remaining 113 big blind stack in with only an overpair
when they could easily be facing the nuts. Notice by taking this aggressive line, you take almost
all of your opponent’s premium preflop hands and turn them into marginal bluff catchers. You
will find that most players will give you the pot because the vast majority of the $1/$2 player
pool only makes this play when they are a lock to win the pot. Of course, if you make this play
too often, your opponents will get suspicious and start looking you up. If that happens, you
should revert to a balanced game plan. Notice that if you can play your premium hands in this
manner and expect to get paid off because you have developed an overly aggressive image, you
will realize gigantic implied odds; meaning when you are fortunate enough to complete your
draws, you stand to win a huge amount of money.
In general, you will find that the first time you make a huge overbet as a bluff, it will succeed a
high percentage of the time. If you do it a second time, it becomes more likely that it will be
called. If you do it frequently, you will start getting looked up by any decently strong made
hand. You can use this to your advantage by bluffing with the overbet the first time, either
value betting or bluffing the second time, then primarily value betting for the remainder of the
session.
Another added benefit of applying immense pressure to your good, tight, aggressive opponents
is the fact that they will be inclined to stay out of your way, effectively turning them into
straightforward, tight, aggressive players who are easy to exploit. If you can play in a manner
that strikes fear in the hearts of your opponents, you will be able to have your way with the
table.

Maniacal Loose Aggressive Players

Maniacs come in many different varieties. The main type of maniac blindly applies pressure
whenever you show any form of weakness. If you show significant strength, they will get out of
the way. Even maniacs realize that if you are willing to put your stack in against someone who
appears to be crazy, you must have a premium hand. For this reason, against maniacs, you
should tend to call with your decently strong hands in order to induce bluffs and occasionally
bluff in situations where you think the maniac will assume you must have a premium hand.

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It is important to realize that hand values shift dramatically when playing against maniacs. This
is because the range of hands they start with is significantly wider than tighter players. For
example, if a maniac raises to $8 and you call on the button with Q -T , you should happily
look to call down on a J -T -5 -4 -7 board, assuming you know your opponent will three-
barrel with all of his bluffs when given the opportunity. While it is quite scary to put in a large
portion of your stack with only middle pair, if you do so in a passive manner, you will have your
opponent’s range crushed. If your opponent raises with 40% of hands preflop, which is 2-2+,
A-2+, K-2s+, K-8+, Q-8s+, Q-9+, T-9, 9-8, 8-7, and all decent suited connectors, you have 71%
equity if he three-barrels with that entire range. That is an extreme example, but clearly, if your
opponent is wild, calling down with middle pair is rarely an error, especially given you will
usually be getting 2:1 pot odds or better on each street.
Do not make the mistake of raising this type of maniac after the flop with your premium hands,
even on draw-heavy boards. If a maniac raises before the flop and you call with 9-9 (as you
frequently should unless you are confident you can get your entire stack in profitably before
the flop), if the flop comes J -9 -7 , it would be a huge error to raise your maniacal
opponent’s continuation bet. If you raise and he has nothing, he will easily fold. By calling, you
force him to stay in the pot with his entire range. While you will occasionally get outdrawn, it is
well worth the risk in order to induce him to continue bluffing. In fact, it is probably best to call
down until the river, only raising at that point if you improve to a full house or two small cards
come on the turn and river.
Be aware that you can successfully bluff these players from time to time. Suppose you call a
maniac’s raise, this time with Q -J , and get a K -9 -7 flop. When facing your opponent’s
continuation bet, you should often raise. Notice that if you get called, you have four fairly clean
outs to improve to a straight. You can also continue bluffing when a spade comes. A Queen or
Jack could give you the best hand. If you expect your opponent to give your flop raises too
much credit, do not be afraid to get well out of line.
There is another type of maniac who reraises before the flop with an overly wide range, hoping
to push you off almost your entire range. It is quite common in small stakes cash games for
someone to raise to $7 only to have a maniac reraise to $35. It is important to differentiate
between maniacs who reraise huge and tight, passive (or tight, aggressive) players who reraise
huge. Maniacs make this reraise frequently whereas tight players only do it with premium
hands. Against a maniacal player, you should accept that if you have a strong hand, you are
going to play a huge pot, usually for all your money. Both reraising the $35 reraise and calling
are great options with hands that typically have the maniac’s range crushed, such as 9-9 and
A-Q. While these hands would never be worthy of playing an all-in pot versus a tight player,
they are quite strong versus a maniac. If you think the maniac will fold to a $70 reraise or an all-
in push for $200, you should tend to call, forcing him to stay in the pot with his entire range. If
you think he will be willing to invest his entire stack with whatever junk he reraised with, feel
free to get your stack in with what is probably the best hand.

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One other form of maniac you are likely to encounter is the type who blindly applies pressure at
all times, assuming he thinks you are reasonably active, whether or not you have shown
weakness. Against these players, it is important that you remain at least somewhat active
preflop and on the flop so they don’t mind giving you action. You will find that most maniacs
despise paying off overly tight players. Once they determine you are “active enough”, they will
gladly give you action. Feel free to raise and reraise with your premium hands when you are
happy to get your stack in. Against these players, A-9 on A-K-8, 8-7 on 8-5-2, and 7-7 on 6-3-2
are almost certainly strong enough to play for 100 big blind stacks.
You must bear in mind that maniacs will wake up with premium hands from time to time. Do
not let this discourage you from playing significant pots against them. If someone at your table
told you they would put their entire stack in the pot with 40% equity, you should happily hop in
every time, even though you will lose your stack 40% of the time. While you will certainly
encounter larger swings to your bankroll when playing against maniacs, as compared to tight
players, if you can remain emotionally stable, they will eventually deposit their stacks into your
bankroll.
You may notice that much of the advice in this section flies in the face of conventional small
stakes cash game wisdom that states you should bet and raise to protect your strong hands.
You must accept and understand that you make money by giving your opponents the
opportunity to make errors. If you force your opponents to fold when you have them drawing
thin, you will almost never win big pots unless you have A-A against K-K. Of course, you will lose
when the situation is reversed and you have K-K versus A-A. You must learn to effectively
ignore “cold deck” situations and focus on ways to win your opponents’ stacks in situations
where they will not get yours when the situation is reversed. Putting your opponents in
situations where they can realistically make errors is the key to making money from weak
opponents.

Calling Stations
Some of your opponents will not be capable of folding any hand they deem to have any amount
of potential on the flop, turn and perhaps even the river. These calling stations simply never
fold! While these players are easy to demolish, they give most amateurs fits because they seem
to “always” get lucky on the turn or river. Many amateurs fail to realize that they are actually
committing huge errors by paying the calling stations off whenever they improve to a premium
hand. Even 8-2 is going to beat A-A on a J-8-3 board 19% of the time. If you pay attention, most
calling stations will make it clear when they have the best hand.
You will find that most calling stations act in a generally passive manner unless they have a
strong hand, effectively putting them in the straightforward, loose, passive category. However,
they are willing to call much larger bets with a much wider range than they should. This means
you should be more inclined to reraise them for value before the flop. Compared to the

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polarized reraising range discussed when playing against good, tight, aggressive players, you
should reraise with an unpolarized range against calling stations. This range is roughly 7-7+,
A-T+, K-J+, and Q-Js. Notice that there are effectively no pure bluffs in this range. Remember, if
your opponent is not capable of folding, there is no point in bluffing. Since your opponent will
call your reraises with junky hands, such as A-3, K-8, and 7-5, you can reraise with a much wider
range purely for value because you expect to be called by numerous hands you dominate.
After the flop you should value bet relentlessly. Against the most extreme calling stations who
will call bets on all three streets with any pair, if you flop a hand such as J-T on Q-J-6-7-2, you
can realistically value bet all three streets.
Previously it was discussed that when choosing your bet size you should generally bet smaller
when your opponent’s range is weak. That advice goes out the window against extreme calling
stations who do not care how much you bet. As long as your bet is not exorbitantly large, they
will find an excuse to call. With J-T on Q-J-6-7-2, feel free to bet fairly large, perhaps 80% of the
size of the pot, on all three streets.
When value betting on the river, which is where most amateur small stakes cash game players
fail to apply pressure, your bet needs to get called by a worse hand at least 50% of the time in
order for you to profit. If you expect your calling station opponent to call your river bet on the
Q-J-6-7-2 board with any one pair hand or better that would realistically call a preflop raise, J-T
will win roughly 65% of the time, making it an easy value bet. If you fail to make thin value bets
against calling stations, you are leaving significant money on the table.
It is mandatory to keep in mind that if a calling station, known for his passive play, decides to
raise or check-raise, you must have the discipline to make a big fold, at least until you have
proof he is capable of running an aggressive bluff when you are applying pressure. Just because
a player is involved in lots of pots does not mean he is aggressive. Against typical calling
stations, you should value bet overly wide but fold when they show the first sign of strength.
This will allow you to extract maximum value while getting off the hook whenever they get
lucky to outdraw you. The inability to get off the hook when outdrawn is another spot where
most amateurs spew significant money.

Which Strategy is Ideal?

The strategy you should employ depends almost entirely on how your opponents are playing. If
they are primarily tight and passive, you should play like a maniac, at least until it becomes
clear that your opponent is not going to fold a decently strong hand. If your opponents are all
blatant maniacs who cannot resist the temptation to bet when you check to them, you should
play in a tight, passive manner, giving them every possible opportunity to bluff.
While getting well out of line to exploit your opponents feels amazing, you will find that, as a
default, you should play a tight, aggressive strategy in most small stakes cash games. This is

23
because the general player pool usually plays in a loose, passive manner. These players are
incapable of folding marginal made hands even when it is clear they are beat. If your opponents
tend to rarely fold, there is little reason to attempt to bluff with a high frequency.
For example, it is quite common for five players to limp, you raise on the button to $12 with
A-Q, and three of the five limpers call. The flop comes Q-T-7. Everyone checks to you, you bet
$30, and one player calls. The turn is a (Q-T-7)-3. Your opponent checks, you bet $44, and he
calls. The river is the (Q-T-7-3)-5. He checks, you go all-in for $114, and he proudly calls with
Q-J, doubling you up with almost no risk.
Other times, the player with Q-J will check-raise on the flop because he assumes that if you only
call the check-raise, you cannot have top pair or better. Instead of check-calling your $30 flop
bet, he may instead check-raise the minimum, to $60. At that point, you should usually call $30
more and not fold to additional pressure. Of course, you could be beat, but if you know your
opponent overvalues top pair, you will have the best hand most of the time. It should be clear
that going all-in on the flop is usually not a good idea because that will tip your opponent off to
the fact that you actually think your hand is strong, possibly allowing him to make a snug fold.
In order to exploit players who hang around way too long with marginal one pair hands (which
will be most of the player pool) you generally need to start with either superior preflop hands
or hands that can easily flop well, such as 2-2, K-Q, and 7-6s. In order to start with better hands
than your opponents, you must play a reasonably tight strategy.
As your postflop skills increase, you should start playing a bit looser before the flop, opting to
call raises and limp along a bit more often with the intention of attacking the pot with multiple
postflop bets when it is clear your opponents have weak holdings. This will allow you to slowly
grind up your stack with minimal risk. However, if you do not navigate tricky postflop situations
well, you can easily spew off a ton of money. On the other hand, if you never get involved in
tricky spots, you will never gain the experience required to excel.
For example, if three players limp, there is nothing wrong with calling from the cutoff or button
with a wide range of marginally playable hands, such as A-4, 2-2, K-9, and 8-6. If everyone
checks to you on the flop in a manner you perceive to be weak, you should take a stab at the
pot, betting 65% of the size of the pot, whether or not you have a strong hand.
As you better develop your hand reading abilities, you will be able to steal an increasing
number of pots that do not belong to you, while also getting off the hook with an otherwise
strong hand when you happen to be crushed. I frequently find myself in spots where someone
raises, someone calls, and I call with a decent hand like A-J, then flop J-T-7 or A-Q-6. The initial
raiser bets and the other player calls. While my hand could easily be best, if I get the vibe that
one of my opponents thinks he has a premium hand, I will fold. There are other times where I
will call or even raise, depending on my read. As you gain more experience at the poker table,
you will be able to navigate these tricky situations much better.

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So, which strategy is best? It is one that maximally exploits your specific opponents’ errors. If
you make a point of constantly identifying what your opponents do incorrectly, figure out the
adjustments you should make to take advantage of them, and then have the courage to get out
of line in order to exploit them, you will probably be the best player at the table.

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Preflop Strategy

While the most beneficial thing you can do to maximize your win rate is to get out of line in
order to exploit your opponents, it is important to have a fundamental understanding of how to
play technically sound poker. Although my overall strategy is quite robust (as outlined in
Jonathan Little on Live No-Limit Cash Games, Volume 1), I will outline some general principles
here. Unlike most high stakes poker games, you will find that a large portion of the pots in small
stakes games are limped. While I will discuss my strategy for raising and dealing with raises first,
be sure to pay attention to how I combat limpers later in this section.

Preflop Raise Sizing

Before discussing which hands to play before the flop, I must address preflop bet sizing. If you
observe the average $1/$2 game, when someone raises after the action folds around to them,
they typically raise to between $8 and $15. When asked why they picked this sizing, they reply
“because that is how much we raise in this game!” It should be clear that this is not a
thoughtful answer. When you choose any bet size, you need to know why you are making that
decision.
In general, as your stack size increases, your preflop raise size should also increase. This is
because pots grow exponentially in no-limit games. You will find that if you make 2/3 pot bets
on the flop, turn and river, you will play much larger pots when you see a flop with 15 big blinds
in the pot compared to when there are only 7.5 big blinds in the pot. However, this does not
mean you should blindly choose large sizes.
As your postflop skill level increases compared to your opponents’, you want to see flops with
as little money in the pot as possible. The reason for this is that while you often don’t have a
large advantage preflop, you can have a very large advantage postflop. The more money you
put in the pot before the flop, the less you can capitalize on your postflop skills. The best
players, especially in the high stakes games (i.e. the players you should model your strategy
after), play a wide range of hands for small amounts of money before the flop. Their typical
raise size before the flop is 2 big blinds, which would be $4 at $1/$2. While I do not advocate
min-raising, I suggest you raise to 2.5 or 3 big blinds when everyone folds around to you,
assuming 100 big blind effective stacks. This sizing will allow you to easily play sizable pots
when you happen to flop a strong hand while giving you plenty of room to apply multiple
streets of aggression.
Perhaps most importantly, small preflop bet sizes allow your opponents to call with a wide
range of junk that will be relatively unplayable on most flops. The biggest problem with raises
larger than 3 big blinds is that they force reasonable opponents to play correctly. For example,
most decent players know to fold hands like A-9 and K-T to a 5 big blind preflop raise, but if you

26
raise to 3 big blinds, they will be tempted to call, or even reraise. By keeping your opponents in
with a wide range, you will be better able to extract huge amounts of value when you flop well,
while also pushing them off their hands when they flop poorly.
If you happen to find yourself in an overly soft game with players who never fold before the
flop to any raise size, you should simply play tight and make large raises. Still, in my experience,
even in soft games, when I raised to $15, I got far fewer callers compared to when I raised to
$6. This means that my opponents were making intelligent folds. The last thing you want to do
is force your opponents to play intelligently.
While you may feel uneasy using a bet size that is drastically different than the one everyone
else uses at your table, you must realize that you are learning to play in a manner that will force
your postflop skills to improve. Improving your postflop skills will help you become a better
poker player. The real reason most small stakes players use huge bet sizes is because they don’t
want their strong hands to get outdrawn. Their simple strategy is to limp with their marginal
hands, hoping to see a cheap flop, and raise huge with their premium hands. What they are
actually doing is playing in a blatantly straightforward manner that makes them easy to play
against. This strategy may work against their worst opponents, but when they face competent
competition, they get demolished.
You must accept that when you choose a smaller sizing, you will get outdrawn more often.
Getting outdrawn is not the end of the world, although you would not know that if you listened
to small stakes players converse. As your postflop skills increase, you will be able to navigate
tricky situations and make tight folds when your normally premium hand is in bad shape. For
example, suppose you raise with K-Q to $6 out of your $200 stack from early position and five
players call. The flop comes K-J-6. You bet $18 and an overly tight, straightforward player raises
to $70. This is a fairly easy spot to fold because your tight opponent would probably only make
this raise with a set or two pair. Most amateurs are simply unable to fold K-Q and get stacked,
whereas good players lose only a small amount.
While most amateurs view this as a reason to raise larger preflop, you must understand that
not every hand plays out in this manner. More often, instead of someone raising to $70,
someone calls the $18 bet with a hand like K-9 or Q-J. This player will then be unable to fold to
additional bets on the turn and river, allowing you to extract huge amounts of value. When this
happens, many amateurs don’t think much of it, but when they get outdrawn or have to make a
big fold, they are miserable. You must learn not to worry about whether or not you are winning
or losing in the short run because the short run is not what matters.
If you model your game after your $1/$2 opponents, you should expect to stay in the $1/$2
games for quite a while. If you instead model your strategies after high stakes players, you will
have a much better chance of reaching their skill level. Do not fall into the habit of choosing a
specific strategy simply because that is what everyone else does at your table.

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When the action is folded to you
When everyone folds to you, you should almost always enter the pot with a raise to roughly 3
big blinds. This will disguise your range of hands, which will make you difficult to read,
especially compared to most of your opponents who raise with their strong hands and limp
with their marginal hands. I strongly suggest you play your entire playable preflop range in the
same manner. This means acting exactly the same and raising to the same amount with each
hand. Your goal should be to give away as little information as possible. There is no need to get
fancy by limp-reraising with A-A, hoping to trap someone, or raising huge with 7-2 in an
attempt to steal the blinds and stroke your ego.
It is worth pointing out that the range of hands I suggest you raise with is a bit looser than I
would suggest to the typical amateur. Remember, my goal is to make you a skilled postflop
player who is capable of combating both strong and weak opponents. This means being
comfortable playing both tight and loose ranges. If you are doubtful about your postflop skills,
feel free to tighten up the ranges, but realize that you will only improve by getting experience
outside your comfort zone.
From early position, you should play a strong range of hands because you have to worry about
everyone else at the table waking up with a stronger hand. While some players opt to have a
raising range and a limping range from early position, I do not think that is necessary if you use
the 2.5 to 3 big blind raise size I suggest. With $200 stacks, you do not want to raise to $12 with
6-6 from first position because if you get reraised to $35, you have to fold. However, you can
raise to $5 and call a reraise to $15. With your small pairs, you need to be getting 10:1 implied
odds to justify a call, meaning the effective stack needs to contain at least 10 times the amount
you have to put in now. Since you have to put in $10 more, you are getting 20:1, assuming $200
stacks. With suited connectors and suited Aces, you need to get 20:1, which will often make
calling reraises with these hands unprofitable.
The range of hands I open raise from early position does not change too much based on my
opponents because the overriding factor is that someone yet to act will pick up a strong hand a
decent amount of the time. As your position improves, you can play a wider range that widens
even more based on your opponents’ tendencies. Remember, the ranges below assume
everyone folds to you. If someone raises before the action gets to you or someone limps,
everything changes.

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From early position, this is my typical raising range:

You may find this range to be overly tight, but when you are out of position against the entire
table, the normally outdated adage of “tight is right” applies. The purpose of raising 9-8s and
2-2 is that you want to be able to realistically represent the nuts on all flops. If you only raise
with premium pairs and premium big cards, you will be exploitable on middle and low flops
because the best hand you can ever have is an overpair. You always want at least some
potential to have the nuts after the flop. Conversely, if your opponents are overly aggressive
before the flop, you should expect to get reraised a decent amount of the time and generally
should fold small pairs and suited connectors.

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From middle position, this is my typical raising range:

Notice this range is significantly wider than the early position range, but still not too crazy. If I
have reason to believe my opponents will frequently reraise before the flop, I will tighten up a
bit. If I expect my opponents to rarely reraise, I add in a few more hands with potential, such as
all suited Aces and a few more suited connectors. It is important to realize that from early and
middle position, hands like Q-Jo and A-8o should almost always be folded because it is likely
you are dominated by someone yet to act who will not fold to a preflop raise. You will find that
most small stakes players vastly overplay these hands because they perceive them to be strong
whereas in reality, they are quite weak.

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From the cutoff, this is my typical raising range.

From late position, my range is based much more on the players yet to act. Again, if I expect
them to frequently reraise, I will tighten up. If I expect them to play in a tight, straightforward
manner, I will raise an even wider range. If you expect the players yet to act to be overly tight,
feel free to raise a significantly wider range.

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From the button, this is my typical raising range.

Similar to the cutoff, my button raising range depends entirely on the players in the blinds.
There are times when I have a fairly snug button raising range and other times when I raise any
two cards. Always quantify how you expect your opponents to react and then adjust your range
accordingly.
From the small blind, your strategy should depend entirely on your opponent in the big blind.
Limping becomes a reasonable option, especially if you think the Big Blind will play in a very
straightforward manner. If you decide to limp with a wide range of junky hands, such as J-6o
and 7-4o, you should also include some premium hands in your limping range so you are not
easily exploited. If your opponent is somewhat tight, it is generally best to raise a wide range,
perhaps as wide as any two cards, but that strategy is becoming much less effective as players
have improved their big blind defending strategy over time. If your opponent is overly loose
and aggressive, there is nothing wrong with simply folding your junk, opting instead to play
most of your pots in position. I would approach a generic small blind situation by raising most
of the time, but my strategy would be quite fluid, depending on my opponent.
In most small stakes games, the players in the blinds can agree to “chop”. This is where both
blinds take back their money and move on to the next hand. Assuming the rake is low, perhaps
$4 at the most, I do not chop. If the rake is large, chopping becomes a good idea because, even
with masterful play, you cannot overcome the house’s edge. While I have numerous reasons for
why you should typically not chop, the main reason is because you should get experience
playing out of position and short-handed. If you never get experience in these situations, you
will be ill-prepared for when you move up to the higher stakes games, where the blinds rarely
chop. You will also find that the vast majority of the $1/$2 player pool is completely unaware of

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how to play blind versus blind. Some players will be too loose while others will be too tight. If
you work hard on this aspect of your game, you will be able to hold your own from the small
blind and win a large amount when you are in the big blind.

When your opponents will call large preflop raises

Occasionally, you will find yourself in a game where your opponents are willing to call your
preflop raises with an extraordinarily wide range. Some of these players will be completely
oblivious to your preflop raise size. They will stop at nothing to see a flop with the entire range
of hands they deem playable. These are the easiest players in the game to beat. All you have to
do is wait around for a value hand and then apply significant pressure.
Imagine you are in a game where your opponents will call up to $30 before the flop with the
top 30% of hands. You should raise huge with your premium hands, perhaps 9-9+ and A-J+, and
raise smaller, perhaps to the “standard” $6 with your Broadway and drawing hands. This will
result in you getting as much money in the pot as possible when you have a huge edge while
having the possibility of playing a huge pot postflop when you improve to a premium hand. Be
aware most players will quickly figure out this simple strategy and will adjust by only playing
strong hands against you. I also do not think there are many players who will call a 15 big blind
preflop raise with hands like K-8o whereas many would likely call a 3 big blind raise. However, I
recognize that some games are extremely soft, especially in locations where poker is relatively
new. I will discuss how to attack limpers and how to play postflop versus these players in a later
section, but for now, realize that almost all of your value from these players will come from
piling your chips in when you have what is usually the best hand.

When you get reraised

When you raise and get reraised, you must figure out the probable range of the reraiser. If the
reraiser is tight, meaning he will only reraise with A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-K, and A-Q, you should
fold all but your best hands. If a tight reraiser uses a huge bet size, for example, reraising to $45
over your initial $6 raise, simply fold and wait until you pick up A-A or K-K. This section will
assume your opponent makes a “standard” reraise to between $16 and $24. With A-A and K-K,
you should almost always be happy getting your stack in. With Q-Q, J-J, and A-K, your play
should vary drastically depending on your opponent’s willingness to get all-in with good, but
not amazing, hands, such as T-T and A-Q. If your opponent will stack off with T-T and A-Q,
getting in with J-J and A-K is great, but if he will only reraise and get all-in with A-A and K-K, you
are best off calling with those hands, opting to see what develops after the flop.
When the reraiser is tight
If the reraiser is tight and you have a marginal hand, such as A-J or K-Q, it is usually prudent to
fold before the flop to anything larger than a tiny raise (perhaps $13 over your $6 raise). For

33
example, if you raise to $6 with K-Q and face a reraise from a tight player to $24, you should
certainly fold. Moreover, you will find that almost no one in small stakes games folds in this
situation. This is a major leak of the entire player pool. When you are usually dominated or in a
situation where you will have large reverse implied odds, meaning you will either lose a large
pot or win a small one, you should fold.
Notice what happens when you call a tight player’s reraise with K-Q and you flop top pair. If the
flop comes K-6-4, your opponent will be willing to get all-in with A-A, K-K, and A-K. He will
probably only put in a small amount of money with J-J, T-T, and A-Q before giving up. If it comes
Q-7-3, he will put his stack in with A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-Q, all of which crush you, while putting
in very little with J-J, T-T, and A-K. Notice your opponent will always know where he stands
whereas you will be in the dark. Of course, when you completely miss the flop, you will have to
fold. You want to avoid high reverse implied odds situations at all costs. A-J, K-J, and Q-J all fall
into the category of having high reverse implied odds. Avoid playing large pots against strong
ranges with these hands whenever possible. Even though these hands are normally “strong”,
when your opponent’s range is overly tight, these are some of the worst hands you can play.
When facing a tight player’s reraise, it is important to recognize which hands have been
demoted to “drawing hands”: 9-9, 2-2, A-Js, A-2s, K-Qs, and 8-7s are all reasonable hands to call
a reraise with, assuming you are getting the proper implied odds. Remember, with pairs you
want to get at least 10:1 and with suited connectors and suited Aces, you want to get at least
20:1. Assuming $200 effective stacks, if you raise to $7 and your tight opponent reraises to $30,
you should fold all drawing hands because you are only getting 8.7:1 implied odds
((200/(30-7) = 8.7:1 implied odds). You must have the discipline to recognize when you are not
getting the proper implied odds, even with hands that are normally quite strong. Of course,
when you have a junky hand, you should always fold.

When the reraiser is loose

Your strategy should be quite different when the reraiser is loose, compared to when he is
tight. If he is willing to reraise with a wide range, perhaps any pair, any Broadway hand, any A-x,
and various suited hands, the biggest error you can make is to fold too often.
With your premium hands, it is usually best to 4-bet, assuming your opponent will not fold too
often. You should go out of your way to ensure he feels roped into the pot. For example, if you
raise to $6 with A-A and your loose opponent reraises to $20, you should usually 4-bet to $40
then make a $32 postflop continuation bet on most boards. Of course, if he figures out this bet
sizing tendency, you should either use a similar sizing with your entire range or switch to
reraising tiny almost exclusively as a bluff, at least until he figures out your adjustment. You will
know your opponent has figured out your bet sizing tendency when he stops paying you off
when you have strong hands.

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As an aside, the term “3-bet” comes from the now defunct game of Limit Hold’em. The first bet
is the big blind, the second bet, or the “2-bet”, is the initial raise, and the third bet, the “3-bet”,
is the reraise. A “4-bet” is a reraise of the reraise.
With your premium hands, you have the option of just calling your opponent’s reraise. Do not
be afraid to call with your premium hands. While you will occasionally get outdrawn, you
ensure your opponent stays in the pot. This guarantees that he has the opportunity to commit a
major postflop blunder. Suppose you raise to $6 with Q-Q and a loose player reraises to $22 in
position. You know he will fold all of his junky hands, which you think make up a large part of
his range, to any 4-bet. This is an excellent spot to call, especially if he will make multiple
postflop bluffs because he assumes you will not have a premium hand, given you didn’t 4-bet
preflop. If you 4-bet this type of player, you allow him to get off the hook with a minimal loss.
When you have a good, but not amazing hand, such as A-J or K-Q, it is usually best to just call a
loose player’s reraise. When you call in this situation, your goal should not be to fold every time
you miss. When you flop any sort of equity, which will often be the case when you have a
gutshot straight draw or better, you should at least check-call and occasionally check-push all-
in. Suppose you raise with K -Q to $6 and one of these players raises to $22 out of his $200
stack. You call. The flop comes J -9 -6 , giving you a gutshot straight draw, backdoor flush
draw, and overcards. You should check, giving your opponent the chance to bluff. If your
opponent makes any bet larger than perhaps $20, you should strongly consider going all-in. You
will win the pot every time your opponent has nothing, which will often be the case due to him
having a wide range. Even if you get called, you will usually have a decent amount of equity.
Notice that even against A-J (top pair, top kicker) you will win 40% of the time.
When you have a drawing hand and face an aggressive reraiser, your play depends primarily on
the implied odds you are getting and how wide your opponent’s range is. It is important to
realize that A-Js and 8-8 are value hands that should rarely be folded when facing a loose
reraiser, whereas they are marginal drawing hands when facing a tight reraiser. Assuming you
are not getting the proper implied odds to call with traditional drawing hands, such as small
pairs, suited Aces, and suited connectors, you should strongly consider reraising as a bluff or
folding. You can also make this play as a bluff with your hands containing a blocker, primarily
A-x and K-x.
Reraising as a bluff with a big card in your hand is referred to as reraising with a “blocker”. The
presence of a big card in your hand makes it less likely that your opponent has a premium hand.
For example, when you have an Ace in your hand, your opponent will have A-A half as often, as
compared to when you don’t. The reason for this is that there are six combinations of A-A and
you have removed three of them. Similarly, he will only have A-K 75% as often since there are
16 combinations of A-K and you’ve removed four of them.
Suppose you raise 2-2, A-7s, or K-5s to $6 out of your $200 stack from middle position and a
loose player reraises from the button to $20. This is an excellent spot to reraise to $48 with the

35
intention of folding if your opponent goes all-in, assuming you think he will only be willing to
5-bet all-in with premium hands. If he calls your 4-bet, you can make a relatively small
continuation bet of $32 on the flop and usually steal the pot every time he misses.
Be aware that if your opponent is a calling station, these bluffs are not ideal. Simply wait for
premium hands before putting money in the pot. Having a balanced range containing a mixture
of value hands and bluffs is a skill you must master if you want to succeed at the high stakes
games. The main way you will profit from small stakes games is by having the patience and
discipline to build large pots with your strong hands while getting out of the way with your
weak hands. Fancy plays are not necessary; they will simply get you in trouble.

When there is a raise before you

Frequently, there will be a raise before the action gets to you. This section outlines my default
strategy for when everyone folds to someone, who makes a preflop raise, then everyone
between you and the raiser folds, with no one calling in between.
It is important to figure out the preflop raiser’s range and tailor your strategy accordingly. For
example, if you know the raiser loves to limp with all his marginal and junky hands while only
raising with his premium hands, you should assign him a tight range when he raises, even
though he limps almost every hand. Do not fall into the habit of thinking “this guy sees lots of
flops, so he must be weak every time he puts money in the pot.”
Some players (but certainly not all) adjust their ranges based on their position. Most competent
players play a tight range from early position and a loose range from late position. Most super-
tight players play only premium hands from every position. Some maniacs are willing to raise
with any two cards from any position. It is not uncommon to find two different players who
have drastically different ranges when they raise, even though they raise with the exact same
percentage of hands. One player may raise with the top 15% of hands from all positions
whereas the other player may raise with 5% of hands from early position, 10% of hands from
middle position, 25% of hands from the cutoff, and 40% of hands from the button. Do not fool
yourself into thinking all “reasonably active” players have the same range in all situations.
As a mild over-simplification, hands can be broken down into strong hands (premium pairs and
premium big cards), marginal hands (junky big cards and A-x), drawing hands (small pairs,
suited connectors, and suited Aces), and weak hands (anything else). It is important to develop
a strategy for playing each type of hand against the various players you will encounter on a
regular basis. The following sections will discuss how to play each type of hand against generic
tight raisers and loose raisers.
It is worth noting that some players will make gigantic preflop raises with their entire range,
perhaps as large as $30. Against most of these players, unless you have a strong hand, perhaps
7-7+, A-J+, and K-Q, you should simply fold and wait for a better spot. If you find yourself in a

36
game where everyone makes huge raises, sit back and wait for premium hands. At that point,
the blinds effectively do not matter. You are in a game where all you have to do is wait for a
premium hand, then pile in your money. Do not fall into the habit of calling $15 raises with the
same range of hands with which you call $6 raises. Failing to account for preflop bet sizing is a
huge leak of most small stakes players.

When a tight player raises

When you have a premium hand versus a tight raiser, you must realize that some normally
premium hands, such as A-Q and J-J, become less than premium. This should lead you to call
with most of your strong hands, besides A-A and K-K, unless you can confidently reraise with
the intention of folding if 4-bet. For example, if you have J-J and face a raise from a tight player
who you expect to have a tight range, you can 3-bet with the intention of folding if he 4-bets,
because you know with a high degree of certainty that he will call with hands you beat, such as
9-9 and A-J, and reraise with hands that beat you, such as A-A and Q-Q. While reraising for
information is rarely the correct play, when you are against an overly tight opponent, the
information you receive will usually be accurate. With A-A and K-K, it is almost always an error
to not reraise and get all-in. If your K-K happens to run into A-A, that is simply bad luck.
As for bet sizing, when deciding to 3-bet a tight raiser for value, you can get away with making a
larger than normal 3-bet because your opponent will be incapable of folding his reasonably
strong hands, which should be his entire preflop raising range. For example, if a tight player
raises to $8 out of his $200 stack, feel free to reraise to $28 with A-A because your opponent is
unlikely to fold any part of his range. Of course, if you think he will be disciplined and fold, you
should revert to a standard sizing of $22.
When you have a marginal hand, such as A-J, K-Q, and J-T, versus a tight raiser, you have to
figure out how you fare versus the range. If your opponent is raising with a legitimately tight
range of only big pairs and premium big cards, you should fold your marginal hands because
they will be dominated most of the time. It may feel incredibly nitty to fold K-Q to a preflop
raise, but it is often the correct play when your opponent is abnormally tight. If your opponent
is a bit looser, willing to raise with most pairs, most big cards, and lots of suited connectors, you
should tend to call with these hands. You should consider turning some of them, mainly the
ones that are a bit too weak to call, such as A-9 and K-T, into bluffs by reraising exactly as you
would with your premium hands. This will add a few bluffs to your range and make you more
difficult to play against. Of course, if your opponent will never fold to your 3-bet and be quite
willing to call multiple postflop bets, having lots of bluffs in your range is a bad idea. Do not
attempt to bluff someone who is not capable of folding.
With your drawing hands that have large implied odds, such as 2-2 and 8-7s, you should almost
always call the preflop raise of a tight player. If your opponent is incapable of folding an
overpair after the flop, you desperately want to see as many flops as possible with hands that

37
have huge implied odds. If you flop two pair or better, you are almost certain to stack your
opponent.
With your junky hands (which is any hand not covered already) you should simply fold. Hands
like A-5, K-9, and 9-8 are simply not playable versus tight raisers, especially when they make
large preflop raises. The last thing you want to do is call a raise with A-5, flop top pair, and then
have to call multiple bets with a marginal bluff catcher.
When I first started playing poker in 2003, everyone in my local game thought you had to play
any hand containing an Ace because it is the best card in the deck. Once I figured out the
concept of reverse implied odds, I started to fold my weak Aces, particularly when facing a raise
from a tight player. My win rate went through the roof. Especially against tight players, do not
feel obligated to play any hand simply because it is normally considered to be strong. If your
opponent’s range is A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, and A-K, hands like A-Q and T-T are in horrible shape.

When a loose player raises

When you have a premium hand versus a loose raiser, you should play aggressively, assuming
your opponent will believe you are reraising with more than just the most premium hands. If
you have been overly tight, you should strongly consider calling with your premium hands
because most competent players will prudently fold to your aggression. All in all, in a generic
small stakes game, unless you make a gigantic raise, most players will call your reraise with
almost their entire range in order to see a flop.
For example, if an active player raises to $8 at $1/$2 and you have J-J, you should usually
reraise to about $22. This will put your opponent in a miserable situation. While he should
almost certainly fold and concede his initial raise, many players will call with their entire preflop
raising range. If your opponent 4-bets to $60, you should usually fold unless both you and your
opponent have reasonably active images. You will find that very few players 4-bet in small
stakes cash games without the intention of getting all-in. Against a “standard” range, worthy of
getting all-in, A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-K, your J-J only has 36% equity. A-K only has 38% equity. This
means that you should typically fold these hands when 4-bet unless you have a good reason to
believe your opponent will 4-bet with more than only premium hands. If you are unsure
whether your opponent will 4-bet in a face-up manner, you should call the initial preflop raise
with hands you are not willing to get all-in. You do not have to reraise every time you are dealt
a typically strong hand. Think ahead in order to avoid situations where you will be unsure of
how to proceed.
While your marginal hands should be played in a cautious manner against tight raisers, they
should be played much more aggressively against loose raisers. This is because loose raisers will
be involved with numerous hands that are dominated by marginal big cards. Typically, this
should lead you to reraise hands like A-J, K-Q, and Q-T when facing a raise from a loose opener.
You should reraise these hands exactly as you would your premium hands. While it may feel
38
risky to reraise with Q-T, you will find that most of the time, the initial raiser will call and then
check-fold the flop to your half pot continuation bet when he misses. This will result in you
scooping these pots about 60% of the time due to your fold equity. When combined with the
fact that you will make the best hand sometimes, this play is hugely profitable.
As a simple example of this concept, imagine what happens when a loose player raises, you call
with K-J, and the flop comes T-8-4. Your opponent is going to make a standard continuation bet
and you are going to fold. Instead, if he raises to $7 and you 3-bet to $20, he is going to call
preflop and then check-fold to your continuation bet on T-8-4 when he fails to improve.
Just as against tight raisers, you should look to flop a strong made hand or draw with your
drawing hands. The only time you should consider reraising preflop with your drawing hands is
when the initial raise comes from late position and you expect your opponent to frequently call
your reraise and then check-fold the flop. This is because your opponent probably doesn’t have
a hand that can pay you off if you improve to a premium hand after the flop, meaning you don’t
actually have huge implied odds. Turning these drawings hands into preflop semi-bluffs (an
aggressive action with a hand that is probably not best at the moment but could easily improve
to be the best on a future street) is probably a better play. Notice that this situation is similar to
when you have a marginal hand and reraise a loose raiser, except drawing hands have a realistic
chance of flopping the nuts.
With your junky hands, you should generally fold. The only time you should consider playing
junk is when you expect the initial raiser to fold if you reraise. Suppose a loose raiser makes it
$8 from the cutoff and you are in the small blind with A-6, K-5, or 9-8. None of these hands are
strong enough to call. Therefore, if you expect to have a large amount of fold equity, meaning
you think the initial raiser will fold most of the time to your reraise either because you have a
tight image or you expect your opponent’s range to be full of trash, you should reraise. From
out of position, you should reraise a bit larger than normal to discourage action because you
want to avoid playing large pots from out of position. So, make it $28 or $32. This will
frequently result in your opponent folding. When he elects to call, you can make a continuation
bet of $30 on most flops and frequently steal the pot. If your opponent doesn’t fold, you should
generally only continue bluffing when a scary card comes on the turn or when you have
improved to a strong hand. Remember that it is perfectly acceptable to concede the pot when
it is clear your opponent has a strong hand which he isn’t going to fold.

When there is a raise and a caller

When there is a raise and one caller before the action gets to you, your main focus should be
on the initial raiser’s range. Again, you have to assess if he is raising with a tight or loose range.
You usually don’t have to worry too much about the caller because unless he is overly tight and
passive, he probably would have reraised if he had a strong hand.

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When the raiser has a tight range, you should still reraise with your premium hands, A-A, K-K,
Q-Q, and A-K and you should tend to make a reraise that is a bit smaller than the size of the pot.
With your strong hands, such as J-J, T-T, 9-9, and A-Q, as well as your more marginal hands, it is
usually best to call and see what develops. While there is a bit of value in protecting your
strong, but not amazing, hands, you will find that most of your value comes from flopping top
pair or better before investing too much money. Remember that most of your value from small
stakes cash games will come from extracting maximum value from your strong made hands, not
bloating the pot preflop when you are slightly ahead. You should also call with all of your
drawing hands. With your hands that are usually dominated, such as A-9, K-10, 8-6, and 7-3,
you should fold. There is no point in getting involved with hands that are drawing thin.
When the raiser has a loose range, you can consider getting a bit out of line, especially if the
initial raiser is prone to fold when reraised. If he calls a reraise with his entire opening range,
you should tend to reraise primarily for value, although you must recognize that your value
range will be much wider compared to when you face a tight raiser.
If the initial raiser folds most of his hands to a pot sized reraise, feel free to get out of line as
often as possible, at least until you think your opponent has adjusted. Hands like A-x and K-x
are excellent candidates to reraise because they are too weak to call and see a flop, even
against a loose opener. You should strongly consider reraising a bit larger with your bluffs,
perhaps to 1.2 times the size of the pot, compared to your value hands. You will find that most
players are unaware of changes you make to your bet sizing. They see a large bet and think “too
rich for my blood!” They see a reasonable bet and think “I can afford that.” Of course, if your
opponents are paying attention, you should probably size all your bets the same. However,
given that most of your opponents will not recognize your bet sizing adjustments, you should
experiment with getting out of line.
Once it becomes clear that the initial raiser will rarely fold to any reasonably sized reraise, you
should reraise to that size exclusively for value. Hands as weak as A-T and K-J can be reraised
against this type of opponent because they will call with many inferior hands. Of course, once
the initial raiser calls your reraise, the caller will be somewhat prone to see a flop as well.
However, if you frequently have your opponents dominated, you should not mind three-way
action. As long as you play intelligently after the flop, you should welcome investing a
reasonable amount of money before the flop when you tend to have at least one of your
opponents dominated.
Marginal high card hands are difficult to play versus players who will frequently call reasonably
sized reraises. If your opponent generally folds to a large reraise, turning hands like A-8 and K-9
into bluffs by reraising large is probably the best play. If your opponent calls almost any reraise,
you can profitably call with these hands, assuming you play well after the flop. You must be
aware that when you flop top pair, you do not have the nuts. When you flop top pair, you
should call one or two postflop bets but then concede the pot to additional aggression. As in
most situations, you should call with your drawing hands and fold your junk.
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It is important to recognize that some preflop callers only call raises with strong hands. Against
these callers, you should be less inclined to reraise with your bluffs and instead only reraise for
value. If you expect the caller to be abnormally strong, you should only reraise with only
premium hands. Always be sure to account for each player in the pot because the presence of
one specific player could drastically change the way you approach a situation.
As I said before, when there is a raise and multiple callers, you should focus primarily on the
initial raiser. Again, this is because if any of the callers had a premium hand, they would
typically reraise. Given that there will be more dead, or almost dead, money in the pot, you
should be even more inclined to make a squeeze play with your hands that do not flop well,
such as A-x and K-x. You should also reraise your premium hands for value. I urge you to
experiment with various bet sizes to determine if there is an amount you can regularly reraise
to that steals the pot preflop. If you can routinely steal the pot with a bluff by reraising to $47
when a loose player raises to $7 and three people call, you will scoop up lots of dead money in
the long run. While this play may feel quite risky (because you are investing 1/4th of your 100
big blind stack), it only needs to succeed 60% of the time to show an immediate profit; and that
profit will be greater when you flop a hand you can continue with. You will find that $47 is “too
expensive” for most players.

When there are limpers

In small stakes cash games, it is quite common to see numerous players limp with a wide range.
This is because most players want to see if the flop connects with their hole cards before
folding. It is important to realize that players limp with varying ranges. In order to take
advantage of their weak play, you must figure out the limpers’ tendencies and adjust
accordingly.
Most players who limp preflop will raise their premium hands, limp their marginal and junky
hands, and fold complete trash. These players are comfortable raising hands like A-J and K-Q
but are uneasy about raising with “marginal” hands such as K-J and 9-7s. When these players
limp, you can effectively remove the top 10% of hands from their range. This means that they
will often fold to a sizable preflop raise and when they don’t, at best they will flop a marginal
hand such as top pair with a mediocre kicker.
Other limpers limp with their entire playable hand range, either because they realize removing
the top part of their range is not a good idea or because they are blatantly passive. These
players could easily have premium hands in their range, even when they limp and then call your
preflop raise. You must proceed with a bit more caution against these players.
It is also important to realize that some limpers limp with a small range of both monsters and
some reasonably playable hands, such as A-A, 3-3, A-4s, and 7-6s, from early position but a

41
wide range from late position, such as K-7, 8-6 and 6-3. You must adjust your strategy according
to the range you expect them to have in each position.

When there is one limper

Your strategy when facing one limper depends primarily on the limper’s probable range, the
limper’s position, your position, your image, and your hand. Your position is important because
if you are in early position, you have to worry about everyone else at the table waking up with a
strong hand whereas if you are in late position, you only have to worry about the few remaining
players. Your image is important because if your opponents expect you to raise their limps
frequently with a wide range, they will adjust and fight back. If they expect you to play in a
blatantly straightforward manner, raising when you have premium hands and calling with
everything else, you should actively look for spots where you can steal their limps.
For example, if you have a tight, straightforward image, when a weak player limps at $1/$2
from middle position and the action folds to you, regardless of your position, you should
strongly consider raising to an amount you expect your opponent will frequently fold to with
hands that flop poorly, such as A-4, K-6, and Q-4. If you think your opponent will always call a
raise to $8 but will usually fold to a raise to $12, make it $12. If you happen to have a premium
hand and want action, then you should simply raise to $8. Obviously if your opponents figure
out this strategy, you should adjust to a more balanced strategy of raising to the same amount
with all of the hands you plan to play (probably to $12 because you will have more stealing
opportunities than premium hands). If instead of a tight image, you have a maniacal image or
your opponents will not allow you to easily push them around, you should never bluff and
instead raise almost entirely for value.
It is vitally important that you be aware of your image at the table and then make plays
designed to take advantage of your image. If your opponents expect you to raise with a wide
range, tighten up. If they expect you to be overly tight, steal whenever you have the
opportunity. Realize that your opponents only know what they see. If you have raised or
reraised four times in the last orbit but have yet to show down a hand, your opponents will
think you are crazy even if you have had premium hands every time. If you think that your
opponents think you are tight, whereas in reality, they think you are crazy, you will make
significant errors. That being said, in small stakes games, some players aren’t aware of image
concerns at all. Don’t overthink yourself. While your image is a huge concern, the rest of this
section will assume you have a relatively generic image of being reasonably in line most of the
time.

When facing a limper from early position

When facing one limper from early position who has a wide range and you are also in early
position, you should tend to raise with your reasonably strong hands, such as 9-9, A-J, and K-Q,

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and call with your drawing hands, such as 4-4 and 7-6s. You should almost always fold your
junky hands, such as A-x and 9-7. With your marginal hands, such as K-J and J-T, your play
depends on what you expect the players yet to act to do. If you expect them to frequently raise,
assuming both you and the initial limper must be weak, you should either raise or fold these
hands. While folding is a bit tight, it will keep you from playing out of position with hands that
are easily dominated. If you expect the players yet to act to also limp with a wide range, you
should limp with your marginal hands because the limping ranges of the players behind you will
contain many hands you dominate.
It is important to notice that limping with marginal hands will often result in you flopping a
marginal top pair in a multiway pot. For example, suppose a weak limper limps from early
position and you call from early position with K-Js. Four other players limp, including the blinds.
The flop comes K-T-5. Your hand’s value will vary wildly based on your opponents’ actions. For
example, if it is checked to the initial limper and he bets, you have an easy call. If everyone
checks to you, you have an easy bet. If the Small Blind bets, the Big Blind calls, and the initial
limper raises, you have an easy fold. Do not fall into the trap of blindly playing a large pot every
time you make top pair.
When facing one limper from early position who has a wide range and you are in middle or late
position, you should be more inclined to raise with a wide range because there are fewer
players yet to act. You should tend to raise your entire range of playable hands, including junky
hands like A-x and 9-7. This will result in your raising range being primarily hands that have the
limper dominated, plus a few bluffs. As discussed earlier, you should strongly consider tailoring
your bet size to induce the action you want. Limping behind with a drawing hands is acceptable,
although raising in order to play a heads-up pot in position is usually the best play.
When facing one limper from early position who has a wide range and you are in the small
blind, you should limp with a wide range of hands that are not strong enough to raise for value.
Your raising range should depend almost entirely on how wide the limper’s range is and how
you expect him to play postflop. If he is difficult to play against after the flop, usually because
he will not play blatantly straightforwardly, you should raise with only premium and other
strong hands, such as 9-9, A-J, and K-Q. If he frequently folds to your preflop raise or calls and
then plays straightforwardly after the flop, you can raise a bit wider, such as with hands like
A-9, K-T, and Q-J. You should tend to limp with your marginal hands and drawing hands. You
can also limp with some of your junky hands, such as A-2, K-7, 8-6, and 5-4, purely due to your
pot odds. However, be careful with hands containing one big card and one small card as those
have huge reverse implied odds, meaning when you flop a decent hand like top pair, you will
usually lose a large pot or win a tiny one.
Suppose a bad limper who will fold to a large raise limps from early position. Everyone folds
around to you in the small blind. You should tend to raise with a wide range because unless the
Big Blind wakes up with a hand, you will steal the pot. With your value hands, such as 9-9, A-J,
and K-Q, you should consider raising a bit smaller to induce the limper to call. Remember, you
43
don’t want to force your opponents to fold when you have them crushed. If you happen to
know the limper will call a reasonably sized raise with his entire range and then play
straightforwardly after the flop, you should consider raising to $10 with a wide range with the
intention of continuation betting $12 on most flops. While you will have very little preflop fold
equity, you will have a lot of postflop fold equity. It may feel risky to let your opponent see a
flop with a wide range, but if you manage to steal the $22 pot 65% of the time on the flop, this
play will be hugely profitable. If your opponent plays reasonably well after the flop, you should
be content to steal the pot before the flop by making a larger raise.
When facing one limper from early position who has a wide range and you are in the big blind,
it is usually best to check unless you think the limper will concede the pot to a preflop raise or
to a preflop raise plus a flop continuation bet. If your opponents routinely let you see a free flop
from the big blind, you don’t want to do anything to discourage that. For this reason, I tend not
to get too out of line versus limpers from the big blind.
If you happen to face a weak limper and you check from the big blind, your postflop play
depends on your opponent’s strategy. You will find that most weak limpers will simply bet
when they have something and check when they have nothing. When you miss the flop against
this type of player, check and see what develops. If your opponent also checks, you should
usually bet the turn and the river, hopefully making your opponent think you have top pair. If
your opponent will blindly bet the flop with his entire range because he assumes that when you
check you must be weak, consider check-raising when you have any sort of equity.

For example, suppose one of these players limps and you check in the big blind with K -5 or
T-9. The flop comes J -7 -4 . Notice that both of these hands have a decent amount of equity
but not quite enough to justify check-calling. You check and your opponent bets $3 into the $5
pot. This is an excellent spot to check-raise to $9. This applies significant pressure and will
usually force your opponent to fold unless he has top pair, which he should rarely have if he
continuation bets with almost his entire range when checked to. If he calls your check-raise and
you do not improve to a hand that beats top pair or you do not drastically improve the quality
of your draw on the turn, you should usually give up. Be aware that some players are willing to
call a flop check-raise with an overly wide range, such as any pair, any draw, Ace high or
overcards. Against these players, check-raising the flop is not the ideal strategy unless you plan
to continue firing on the turn and river. Lots of amateurs have an arbitrary rule in their head
not to lose a lot of money in a limped pot. If you can find players who will fold most of their
range on the turn or river to a reasonable amount of aggression, you will scoop up way more
than your fair share of these pots.
When facing one limper from early position who has a tight range and you are also in early
position, you should only raise with your premium hands. This is because the initial limper’s
hand is usually strong and when it isn’t, you have to worry about everyone else at the table
waking up with a premium holding. You should call with your drawing hands, as you stand to

44
win a decent pot when you connect well with the flop. With your marginal hands, such as A-9
and K-T, you should fold because you are too likely to be dominated.
With your good, but non-nut hands, such as A-J and K-Q, you should vary your play based on
how tight you think the limper is. If you expect him to limp with only premium hands, you
should limp along. If you expect him to limp with a reasonably wide range including premium
hands, pairs, big cards, and suited connectors, you should raise for value. Your play should
typically vary the most when you have borderline situations. This is where adjusting your
strategy based on your reads becomes vital.
It is worth mentioning that some players will limp with a snug range and when they get raised,
they reraise with their nut hands and call with their non-nut hands. These are the prime players
to raise with hands like A-T and K-J because they will reraise when you are crushed and call
when they are crushed. By making a reasonable raise, perhaps to $8 preflop over their $2 limp,
you will get accurate information and also have a good chance to play a bloated pot in position
when you have your opponent dominated. Of course, when you are limp-reraised by this type
of opponent when holding hands like A-T and K-J, you should fold.
When facing one limper from early position who has a tight range and you are in middle or late
position, you should continue to play as if you were in early position. The limper’s strategy is
the main factor that determines your play. If your opponent frequently has a strong hand, there
is no point in getting out of line.
When facing one limper from early position who has a tight range and you are in the small or
big blind, you should be happy to see a cheap flop with all decent hands. Especially when you
are out of position against a strong range, you only want to raise when you have your opponent
in bad shape. Do not be afraid to play a cheap flop out of position, even with a hand that is
normally strong, such as A-J. Having a “strong” hand is not a good enough reason to raise. I
recognize I am suggesting you play overly tight when facing a tight limper. You must also
constantly quantify your opponents, so you can adjust your strategy if it becomes clear that
they have a limping range that is reasonably wide. If you play as if one of your opponents is a
tight limper whereas in reality he is a loose limper, you will leave significant money on the
table.

When facing a limper from middle or late position

When facing one limper from middle or late position who has a wide range and you are also in
middle or late position, you should tend to raise with all your playable hands and some of your
junky hands in order to either get the pot heads-up or to steal the pot preflop. Hands such as
A-A, 2-2, A-Q, A-3, K-T, K-5, Q-J, Q-9, and suited connectors should all be raised. Notice this
range is quite wide. You must actively be aware of your image so you don’t induce your
opponents to make intelligent adjustments. If you have been abusing your opponent a lot

45
recently and he is getting fed up, pass on a spot to raise as a steal with a marginal hand. If you
have not raised as a steal in a while, or at all, strongly consider doing it.
When facing one limper from middle or late position who has a wide range and you are in the
small or big blind, it is usually best to see a cheap flop with all of your non-premium hands.
With your best hands, you should still raise for value. Of course, if you think you can make a
sizable raise or a raise plus a continuation bet as a bluff and steal the pot a huge portion of the
time, feel free to attempt that bluff.
When facing one limper from middle or late position who has a tight range and you are also in
middle or late position, you should be a bit more willing to raise with your high card hands,
such as A-T and K-J, because your opponent’s range is probably wider compared to when he
limps from early position. Raising to play a bloated heads-up pot in position will tend to work in
your favor. Granted, unless your opponent will frequently fold to your preflop raise or your
preflop raise plus continuation bet, it is probably not a good idea to raise with blocker hands,
A-x and K-x.
As when the limper is in early position, when facing one limper from middle or late position
who has a tight range, you should be content to see a cheap flop from the small or big blind.
You want to play big pots in position and small pots out of position.
Even against only one limper, there is a lot to consider. You should be constantly assessing your
opponent’s limping range, his strategy when faced with aggression, your position, and your
image. If you are keenly aware of these factors, you will be able to approach each situation
intelligently.

When there are multiple limpers

When multiple players limp, your main concern should be the strategy of the initial limper, just
like when you are facing a raise and multiple callers. This is because most players tend to raise
with their premium and reasonably strong hands when someone limps in front of them. This
should lead you to assume the additional limpers have weak ranges. Although, some players
limp with their entire range whenever possible. They happily limp behind with hands like J-J or
A-K, hoping to flop well before investing significant money. This section will assume the initial
limper, as well as the other limpers, have weak ranges. If they have premium ranges, you
should play in a cautious manner, namely raising with your premium hands, limping your
decent high card hands and drawing hands, and folding everything else. Remember, if
someone’s range is abnormally strong, there is no need to get out of line.
With your premium hands, you should raise for value. Even if you know the initial limper has a
strong range, you should raise with your best hands. As the limpers become more prone to
have wide ranges, your value range should widen. If a strong limper limps from first position
and three people call, you should not raise T-T and A-Q if you expect to frequently get reraised.

46
If you expect most of your opponents to limp and then call your raise with a wide range of
junky hands, you can raise hands as weak as 7-7, A-T, and K-J for value.
As discussed earlier, you should experiment with adjusting your bet size to get the result you
desire. If you want everyone to fold, raise large, and if you want them to call, raise to a bit less
than the size of the pot. Remember, to figure out the amount of a pot sized raise, multiply the
last bet by three then add any additional money that is in the pot. So, if four players limp and
you want to raise the size of the pot from the button, make it $2(3) + $3 + $2 + $2 + $2= $15. In
general, if you want your opponents to fold, raise a touch larger, and if you want them to call,
raise a bit smaller.
With your marginal high card hands, such as Q-J and J-T, feel free to limp along. As long as you
play well after the flop and do not overplay top pair with a marginal kicker, these hands are
quite profitable to limp. As your hand gets weaker, such as when you have Q-9, J-8, or T-9, you
must proceed with a bit more caution because the hands you are likely to flop will be weaker. If
your opponents are overly weak, you can limp along with these hands, but in order to do so,
you have to expect to have a sizable postflop edge.
Be more willing to see flops with all drawing hands, even those as weak as K-2s and 8-5s, but
realize that all draws are not created equal after the flop. For example, if four people limp and
you limp along with 8 -5 , if the flop comes K -9 -4 , the initial limper bets, and all the
other limpers call, unless they are known to call with all sorts of junk, you should strongly
consider folding. This is because it is too likely that someone has a better flush draw than you.
While folding a flush draw on the flop may seem a bit premature, it will allow you to sidestep a
huge reverse implied odds situation. Notice if you make your flush on the turn and your
opponents all have top pair and worse, which will frequently be the case, they will check-fold. If
someone else has a larger flush, they will bet and you will be handcuffed into calling down. This
is not a situation you want to be in.
Some players love to raise small over multiple limpers when they have drawing hands, thinking
that if they connect well with the flop, they will be able to easily get their stacks in. I do not like
this play because you will occasionally get limp-reraised, forcing you to fold a strong drawing
hand. Also, there is no need to build the size of the pot preflop because it is usually not too
difficult to play a significant pot when you flop a premium hand due to most players’
unwillingness to fold top pair. You should be content to see a cheap flop when you have a
drawing hand.
As more players limp, you should become more willing to raise with blocker hands, A-x and K-x,
assuming the initial limper is weak and the other players are not known to limp behind with
premium hands. Raising with a blocker against multiple opponents is a strong play because you
can justify making a large raise relative to the size of the pot, and unless your opponents have
strong hands, they will probably fold. However, if your opponents rarely fold to large preflop
raises, you should take this play out of your arsenal because it will frequently fail. If you raise

47
with blockers and one person calls, you should make a roughly 35% pot continuation bet on
most flops. This will usually result in your opponent playing in a straightforward manner
because most players will think you are “obviously” trying to get action, based on your small
bet size. If multiple limpers call your preflop raise and you miss the flop, you should check-fold
unless the board is very dry, such as A-7-2 or K-8-4. In that situation, if it is checked to you, you
can make a relatively small bet.
If you hit top pair when you raise the limpers with blockers, you should usually go into pot
control mode (checking with the intention of getting to showdown cheaply). This is because it is
reasonably likely that if a lot of money goes in the pot after the flop, your opponent will have
your top pair, bad kicker beat. Suppose you raise with A-2 over multiple limpers and your
opponents have some combination of 8-8, 7-7, A-J, K-Q, Q-9, and 9-8. The flop comes A-7-4.
When your opponents have nothing, they will be drawing thin, meaning you don’t mind if they
see a free turn. When they have you crushed, they will never fold. This is an ideal time to try to
see a cheap showdown. There is no need to bet for value or protection when your opponents
are either drawing thin or have hands that crush you, which they will never fold.

Limp-reraising
It is quite common to see players limp and then reraise in small stakes cash games. These
players usually have either very tight or very wide ranges. Some players limp with a wide range
and then reraise with their best hands and call with their marginal hands. More maniacal
players limp-reraise with their premium hands and sporadic bluffs. If you expect your opponent
to only limp-reraise with his best hands, you should continue with a very snug range when he
limp-reraises. For example, if you think your opponent only limp-reraises with A-A, K-K, Q-Q,
and A-K, when you get limp-reraised, assuming the raise size is large enough that it makes
calling with drawing hands unprofitable, you should only continue with A-A and K-K. Do not fall
into the trap of paying off these blatantly straightforward opponents with Q-Q, J-J, A-K or
worse.
When the limper is known to limp-reraise with all of his premium hands and some bluffs, you
are in a significantly more difficult situation. The main problem you will run into is that if you
reraise the limp-reraiser, he will only continue with his best value hands. This should lead you
to call the limp-reraise with your entire range that is profitable to play. Your calling range
depends on how wide you think your opponent is limp-reraising and how you expect him to
proceed after the flop. As the limp-reraiser’s range gets wider, meaning he has more bluffs or
overvalued marginal hands in his range, your calling range should also widen. After the flop,
assuming your opponent will continuation bet his entire range, you should tend to call with all
of your top pair or better hands and proceed to the turn. From there, you will often face a
decision for your stack, but if you have a rough idea of your opponent’s strategy, you can make
sound decisions.

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Suppose one of these players limps from early position, four other players limp, and you raise
to $15 with T-T from the button. The initial limper reraises to $40. At this point, if you were to
go all-in, your opponent would call with A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-K. Against this range before the
flop you only have 36% equity, so getting all-in is a horrible result. However, if your opponent is
limp-reraising with various trash hands, such as A-4 and 8-7, folding would be criminal. It should
be clear that if your opponent is reraising with every A-x combination, he will have way too
many bluffs in his range. If he only limp-reraises with his premium hands and exactly A-6, you
should be fine with letting his bluffs succeed because he will be bluffing infrequently. In my
experience, most players either limp-reraise with only the nuts or with a range much too
heavily weighted towards bluffs. It is also important to figure out which hands your opponent
will turn into limp-reraise bluffs. The boards you can continue on change drastically based on
the hands in your opponent’s bluffing range. To complicate things further, some players limp-
reraise with all hands they perceive as “strong”. This is often a range of 9-9+ and all Broadway
hands.
In general, if your opponent has too many bluffs in his range, you should call his $40 limp-
reraise with your T-T. If the flop contains an Ace, you should usually fold to any additional
pressure because it is too likely that your opponent either has a premium hand or an A-x hand
that improved to top pair. If there are two cards higher than your T-T, such as K-J-x or
Q-J-x, you should also fold to a bet. If there is only one non-Ace overcard to your pair, you
should often resign yourself to calling down. If your opponent’s limp-reraising range contains
too many bluffs, you simply can’t fold. One of the benefits of being a loose, aggressive player is
that your opponents must pay you off when you have a premium hand. Luckily, most players
will be nowhere near balanced, allowing you to adjust well to their tendencies.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I think limp-reraising is usually a horrible play. Take the
most standard limp-reraising spot as an example. You pick up A-A in first position and limp.
Four other players limp and the Button makes it $16. You reraise to $60. Everyone folds and
you profit $27. While winning $27 without the risk of being outdrawn may seem like a great
result, you left a huge amount of equity on the table. Imagine instead you raised to $6 from
first position, four players called, then the Button reraised to $24. You could then reraise,
profiting $48 when everyone folds. Or you raise to $6 and four players call. Someone flops top
pair and refuses to fold, giving you his entire stack. That is actually the most common outcome
when you see a multiway flop with
A-A. Of course, you will occasionally lose your stack when someone makes a concealed two pair
or hits a set.

Suppose you raise with A -A to $6 from first position and four players call. The flop comes
8 -6 -4 . You bet $20 into the $33 pot. One player calls and another player, known to
generally play in a straightforward manner, raises to $90. You now have a relatively easy fold. If
your opponent has a premium made hand, either a set or two pair, you are drawing thin. If he
has a premium draw, you are flipping. This is a situation you want to avoid. Of course, if your

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opponent overvalues any overpair, you should be content to stack off. One of the main skills
you must develop in order to crush small stakes cash games is the ability to get off the hook
when you are clearly beat. You must learn to be disciplined enough to not go broke every time
you get outdrawn. So, learn to play postflop and don’t be content to win a small pot with A-A
by limp-reraising.
In my opinion, there are two spots where limp-reraising makes sense. The first is when you are
in early position and have a playable hand, such as 3-3, A-4s, or T-9s and want to limp. If
everyone limps and you see a cheap flop, that is an acceptable result. If someone yet to act
raises and you think he has a weak range because he loves to blindly attack the limpers, you
should strongly consider turning these hands into bluffs. If your opponent calls, he will
frequently put you squarely on a premium hand. This will allow you to represent premium
preflop hands and to occasionally improve to a premium postflop hand. This will result in your
opponent making many postflop errors because he will fold too often when you are bluffing
and call too often when you are fortunate enough to flop the nuts.
For example, suppose you limp for $2 with A-4s from early position, three players limp, then an
aggressive player who likes to attack the limpers raises to $16 from late position. You are not
getting the proper implied odds to call, but you should strongly consider reraising. To call his
raise profitably, you want at least 20:1 implied odds with suited Aces and suited connectors,
but you are only getting 14:1, assuming $200 stacks. If you make it $40, your opponent will be
in a miserable situation with all his non-premium hands. If he goes all-in, you can easily fold. If
he calls and you see a heads-up flop, you can continuation bet $32 (into the $88 pot) on most
boards, resulting in you frequently stealing the pot. Always be sure you pick your spots well. If
you attempt this play against someone who actually only raises limpers with a premium range,
you will light your stack on fire.
Another time to limp-reraise is when a few people limp and you realize someone yet to act
plans to raise, based on your knowledge of the players or a physical tell. When that is the case,
if you have a premium hand, you should limp where you would normally raise. This will result in
a raise by the player yet to act. Quite often, all of the limpers will call, allowing you to then
reraise, locking up a huge amount of dead money while also appearing as if you are trying to
take advantage of the situation with a marginal hand.
Suppose three players limp and you have K-K. This would normally be an easy raising situation,
but you realize the player behind you is getting ready to raise. So, you limp. The player yet to
act raises to $14. The initial three limpers all call. You can now reraise to $55 or so, putting
everyone in a horrible spot. If everyone folds, you pick up $59 in profit, and if anyone calls, you
certainly have the best hand and can happily proceed to the flop.

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When the limpers don’t fold to preflop aggression
Some players limp with a wide range and are willing to call huge raises, perhaps as large as $30,
with their entire range. These players will stop at nothing to see a flop with the entire range of
hands they deem playable because they can’t stand the idea of folding a hand that could have
been the winner. Your strategy against these players is simple: wait for the nuts and then put
your stack in. That being said, most people have some arbitrary amount they feel is too
expensive to see a flop with the vast majority of their non-premium range. For some players,
this is $12, and for others, it is $40. Once you figure out how much someone will reliably call
with their junk, you can tailor your strategy to take advantage of their weakness. When your
limping opponents will call huge raises, you should simply wait for the nuts and then extract
maximum value.
If you can engineer situations where you can make the pot huge when you are in position with
a hand that is likely to be superior, you will crush your opponents. While you normally don’t
want to invest significant money with hands like A-9 and K-T, if you know that the limpers have
weak ranges (perhaps because they always raise with their strong hands) but will nevertheless
call most raises, you can make a sizable raise in position, then frequently win the pot after the
flop with a continuation bet. While small continuation bets work well against most standard
players, if your opponents are calling stations, you may find that a larger continuation bet is
mandatory to ensure you have fold equity.
With your drawing hands, you should rarely raise because you do not want to bloat the pot
with a hand that thrives in high implied odds situations. When multiple players limp before the
action gets to you, there is almost never a great reason to raise with 2-2, A-3s, or 8-7s. Be glad
that your opponents constantly let you see cheap flops with hands that flop well.

Abnormal Stack Sizes

As stack sizes change, your strategy should change. This entire preflop section has assumed you
are playing with 100 big blind stacks. When stacks get deeper, which will often happen as the
session progresses, you must realize that hands which can easily improve to the effective nuts,
such as 2-2 and 8-7s, go up in value and hands that are usually one pair, such as J-J and A-K, go
down in value. This is because you usually have large implied odds with your drawing hands and
large reverse implied odds with your high card hands. This does not mean that high card hands
are unplayable. It simply means you must be aware that one pair after the flop is nowhere near
the nuts, as stacks get deep.
As stacks get shorter, big pairs and high cards gain value, and drawing hands lose value. This is
because if you hit your draw, you will not be able to win much money. If you have $60 at $1/$2
and someone raises to $7, you should either fold or go all-in with your small pairs, suited
connectors, and suited Aces. You will simply not flop a strong hand often enough to justify
investing such a high percentage of your stack before the flop. I am sure you see players

51
misplay this situation on a regular basis. While you should usually fold these hands, you should
go all-in when you expect to have a decent amount of fold equity.
If you are short stacked and a tight player raises from first position, you should fold your
drawing hands, but if a loose, aggressive player raises from late position, you should probably
go all-in. Pushing all-in takes advantage of your hand’s raw equity and your fold equity. The
formula for figuring out if raising all-in is profitable is: (percent you steal the pot)(size of the
pot) + (percent you get called)((your equity in the pot)(total size of the pot) – amount you put in
the pot)).
Suppose a tight player who only raises with premium hands and a few sporadic bluffs raises to
$6 from first position. Everyone folds to you on the button with 8-7s and a $60 stack. Let’s
assume your opponent will call your all-in 90% of the time. Your equation would be:
(.1)($9) + (.9)((.31)($123) - $60)) = $.90 - $21.87 = a $20.97 loss. Clearly pushing in this situation
is a horrible idea. Notice we didn’t even account for the times the blinds wake up with a
premium hand, which will be about 4% of the time each. Just so you know, the .31 in the
equation is your equity in the pot (31%) versus your opponent’s calling range, and was
determined using an online poker equity calculator, such as the free program, Equilab.
Alternatively, you should push if a loose, aggressive player, who you know raises a wide range
when everyone folds to him, raises to $7 from the cutoff and you have 8-7s on the button.
Suppose your opponent raises 70% of hands and will call your all-in with the top 7% of hands.
This means he will call your all-in 10% of the time. Against this range, your 8-7s has 32% equity.
So, you have (.9)($10) + (.1)((.32)($123) - $60)) = $9 - $2.06 = a $6.94 profit. Again, I did not
account for the players in the blinds, but their impact is negligible. As you can see, pushing in
this situation is incredibly profitable, so much so that you can profitably push with any two
cards. When your opponent does not call your all-in often enough, your fold equity will make
almost any short stacked all-in profitable. While pushing in this situation is extremely profitable,
be aware that if you go all-in too often, your opponents will figure out your strategy and adjust.
You must also understand that if you have no fold equity because your opponents will happily
call your all-in with their entire raising range because “it is only $60”, you should wait for a
hand that crushes their range and then get all-in.
For a thorough discussion on how to play with varying stack sizes, I suggest you check out
Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1. Although Secrets is about tournaments,
the strategies discussing play with various stack sizes directly apply to cash games.

Playing with a straddle

A straddle is a voluntary blind bet, usually two times the size of the big blind, placed by the
player in first position. This effectively acts as a third blind that is twice the size of the big blind.
The player to the left of the Straddle goes first before the flop and the Straddle then has the
option to raise once the action gets back to him. I strongly suggest you never make a traditional
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straddle unless it is required in your game, which effectively turns the game into a game with
three blinds. In general, players who voluntarily straddle are trying to increase the amount of
action in a game, or they are simply looking to gamble. It should be clear that making pots large
when you are out of position is not a good idea.
The most important thing to realize is that the straddle cuts the effective stack size in half. $200
is 100 big blinds at $1/$2 but only 50 big blinds at $1/$2/$4. This means you should use a
strategy suited for 50 big blind stacks, assuming you have $200. In general, with that stack size,
big pairs and big cards gain value and drawing hands, such as suited connectors, suited Aces,
and small pairs, lose value. Your bet sizes should be adjusted to account for the larger pot size.
A typical preflop opening raise should be to $12.
One play most aggressive Straddlers have in their arsenal is raising from the straddle when lots
of players limp, and reraising when there is a raise and a lot of callers. For example, at $1/$2/$4
with $200 stacks, someone raises to $14 from early position and four players call. The Straddle
can then either raise large or go all-in, forcing everyone to need a decently strong hand to call.
When facing this type of player in the straddle, strongly consider calling initial raises with your
premium hands (rather than reraising). Against Straddlers who only make this raise over
limpers (notice the raise will not be as large due to there being no preflop raise), you can limp
with your premium hands and then either limp-call or limp-reraise, depending on the size of the
Straddler’s raise and any additional action before you.
Some casinos allow players to straddle from any position. The person to the left of the straddle
goes first before the flop and then the action proceeds as it typically does after the flop. For
example, if the person in the cutoff straddled, the Button would go first before the flop, then
the Small Blind, the Big Blind, First Position, and so forth. If you are on the button when the
Cutoff straddles, you should either limp or raise with a wide range because you will be in
position against the Straddle, who will probably be aggressive with many hands that are worse
than yours. At the very least, you see a cheap flop in position.
Some casinos offer a Mississippi straddle, which is where the person on the button straddles
and then the Small Blind goes first. Posting a Mississippi straddle with a deep stack is often a
good play because it forces the blinds to be in a horrible spot, since they have to go first preflop
and postflop. Notice the Mississippi straddle will usually result in you seeing a bloated flop in
position, which isn’t a bad thing. From the blinds when a Mississippi Straddle is posted, you
should usually develop a relatively tight limping strategy because you have a bit of money
already invested and you have to worry about the rest of the table picking up a hand. You also
have to worry about the Button making a sizable raise, forcing you to fold. You should limp with
your playable hands and fold your trashy hands. If you think the Button is frequently going to
raise, as many will, you should just fold hands that don’t flop well. It is amazing how often
people limp from the blinds only to be blown off their hands by a Straddler’s raise. Do not set
yourself up to be in a bad situation unless you plan to capitalize on it by limping with a premium
hand in the future.
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Postflop Strategy

While executing a balanced strategy is important in middle and high stakes games, in small
stakes cash games you should try to maximize your value from each and every hand you play.
The concept of balance goes out the window unless you play with the same opponents on a
regular basis. Even then, especially if they are not good at poker, they will not be able to
correlate your exploitative plays to specific types of hands.
Before delving too deep into postflop play, you must realize that hand values are not fixed.
They constantly change based on the number of players in the pot, your opponents’ preflop
ranges, your opponents’ tendencies, your image, the board texture, the effective stack size, and
your hand. You will find that overpairs and top pairs can range from being nearly the nuts to an
obviously beat junk hand.

Two examples will better illustrate this concept. Suppose you raise with A -Q to $6 and a
loose, passive player calls from the button. The flop comes Q -8 -7 . You bet $10 and your
opponent calls. The turn is the (Q -8 -7 )-7 . You bet $22 and your opponent calls. The
river is the (Q -8 -7 -7 )-4 . You bet $50 and your opponent calls with A-8, giving you a
nice pot. In this situation, even though the board got a bit rough by the river, your top pair, top
kicker is a premium hand, assuming your opponent shows no aggression.

Instead, suppose you raise with A -Q to $6 and four players yet to act call. The flop again
comes Q -8 -7 . You bet $20 and three players call. The turn is the (Q -8 -7 )-7 . You
check, one player bets $60, another calls, and another folds. Even though you could still have
the best hand, it is highly probable someone improved to trips. The intelligent play, assuming
your opponents are not blatantly crazy, is to fold.
Notice that the number of players in the pot drastically changed your hand’s strength even
though nothing else changed. Keep this in mind as we proceed through the postflop section.
Players who crush the games extract maximum value from their marginal made hands while
getting away from normally strong hands once it becomes clear they are beat. Compared to
preflop skills, postflop skills are much more difficult to master, primarily because there are
many more situations that can arise. This section will to teach you how to tackle the situations
you find yourself in most often. Realize that learning how to play in common situations will only
take you so far. You must actively put your opponents on ranges in each and every pot you
play. Failure to do so will certainly leave money on the table.
In this section I will first discuss how to play the most common situations heads-up and then
how to play them multiway. Please recognize I am not going too in-depth on any individual
situation. For a thorough treatment of how I approach postflop play, please refer to Jonathan
Little on Live No-Limit Cash Games, Volume 1.

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Heads-Up
On the flop, you will have a premium hand, a decent top pair, a junky middle or bottom pair, a
draw, or trash. While the value of each hand in each category will vary, they can be lumped
together for simplicity.

When you have a premium hand

With your premium hands, you have to figure out whether or not you fear being outdrawn.
With hands where you do not fear being outdrawn, you have to figure out how likely your
opponent is to have a strong hand. For example, if an overly tight player raises to $6 and you
call on the button with 2-2, if the flop comes 5-2-2, you do not need to fear being outdrawn. If
your opponent bets, it is usually best to slow play even though he probably has a strong hand.
However, if you get the vibe that he has exactly an overpair and will never fold to your
aggression, you should raise to get the money in immediately before a card comes that could
scare him off. If instead, you raise with
Q-J, one player in late position calls, and the flop comes Q-Q-J, it is quite difficult for your
opponent to have anything. This should lead you to check, giving your opponent the
opportunity to either bluff or improve to a decent, but still second-best hand.
When you have the nuts but can easily be outdrawn, you should bet. Slow playing these hands
can lead to disaster. For example, if you raise with 4 -4 and you see a 9 -8 -4 flop heads-
up, you should almost certainly bet. Middle card boards are excellent for the preflop caller,
meaning your opponent should have a much stronger range than you. Obviously in this exact
situation, you have a much stronger hand than normal. You should start by betting with the
intention of checking if the turn is a spade and continuing to bet on most other cards, even
ones that complete the obvious straight draws. Notice that 4-4 is not exactly the nuts, but it is
close enough. You usually do not need to play the nuts and the second nuts differently because
both hands are so strong that you will rarely fold. On 9 -8 -4 , top two pair and better hands
can all be played as the effective nuts.

When you have a strong one pair hand

With your strong one pair hands, you should usually bet as long as it is likely that your
opponent has a worse hand. Just like when you have the nuts but fear a redraw, it is usually
best to check once your top pair loses a large portion of its value. For example, if you raise and
get one caller with A -J and the flop comes J -T -5 you should certainly bet. If the turn is
a spade, King, or Queen, you should usually check with the intention of calling at least one bet.
If the turn is any other card, you should continue betting an amount that marginal made hands
can realistically call. With top pair, it is mandatory that you choose bet sizes that allow worse

55
hands to call. In this example, you should usually bet about half of the size of the pot on safe
turn cards because marginal made hands will usually fold to a larger bet.
Another concept you must master if you want to have any chance of winning at small stakes
cash games is that you can bet for value with the intention of folding if you get raised. Say you
raise to $6 with A -J and see the same J -T -5 flop. You bet $10 and your opponent calls.
The turn is the (J -T -5 )-7 . Even though an obvious straight draw completed, there are
many other draws and marginal made hands your opponent could have. Against typical timid
opposition, you should bet $17 for value. If your opponent calls, you should assume he has
either a worse made hand or a draw. If your opponent raises, you should almost certainly fold,
assuming he improved on the turn to a hand that has you crushed. This strategy works
amazingly well, especially against players who play in a relatively straightforward manner on
the turn and river, which will be almost everyone in the player pool besides the maniacs. If you
bet $17 on the turn and your opponent calls, you should continue betting for value, perhaps
$28, on all safe rivers, again with the intention of folding if you get raised.
It is quite common to see small stakes players, when facing a flop continuation bet, raise when
they make top pair because they want to win the pot immediately. Against all but the worst
calling stations, this is a huge mistake. Almost all of the value from top pair comes from
extracting value from worse made hands, not by raising and picking up a small pot when your
opponent is drawing thin. What often happens is that these players raise with top pair and then
face significant aggression. They are usually unable to fold, resulting in them getting all-in with
top pair versus a hand that has them crushed.
For example, you raise with A-A, 8-8, 7-7, A-K, A-Q, J-T, or 5-4. Someone calls on the button.
The flop comes K-7-4. You make a continuation bet and the Button raises with his K-Q. Notice
that with A-A, 7-7, and A-K, you are never folding. With A-Q, J-T, 8-8, and 5-4, you will fold. Your
opponent’s raise forces you to play perfectly. This means that when your opponent wins, he
wins a small pot and when he loses, he loses a large pot. Routinely raising the flop with top pair
is one of the main reasons amateur small stakes players consistently lose.
Against opponents who you think might raise the turn with a range wider than only premium
hands that beat top pair, you should often check with the intention of check-calling down on
most boards. Most aggressive players realize that their opponents will continuation bet on
most flops. They also realize that most players will give up on the turn when they have a
marginal or weak hand. Against these aggressive players, a powerful strategy is to check to
them on the turn, inducing them to bluff, while also making it very difficult to get pushed off
your hand by a sizable turn or river raise.
For example, suppose you raise to $6 with K-Js from middle position and a loose, aggressive
player calls from the button. The flop comes K-Q-6. You bet $10 and your opponent calls. The
turn is the (K-Q-6)-9. Notice you could easily be crushed by a straight or two pair. If you bet and
get raised, you will have a tough time withstanding the pressure. This is an excellent spot to

56
check to induce your opponent to bluff. So, you check and he bets $22. Calling is the only play
that has any merit. Notice if you raise, your opponent will know with a high degree of certainty
that you have a strong hand, which will result in him playing perfectly. Notice that there are
very few bad river cards for you. If you check the river and your opponent bets, you should call.
Even though an Ace bumps you down to middle pair, most aggressive players view an overcard
as a card they simply must bluff. If a Jack comes, you have two pair and your opponent may also
view that as a mandatory bluffing opportunity. Perhaps the worst card for you is a Queen, but
even then, it is likely your opponent is trying to blindly attack your “obvious” weakness. So,
once you check the turn, your plan should be to call down almost every time.

When you have middle or bottom pair

Middle pair and bottom pair are difficult hands to play because, while they often have a decent
amount of value, if significant money goes in the pot, you are almost always beat. Although top
pair is usually strong enough to value bet against most players, middle and bottom pair are not.
As with top pair, it is important to realize that middle pair can be a reasonably strong value
hand or absolute junk. For example A -Q on K -Q -2 is fairly strong, but on K -Q -J , it
is quite weak.
You will find that the best strategy with middle pair against most players is to value bet the flop
with the intention of pot controlling on the turn, as you should do against loose, aggressive
players with top pair. This will allow you to see a showdown cheaply with little risk of getting
blown off your hand.
Alternatively, with your weak top pairs and strong middle pairs, checking the flop is a
reasonable strategy, especially if you think your opponent will only call your flop bet with a
strong range consisting of middle pair and better. The purpose of checking is to control the size
of the pot and allow you to see a cheap showdown with what is usually the best hand if
relatively little money goes in the pot. You will find that this situation frequently occurs when
you raise with a big pair and an overcard flops.
Suppose you raise with J-J from middle position to $6 and a somewhat straightforward player
calls from the small blind. You assume his range is mostly non-premium pairs, big cards, and a
few suited connectors. The flop comes Q-6-3. While you probably have the best hand, if you bet
and your opponent calls, he should have a Queen a large percentage of the time. However, if
you check and he checks to you on the turn, you can be much more confident that he doesn’t
have top pair. Also notice there are very few bad turn cards for you besides an Ace or King. If
your opponent bets the turn after the flop checks through, you should tend to call at least once
versus almost everyone because most players will either attack “obvious” weakness or value
bet too thinly with a hand like 8-8 or 6-5. The combination of these two factors should lead you
to call the turn and often the river, assuming you don’t have a strong read on your opponent.

57
Checking the flop minimizes the amount you lose when you are crushed while maximizing the
amount you win when your opponent is drawing thin.

When you have a drawing hand

Draws tend to come in three types, premium draws, marginal draws, and trashy draws.
Premium draws are flush draws with additional equity, such as a straight draw or overcards.
Marginal draws are naked flush draws, open ended straight draws, and gutshot straight draws
with overcards. Trashy draws are gutshot straight draws with one overcard, naked gutshot
straight draws, and naked overcards. It is important to realize that some draws should be
played as if they are premium hands, while others should routinely be check-folded when you
aren’t the aggressor. Failure to accurately assess a draw’s strength is the downfall of many
small stakes poker players.
You should play your premium draws aggressively, assuming your opponent’s range does not
entirely consist of premium hands. This is because they tend to have roughly 45% equity against
even the strongest ranges. For example, suppose someone raises to $7 and you call with
T -9 from the button. The flop comes 8 -7 -3 . Your opponent bets $12. Your optimal
play depends almost entirely on your opponent’s tendencies. If you think your opponent’s
range is generally weak, you have excellent options at your disposal. You can raise the flop, or
you can call the flop, either with the intention of betting the turn if your opponent checks or
raising the turn if he continues betting and you miss.
If you think your opponent will only continuation bet with his premium hands, there is little
point in raising because he will rarely fold. While investing significant money in a roughly
neutral spot isn’t too bad, a much better strategy is to improve to the effective nuts before
piling in your stack, especially if your opponent will pay you off when you hit.
When you are fortunate enough to complete your draw to the effective nuts, you should raise
versus some players and call versus others. In the high stakes games where players are capable
of getting away from strong hands when faced with aggression, raising when you make the
effective nuts is almost always an error. A better play is to continue calling, hopefully inducing
your opponent to think you have a marginal made hand. This is often the best play against the
better players in the small stakes games. Remember back to how I suggested you play top pair,
betting for value until you get raised. If your opponents implement that same strategy, raising
when you improve to the effective nuts is a horrible play because they will fold. However,
against players who are incapable of folding top pair, it is usually best to put in a small turn
raise. Against blatant calling stations who are always ready and willing to get all-in with top
pair, put in a large raise, perhaps even an all-in raise.

Suppose someone raises to $8 and you call with 9 -8 .The flop comes T -7 -3 . Your
calling station opponent bets $14 and you call. The turn is the (T -7 -3 )-K . Your opponent

58
bets $30. This could be an excellent spot to go all-in if your opponent seems to have a hand he
likes and is unable to fold. If instead, your opponent is capable of making a big fold, assuming
you decided to call the flop instead of raising, you should call the turn, looking to raise or call on
the river, depending on the situation.
Marginal draws are a bit tougher to play because you often have to rely on fold equity in
addition to your actual equity to show a profit, especially if your opponents are good enough
not to pay you off every time you hit. This should lead you to play marginal draws a bit more
aggressively than premium draws, assuming your opponents will often fold to your aggression.
Suppose a tight player who only raises premium pairs and premium big cards raises to $7 from
early position and you call with J -T on the button. The flop comes Q -9 -4 . If your
opponent bets $10, you should almost certainly call because the only hand in your opponents’
preflop raising range he will fold to a raise is A-K. When he has any other hand, you are in bad
shape. Also notice that your opponent may check the turn when he doesn’t have top pair or an
overpair, giving you the opportunity to steal the pot.
Now suppose a loose, aggressive player raises from middle position to $7, you call on the
button with J -T , and see the same Q -9 -4 flop. If your opponent bets $10, you should
strongly consider raising to $27 because your opponent’s range is much weaker, meaning he
will frequently fold to your aggression.
When you complete your marginal draw on the turn and your opponent continues betting, it is
usually best to call unless he is a calling station. Remember, you don’t want to do anything that
will allow your opponent to drastically narrow your range to entirely premium hands. That
being said, if you have J -T on a Q -9 -4 board and call a continuation bet, if the turn is a
heart and your loose, aggressive opponent continues betting, you should strongly consider
raising as a bluff to represent the flush. You must understand which cards would be great for
you and horrible for your opponent. As long as you are known to be capable of calling, instead
of raising with your drawing hands on the flop, you can easily represent any draw that comes in
on the turn with a raise. Of course, once your opponents figure out you are capable of bluffing
in this spot, you should also raise with your nut hands to keep them guessing.
The concept of maximizing fold equity also applies to your junky draws. Whereas with your
marginal draws you have a reasonable amount of equity, with your weak draws, you have to
rely almost entirely on fold equity. This is because if your opponent has any sort of made hand,
you may have as little as 10% equity. However, this does not mean you must always raise or
fold on the flop with your junky draws.

Suppose someone raises and you call with A -3 on the button. The flop comes J -5 -2 .
Your opponent bets. At this point, you should either raise or call depending on how you expect
your opponent to react. If you expect him to fold immediately when he has nothing, you should
raise. If you expect him to call your flop raise with a wide range, you should call. When you call

59
your opponent’s flop bet, you should have a clear idea of how to proceed on various turns. If he
continues betting on the turn and you think he will bet with an overly wide range, you should
raise every time you fail to improve, usually with the intention of checking behind on the river if
you don’t make a straight. If your opponent will only bet the turn with strong made hands, you
should fold. If that opponent checks, you should bet the turn every time, whether or not you
improve. With draws that are worse, such as 5-4 on 8-7-2, you should usually raise or fold on
the flop because there are so few cards that can come on the turn that you actually want to
see.

When you have junk

When you have a junky hand, meaning you probably have very little equity, such as with
7-6 on K-J-3 or A-4 on 9-8-7, if you are the preflop caller and your opponent bets into you, you
should fold almost every time. Unless the board is particularly great for your range and you
expect it to be bad for your opponent’s range, there is no shame in conceding a tiny pot.
However, it is important to realize that not all junky hands are created equal. K-Q is much
better than 4-3 on J-8-5 and should occasionally be turned into a semi-bluff.
When you have junk as the preflop aggressor in a heads-up pot, you should usually
continuation bet when the board should be good for your range, when the board should be bad
for your opponent’s range, or when you get the vibe that your opponent missed the flop.
For example, suppose you raise from early position and a player who you know only calls
preflop raises with small pairs, marginal Broadway hands, and suited Aces calls from the button.
You can continuation bet almost all boards because small pairs will fold when big cards flop, big
cards will fold when middle and small cards flop, and the suited Aces will fold when an Ace or
flush draw doesn’t flop. If instead, your opponent is known to call with suited connectors
because he reraises with all his other playable hands, you should continuation bet all boards
except those containing multiple middle cards because these should connect well with your
opponent’s range.
Against most opponents, you should check on boards containing three middle cards and also
when you have a marginal made hand, such as top pair with a bad kicker or middle pair. If you
flop a strong hand on a board containing three middle cards, your play should depend entirely
on how you expect your opponent to react. If you think he will attack your “obviously” blind
continuation bet, you can confidently bet, knowing you will get action. If you expect him to
simply fold when he misses, you should consider checking. While checking will occasionally give
away a free card that lets your opponent outdraw you, it will also make you much more difficult
to play against.
Your continuation bet sizing should also depend on how you expect your opponent to react. In
general, as the board contains more draws, you should bet larger. This is mainly because you
want to cut down on the implied odds of the draws. In single raised pots, your continuation
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bets should be roughly half of the size of the pot on dry boards, such as K -7 -2 , and 3/4 of
the size of the pot on coordinated boards, such as J -T -5 . In reraised pots, you should size
your bets a bit smaller since you will easily be able to get all-in by the river when using smaller
bets, because the preflop pot is much larger. One of the main benefits of betting large on the
early streets is to let you build a large pot by the river. If the pot is already large because of a
preflop 3-bet, you no longer need to be concerned with building it. Your goal shifts to keeping
your opponent in with all made hands that you crush.

I want to make it perfectly clear that there is nothing wrong with raising A -5 and then
check-folding on J -8 -6 , especially if you get the vibe that your opponent likes his hand.
While continuation betting is a profitable play against most opponents in most situations,
sometimes you are throwing good money after bad.
When you raise preflop, flop nothing, make a continuation bet, and then get called, you have to
figure out if you should fire an additional bluff on the turn. In general, when the board changes
in a way you don’t think helps your opponent, you should fire again. For example, if you bet
9-8-3 and your opponent calls, if the turn is an Ace or King, you should bet every time. Notice
on the turn you should have way more top pairs in your range than your opponent. If an
obvious flush or straight card arrives on the turn, you should also consider betting, especially if
you think your opponent will raise on the flop with his draws, meaning most of his flop calling
range is marginal made hands. But if you think your opponent is the type of player who will
raise on draw-heavy flops with his made hands for protection, when he calls your flop bet on
draw-heavy boards, he probably has a draw, meaning turns that complete the draws are
horrible for you. This same logic applies to when you should bluff the river. If the board changes
in a manner that should be good for you and you think your opponent will fold most of the
time, consider betting again. Bluffing the turn and river is a broad topic that is covered in-depth
in Jonathan Little on Live No-Limit Cash Games. In Volume 2 of that best-selling series, I review
numerous hands where I attempt postflop bluffs, some ending well and some ending in
disaster. As you become a more skilled cash game player, I highly suggest you check it out.

Additional Tactics
Another common play you see amateur small stakes players make is to lead into the preflop
raiser. You will find that most of these players make this play with marginal made hands in
order to “find out where they are at”. While a few players will mix up their range such that they
are difficult to play against, meaning they lead with marginal made hands, draws, and premium
hands, once you figure out the leading range of a specific player, you can crush him. For
example, if you know a player always leads with top pair, bad kicker, and middle pair, good
kicker, but folds when raised, you can simply raise him every time he leads. Also notice that
leading with these hands takes them out of his checking range, making his checks much weaker.
If your opponent leads with that same range but never folds to aggression, you can raise for

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value whenever you have top pair crushed and call when you are getting the proper odds to
draw.
I strongly suggest you do not have a leading range without having specific reads on your
opponents. For example, some players will always raise when led into. Against these players,
lead with your premium hands then call your opponent’s raise, inducing him to continue
bluffing on later streets. If your opponent will fold when led into unless he has a premium hand,
you can lead with a wide range of junk. In reality, most players are at least somewhat
unpredictable, meaning you will have a difficult time predicting what they will do in abnormal
situations. Also, leading takes specific hands out of your checking range. I prefer my checking
range to be as strong as possible, especially when I am out of position. The last thing you want
to do is let your opponents know that when you check, you are usually planning to check-fold.
Another situation that frequently occurs in small stakes games is facing a player who will call
any bet, regardless of its size, when he has a hand he thinks is worth playing, but will fold to any
bet when he has nothing. Against these players, at least until they figure out your strategy, you
can bet large when value betting and small when bluffing. This will allow you to extract
maximum value from your strong hands and cheaply bluff with your trash.
One key situation worth addressing is when you find yourself on the river in a sizable pot with a
hand you think has a lot of value. Just because your hand has a lot of value does not mean you
should raise with it every time. In order for a value bet to be profitable, assuming your
opponent will never attempt to bluff you, you must have the best hand at least 50% of the time
when you raise and your opponent calls. Against players who will only call river raises with the
nuts, raising for value with less than the nuts is often a bad idea. Against players who will call
river raises with any made hand, raising the river with a wide range of value hands is ideal.
Suppose someone raises to $7 from middle position and you call with A-Q in the small blind.
The flop comes A-8-6. You check, your opponent bets $10, and you call. The turn is the
(A-8-6)-4. You check, your opponent bets $22, and you call. The river is the (A-8-6-4)-A. You
check and your opponent bets $42. This is a situation where you have either a clear call or a
clear raise. If your opponent only calls a check-raise with a full house, check-raising is a horrible
idea because when you check-raise and get called, you lose. If your opponent calls a check-raise
with any made hand, such as K-8 and better, you should raise because your opponent will call
with a wide range of made hands that you crush.
When choosing a river check-raise size, your opponent’s tendencies and probable calling range
are your main concerns. If your opponent is prone to calling with a wide range, such as with 9-9
in the previous example, unless your opponent is a blatant calling station who is oblivious to
bet sizing, you should raise somewhat small, perhaps to $89. If your opponent doesn’t care
about bet sizing and simply thinks he has a hand too good to fold, you should go all-in. If
instead you find yourself in a situation where you have the nuts and you think your opponent
has the second nuts, you should make a large river raise because he will call any raise size.

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A common leak of some small stakes players is to always raise huge or always min-raise on the
river. If you blindly choose a specific bet size in every generic spot, you are leaving money on
the table. Always think about your opponent’s tendencies and the range of hands you are trying
to get value from, then size your bets accordingly. For example, suppose you have K -9 on
an 8 -7 -6 -2 -5 board, giving you the straight flush. If your opponent bet the flop, turn,
and river, you should certainly raise large because he either has the Ace high flush, the lower
straight flush or nothing. Min-raising in this situation would be a disaster because most people
are incapable of making a big fold with the second or third nuts.

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Multiway
The main difference between multiway and heads-up pots is that someone is more likely to
have connected with the flop. While you can usually get away with continuation betting
somewhat blindly in heads-up pots, as more and more people see the flop, you should revert to
playing straightforwardly. For example, if you raise with Q-J and one or two players call, you can
justify continuation betting on K-7-2, but if four to eight players call (as will usually be the case
in the softest games), you should check with the intention of folding to a bet. When you have
nothing in a three-way pot and the flop is coordinated, such as J -T -6 or 7 -6 -4 , you
should usually be content to check-fold. While you should attack heads-up pots aggressively,
you must be more selective in multiway pots.
Advisedly, you should not play blatantly straightforwardly in multiway pots. One prime situation
you should look to attack on a regular basis is when you are in position and everyone checks to
you, especially when you are not the preflop aggressor. Suppose a straightforward player raises
to $6 from second position, a passive player calls in middle position, you call on the button with
K-J, and the Big Blind calls. The flop comes Q-7-4. Everyone checks to you. Most Big Blinds will
check their entire range, meaning you cannot narrow his range very much, other than removing
premium preflop hands because he would have probably reraised preflop with them. The initial
raiser probably missed the flop because he would continuation bet with top pair or better. The
first caller probably missed as well because he would also bet with top pair or better. Both the
preflop raiser and the first caller are “capped” at having middle pair and worse. This means you
are essentially betting into one player, the Big Blind, who could have anything other than
premium preflop hands. Even though this pot is multiway, you should take a stab, betting about
$15 into the $25 pot. If the Big Blind calls, you should proceed with caution. If one of the other
players calls, you should assume they have, at best, top pair with a marginal kicker, and be
prepared to bluff again on the turn and river. Unless your opponents are blatant calling
stations, you will usually be able to make them fold top pair, bad kicker and worse made hands
by the river. In general, if you have reason to believe most of your opponents in a multiway pot
are not interested, do not be afraid to attack, especially if you could realistically have a strong
hand. While you will occasionally be able to steal multiway pots, most of the time you will have
to rely on your cards.

When you have a premium hand

When you have a premium hand, it is usually best to simply bet for value, whether or not you
can easily be outdrawn. This is because it is likely one of your opponents has a decently strong
hand you beat. The only time you should consider slow playing is when it is clear that if you bet,
you will only get action from a hand that will pay you off regardless of how you play your hand.
You do not want to slow play when slow playing may let a good, but second best, hand off the
hook.

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For example, suppose someone raises from early position, you call with A-J, and six other
people call, including the blinds. The flop comes A-A-J. The blinds and the initial raiser check to
you. Notice if any of the players yet to act have an Ace, they will bet, allowing you to play a
large pot. In this situation, slow playing has some merit. If instead, the same number of players
saw the flop but you were on the button and they checked to you, you should bet because if
you check, someone with an Ace will be able to see the turn with a much smaller pot, making it
difficult for you to play for stacks. All of this being said, slow playing in multiway pots, especially
when you are susceptible to draws, is a costly mistake. Slow playing hands like trips or two pair
is almost always wrong.
When you have a premium hand on the flop, make a bet, and get some callers, if the board
drastically changes on the turn in a way that makes your hand much worse, it is usually ideal to
check and see what develops. If the turn checks through, you should usually continue checking
on the river unless your opponents are calling stations. If the board gets even worse for you,
continue to check.

For example, you raise to $6 with 8 -8 from early position and five players call. The flop
comes 8 -7 -5 . You bet $20 and three players call. If the turn completes an obvious straight
or flush draw, you should check, looking to check-call when you are getting the proper implied
odds to draw to your full house and fold when you aren’t. This may seem overly tight, but when
numerous players see the turn, some of them will have draws, especially when you have a
premium hand (taking premium cards out of your opponents’ ranges). If the turn is a safe card,
you should continue betting for value, usually about 70% pot.

When you have a strong one pair hand

Top pair and overpairs are tricky hands to play postflop, but if you listen carefully to what your
opponents tell you, you will be able to fold when you are crushed. As when playing heads-up, if
you bet and get called, you can generally assume you have the best hand, and if you get raised,
especially by reasonably straightforward players, you can assume you are beat. As with your
premium hands, if you see a horrible turn in a multiway pot, check-folding is perfectly
acceptable.

When you have middle or bottom pair

Middle pair and bottom pair are hands that should be played incredibly cautiously in multiway
pots. It is important to realize that these hands are acceptably playable in three-way pots but
are trash in seven-way pots. Suppose someone raises, three people call, and you call with
9 -8 on the button. The flop comes K -8 -7 . The initial raiser bets and someone calls.
Even though you have middle pair and a backdoor straight draw, assuming the bet is not
abnormally small, you should fold because one of the two players probably has a superior made

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hand and the other probably has a draw. This means that some of your outs may not be good.
For example, the 9 is almost certainly a bad card. Occasionally, you will be against K-K or 7-7
and lose a large amount of money when you improve. While most players recognize middle pair
is a drawing hand in this situation, they fail to realize it has huge reverse implied odds. You
want to draw to hands you can confidently continue with versus numerous opponents. Middle
two pair when facing aggression on the turn is not a situation you want to be in.

When you have a drawing hand

Playing draws is tricky on multiway flops because when someone bets and numerous players
call, some players have made hands and others have draws. If you have a clean draw to the
nuts, such as A -3 or K -Q on J -T -5 , you should be happy to call and see what
develops. If instead you have 4 -3 , you should consider folding to one flop bet if it is clear
that many players will see the turn.
As your draw gets worse in multiway pots, you should consider ditching it early. However, there
are times when you can profitably call with a junky draw, especially when it is to the effective
nuts. Suppose someone raises to $6 from early position, four players call, and you call with
A -4 on the button. The flop comes K -5 -3 . The initial raiser bets $8 and all four players
call. This is a situation where you can justify calling $8 to win $73 with your gutshot. You must
be aware that the 2 is not the ideal card for you. If you improve to top pair when the flush
draw misses and face a turn bet, you should probably call then fold to additional river
aggression. As long as you approach these situations cautiously, they can be profitable.
There are times when you should apply pressure with your draws, especially when it is clear
that most of your opponents have weak ranges. For example, if you flop a draw and everyone,
including the initial raiser, checks to you, you should usually bet the flop with the intention of
betting most turns, assuming you see the turn heads-up. Suppose someone raises, four people
call, and you call with T-7 from the big blind. The flop is 9-8-3. Everyone checks to the Button,
who bets. You should strongly consider check-raising to roughly 2.7 times the Button’s bet if
you think he is aware he can steal this pot a decent amount of the time. However, if you think
the Button will only bet with a strong hand, perhaps because he is known to be a
straightforward player, you should call and see what develops.

When you have junk

When you miss the flop in a multiway pot, it is usually best to simply check-fold. While this may
seem quite weak, it is likely that someone else has a decent hand. There is no point in trying to
bluff people off decent hands. A common mistake amateur players make is to raise a hand like
A-K from early position, get multiple callers, and then continuation bet when they fail to
improve to at least top pair on the flop. These players often compound the error by continuing

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to bet when they still have nothing on the turn. Do not fall into the trap of vastly overvaluing
strong preflop hands that become weak after the flop.

When the pot is large

You will find that hand values drastically change as the pot size increases. For example, you
raise A -A to $6 from early position and five players call, including the blinds. The flop comes
9 -8 -4 . The Small Blind leads for $24 and the Big Blind raises all-in. Even though you could
have the best hand, you should typically fold unless your opponents are bonkers. Instead,
suppose someone raises to $6, three people call, you raise to $34 from the button with A -A ,
and they all call. The flop comes 9 -8 -4 . In any reasonable scenario, even though you are
against the four players, you simply cannot fold because the pot is too large. The only time you
should consider folding is when all three players before you push all-in. When you have a
reasonably strong hand in a huge pot, your goal should not be to fold without an excellent
reason.
Be aware not to take this concept too far, especially when you are against someone who has a
strong range. Suppose you raise from early position with A-Js to $6, three players call, and then
a somewhat tight, straightforward player reraises from the button to $30. It should be clear
that folding preflop is a perfectly acceptable play. Instead, you decide to call. The flop comes
A-T-5. Everyone checks to the Button, who bets $80. Even though you have top pair, you should
fold. The only hands in your opponent’s range you beat are K-K, Q-Q, and J-J, which he may
check behind on the flop. If instead, the preflop reraiser is a blatant maniac, you should either
call or go all-in on the flop because you crush numerous hands in his range, such as A-3, K-Q,
and 8-7. Always be sure to assess your opponent’s range and adjust accordingly.

Overbetting
When you see most small stakes players make a huge overbet before the river, they are usually
trying to protect their decently strong made hand. They want to do everything in their power to
ensure they don’t get outdrawn. When they overbet the river, they know they have the best
hand and want to get full value. As discussed earlier, this strategy is horrible because it forces
their opponents to play well. If you find yourself against one of these players, refuse to pay
them off.
There are some players, especially in 3-bet pots, who will overbet with their unpaired hands,
such as A-K on J-8-4, and bet smaller with their made hands, such as K-K and A-J, on that board.
Against these players, you should be somewhat inclined to call their overbets (which will usually
be all-in due to the preflop 3-bet) with a wide range of paired hands. But clearly this play can
easily backfire if you have the wrong read.

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While I generally do not recommend overbetting, there are two main spots where it makes
sense. The first is when you are against someone who refuses to fold, either because he is a
calling station or because you think his range contains almost entirely strong, but second best,
hands. This is a typical spot to make a large overbet: You raise with A -2 from late position
and the Big Blind calls. The flop comes Q -7 -4 . The Big Blind checks, you bet $10, and he
calls. The turn is the (Q -7 -4 )-3 . He checks, you bet $24, and he calls. The river is the
(Q -7 -4 -3 )-K . Your opponent checks. At this point, if your opponent has a Queen or
worse made hand, he will almost certainly fold to any bet. If he has two pair or better, he will
call a reasonably large bet, but he probably won’t have many two pair hands besides exactly
K-Q in his range. If he has a flush, he will call any bet. This means you should either bet a tiny
amount when you think he has a Queen or worse, or bet a huge amount when you think he has
a flush. Suppose your opponent has a Queen or worse 75% of the time and a flush 25% of the
time. You think he will call a $25 bet with a Queen or worse and a $160 all-in bet with a flush.
To figure out which bet is better, multiply each bet times the percentage of the time that bet
gets called. Notice your opponent may raise the $25 bet with a flush, which we will ignore. He
may not call a $25 bet with his total trash, but we will ignore that too. So, your opponent will
call a $25 bet 100% of the time, meaning this bet size profits $25. When you bet $160, your
opponent will call 25% of the time, meaning this bet profits .25($160) = $40. Even though the
large bet gets called only 25% as often as a small bet, it shows much more profit. Failure to
recognize situations like this will leave a lot of money on the table.
Another time to overbet is when you think your opponent’s range contains mostly marginal and
weak made hands, which he will fold to a large bet. Suppose you find yourself in the same
situation as the previous example except this time, you think your opponent doesn’t have a
flush, perhaps because you know he always check-raises the flop with flush draws, you know he
leads the river when he makes a flush, or he makes it clear through his mannerisms that the
river severely diminished his hand’s value. This is an excellent spot to overbet as a bluff
because, unless your opponent is a calling station, he will fold his entire range. Even if you have
a hand as strong as Q-T, you should consider turning your hand into a bluff because if you bet
small, he is likely to call with all non-flush hands that beat you and only a few hands you beat.
By going all-in, you win the pot every time. Clearly, winning the pot every time is much better
than only winning when you have the best hand. As long as you use this play sparingly, it will
show a huge profit in the long run.

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Other Topics

While you certainly must master the technical side of poker if you want to succeed, there are
many other aspects you can work on that will help take your game to the next level. In fact,
once you progress to the higher levels, where everyone knows how to play their cards
reasonably well, mastery of the non-technical skills is what separates the big winners from the
break-even players.

Tells
The average player in small stakes cash games has little to no control over their physical
mannerisms. This is probably because they are oblivious to how powerful tells are. If you pay
attention to your opponents, you will frequently see behavior that is obviously weak or
obviously strong. You can use that information to narrow your opponents’ range significantly,
allowing you to make well-informed decisions. Nevertheless, most tells should only slightly
sway your decision one way or the other. If you are bad at the technical aspects of playing
poker but are great at reading people, you will lack the full spectrum of skills required to
succeed.
The first thing you must do to start gathering reads on your opponents is to stop being
concerned with only your two cards. You are not playing solitaire. Pay attention to your
opponents. This simple concept cannot be stressed enough. You must develop a baseline read
of how your opponent acts on a regular basis. From there, you should look for behaviors that
are out of the ordinary. Look for things that drastically change. For example, if someone
normally has calm, steady hands, but all of a sudden, they start shaking, that almost certainly
means something. If you pay attention, you can figure out if your opponent’s hands shake when
he has a premium hand, when he is bluffing, or every time he plays a big pot. While almost any
movement or gesture can be a tell, I will list some of the tells that I find most useful against
amateur players.
The first tell is the “I am obviously interested” look. When an amateur player gets a hand he
plans to play, he often sits up in his chair and visibly becomes interested in what is happening at
the table. You will see this behavior both preflop, when someone is dealt a premium starting
hand, and postflop, when he improves to a strong postflop hand. Suppose you raise with J-Ts
and four players call. The flop comes T-9-4. While this would be a standard spot to continuation
bet, if two of the players to your left become obviously interested, it is probably best to either
check-call or check-fold, depending on the action. Being aware of your opponents’ level of
interest in spots like this will allow you to save numerous continuation bets.
The opposite of the “I am obviously interested” look is the “I am obviously not interested” look.
This tell manifests itself most often in multiway pots after the flop. Most players will stop

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paying intense attention to the game and go back to focusing on whatever they were focusing
on before the hand. Suppose you raise with Q-J and four people call. The flop comes
K-8-7. If all of your opponents become clearly uninterested in the pot, you should continuation
bet, even though you should normally check-fold in this situation.
The rate at which your opponent blinks is often an indicator of hand strength, assuming he
blinks at different rates at different times. In general, players blink a lot when they are bluffing
and blink normally when they have a strong hand. Most players’ heart rates vary wildly
depending on their hand’s strength. Some players’ hearts beat faster when they attempt a large
bluff. Again, you have to study your opponents to figure out their specific tendencies.
Some players will give you “the speech” or “Hollywood” during a hand. This is almost always an
attempt to get you to call. In general, when someone is bluffing, he will be quiet and still. Some
players can’t even put together a coherent sentence when bluffing. If someone is trying to goad
you into calling, do not pay him off. While trying to talk your opponents into calling may work
against the absolute worst players, it will utterly fail against the rest. You will find that other
players talk when you are about to make the opposite of the play they want you to make. If you
are about to call, they will say something in attempt to get you to fold. If you know a player
always talks when his opponents are about to make the correct decision, when he doesn’t talk,
it means he wants his opponent to make the incorrect play.
The speed at which your opponent acts can also be a huge indicator of the strength of his hand.
Some players will take forever when they have a premium hand whereas others will act quickly.
If you can pinpoint how your opponent acts with each type of hand, you can use that
information to help you make better decisions. When someone makes a quick bet or raise, it is
usually with either a very strong hand (because he knows he is going to bet) or a very weak
hand (because he wants to look as if he has a strong hand). Most players will have one of the
two ranges, either really weak or really strong. Most players do not mix it up. When someone
calls a bet quickly, it is usually with a mediocre made hand or a draw. This is because with
mediocre made hands, most players know they are not going to fold or raise. Most players feel
the same way about drawing hands, resulting in the same fast call. Other players take their time
with their marginal hands, such as weak made hands and draws. They need some more time to
analyze the situation through when they are unsure of what to do. Knowing that someone
thinks before calling a bet on the flop with middle pair and worse can allow you to value bet top
pair, bad kicker on all three streets.
Keeping track of these tells, and many more, may seem overwhelming so instead of initially
focusing on everyone at your table, focus on the players seated directly next to you, as you will
play most of your pots with them. Once you have some rough reads on them, branch out to the
other players at the table, again focusing on the players you will play with the most. Over time,
the act of observing your opponents will become a routine aspect of playing live poker.

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It should be clear that you should strive to have no tells. While some middle and high stakes
players are capable of reading tells, most small stakes players are simply playing their cards and
acting naturally. There is no point in trying to give off a false tell to trick your opponents
because they probably won’t even see it. Instead, do your best to remain stoic when you are
involved in a pot. Remain stoic until you no longer have your cards. Do not fall into the habit of
becoming uninterested when you know you are folding because it will let your opponents know
that when you actually are interested, you are not folding. As long as you have cards, wear your
poker face.

Bankroll management
In small stakes games, there are primarily two types of players: those who are purely
recreational, meaning they can reload their bankroll by working their day job, and those trying
to play as a professional, meaning they cannot, or refuse to, reload their bankrolls from a job.
These players require drastically different bankrolls because they have a different tolerance of
risk of ruin. For example, if you make $2,000 per month at your job, losing your weekly $100
poker allowance is not a big deal. However, if you only have $2,000 to your name, losing $400
in one month is huge. I want to make it perfectly clear that no amount of bankroll management
will save a losing player. Using proper bankroll management, winners can ensure that they will
have the ability to play in the future, even when they are running poorly.
If you have a soft $1/$2 cash game in your area that doesn’t charge a huge amount of rake, it is
quite possible to win $20 per hour or more with a bankroll as small as $3,000. While a $3,000
bankroll may sound like a lot, assuming you want to treat your bankroll as a true professional
does, it is quite small. As you move up, your bankroll requirement will increase in terms of big
blinds. This is because the games will tend to get tougher as you move up, meaning you will win
fewer big blinds per hour. If you need $3,000 at $1/$2, you will probably need $12,000 at
$2/$5. If you play well within your bankroll, you will not mind the losses too much and can
comfortably grind out a nice profit with minimal swings. Notice that this is the opposite of what
most small stakes players do. They show up to the casino with their entire net worth and try to
run it up. If they win, they are ecstatic. If they lose, they are devastated. Going through large
amounts of emotional turmoil will drive you crazy. If you want to stay sane, I suggest you keep
a large bankroll.
Although I am personally not a fan of having a “stop loss”, which is an arbitrary rule you set
saying you will quit each day, week, or month after losing some amount of money, I realize it is
a good idea for most amateur players who lack emotional control. I have watched numerous
players obliterate bankrolls by going on tilt and losing a large amount of money in a single
session. If you know that in each session you typically win one or two buy-ins, you should
probably not have regular sessions where you lose 10 buy-ins. While it would be ideal for you to
have no emotional connection to money, I realize that most players go on tilt when things go

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poorly. As an arbitrary default, in 100 big blind games, you should at least consider stopping for
the day if you lose 300 big blinds, assuming the game is not great.
When you are at the table and lose some amount of money, assuming you are profitable in the
game, it is usually a good idea to reload, which is when you add more money to the table.
Personally, if I am playing in a game where I can buy in for 100 big blinds, if I dip below 90 big
blinds, I will add 10 big blinds to the table. I simply keep additional chips in my pocket and add
them as necessary. I do not suggest you buy in for 100 big blinds and then play until you either
have no chips on the table or until you are finished for the day. This strategy will occasionally
result in you having a 30 big blind stack. If you are a winner in your games, you typically want to
have a large stack. By having a short stack, you will miss out on many profitable situations.
It is important to recognize how much rake the casino is taking. In the past, at $1/$2 no-limit,
the casino would take $3 per hand. While this amount of rake is reasonably beatable, some
casinos now take as much as $10 per hand. If your casino rakes more than $5 at $1/$2, it will be
difficult for you to win, even if you are a great player. You must be disciplined and realize that
you do not have to play a game simply because the casino spreads it. There are extremely soft
home games where I live, which rake 5% of the pot, uncapped. A somewhat standard large pot
may be $10,000, meaning the house rakes $500 in each of those hands. Especially if you cannot
get in as a huge favorite on a regular basis, this rake is simply unbeatable in the long run. If you
decide to play in a game with high rake, you should adjust by playing very tight before the flop.
If you only play three hands per hour, but they are all significant and you win most of them, you
will pay a minimal amount of rake. If instead, you are involved in numerous small pots, despite
winning more than your fair share of them, you will lose money on average due to the rake.
Each time you pay the rake, you cut into your profits. If the rake is huge, you don’t have to play.
As you beat the small stakes games, you will eventually grow your bankroll. I suggest you move
from $1/$2 to $2/$5 when your bankroll increases to roughly $8,000. If you dip back to $6,000,
it is probably wise to move back down to $1/$2. Of course, these recommendations should
change based on your risk tolerance. If things go poorly at the higher stakes, or you move to the
higher stakes for a while and then you start losing, especially if your bankroll is in jeopardy, do
not be ashamed to move down. I have seen numerous players forfeit their chances of success
because they had too much pride to move down. Instead, they continued playing the high limits
until they were broke. Don’t be like them.

Mindset
While your mindset, attitude, and outlook on life will not make you a winning poker player,
having control of your emotions will certainly make life more enjoyable. If you enjoy life, you
will be much less prone to go on tilt, which is a serious leak for most small stakes players. I,
along with Dr. Tricia Cardner, discuss numerous psychological aspects of poker in our book,
Positive Poker, but I will address a few of them here.

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As I see it, you are on tilt any time you play differently than you would if you were playing your
absolute best. Players go on tilt for many reasons, such as making a poor play, getting unlucky,
having an argument with their partner, or from being too excited. You must constantly be
aware of how you are feeling and if there is something that is altering your thought process. If
there is, acknowledge your feelings, realize it shouldn’t affect your strategy, and then continue
playing fundamentally sound.
Most players in small stakes games go on tilt when they get unlucky. They feel they should win
every time they have the best hand. As you should know by now, you will not win every time
you have the best hand. If you get all-in with A-A versus 2-2, you will lose 18% of the time. If
you get your stack in and lose in this situation, you must realize you did nothing wrong. If you
did nothing wrong, you have no reason to be upset. If a result is expected some portion of the
time, when it happens, it should not surprise or anger you. It is simply part of the game.
Previously I used to go on tilt was when I realized I made a mistake. I worked hard to cure my
tilt and eventually I figured out that if I recorded my hands in a notebook, I could forget about
them and mull them over in the future, away from the table. Whatever causes you to tilt, work
hard to eradicate it. Whenever you play less than your best, you will leave a lot of money on the
table.
While each player reacts to tilt in various ways, if someone is obviously upset and playing
poorly, quantify what he is doing incorrectly and then adjust your strategy to take advantage of
him. It is common to see a normally tight, aggressive player become a maniac or a loose,
passive player become a calling station. If you pay attention, you will be able to tell when
someone is off their “A” game.
There are a few other attitude leaks I think are worth mentioning. First, do not complain about
things. At every table, there seems to be someone who is unhappy with every aspect of life.
This person is rarely focused on poker and almost always plays poorly.
I suggest that you do not discuss strategy at the poker table. While most small stakes players
want to get better at the game, they should discuss the game away from the table, not at it. By
discussing strategy at the table, you reveal your thought processes to your opponents, which
clearly isn’t a great idea. You may also educate the players who are inferior to you. If you want
to talk poker with someone at your table, wait until you are finished playing for the day.
Some players drastically change their strategy when they know their session will end soon. The
vast majority of small stakes players have a leak where they want to end each session either up
or even. They can’t stand going to sleep a loser. It should be clear that this is an asinine thought
process because each session is actually part of one never-ending session. The last hand of your
previous session might as well be the first hand of your next session. If you recognize that
someone at your table is playing passively, trying to lock up a winning session, you can probably
push him around a bit more than normal. If someone is down a buy-in, he may gamble a bit

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more than normal in an attempt to get even. Being aware of these factors can help you make
better decisions.
Assuming you strive to become a professional, or even a winning poker player, you must
develop the mindset of a pro. Most professional poker players do not care about the routine
swings of the game. They realize that sometimes they will win and other times they will lose.
Pros monitor their emotions and recognize when they are not thinking clearly. They keep a
large bankroll to ensure they don’t go broke. They do not let annoying people or circumstances
take them off their game. They do not let things bother them at the table. Professionals live a
healthy life, both at and away from the table. They work hard studying the game and are
constantly developing their skills. They do not get discouraged when things go poorly, even for
a long period of time. Pros are impossible to keep down. If you want to succeed at this difficult
game, you must develop the mindset of a true professional.

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Quiz Time!

Now it’s time to put the knowledge you gained by reading this book to the test. I created a
short companion quiz for this book, which you can find at:

CashGameIQ.com

It's only 10 questions long, and each question relates to a specific concept I discuss in this book.
If you get a question wrong, the quiz will direct you to the appropriate section in this book to
learn more about that topic.

I suggest you keep taking this quiz until you get a perfect score.

Take the quiz now by visiting:

CashGameIQ.com

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Conclusion

Congratulations on reaching the end of this book! You now have a solid foundation to be a
successful small stakes cash game player.

If you would like an additional resource to help you master small stakes cash games, I have
something you might be interested in. I played a 15-hour live $1/$2 cash game session at the
Borgata where I won $650. I reviewed 30 hands from that session on a live webinar to show
you exactly how I did it. I also discussed numerous mistakes I saw my opponents making.

If you would like to watch the first 31 minutes of this 3-hour cash game webinar for free, visit:

http://jonathanlittlepoker.com/livecash

Other books by Jonathan

Strategies for Beating Small Stakes Poker Tournaments
Excelling at No-Limit Hold’em
Jonathan Little on Live No-Limit Cash Games, Volumes 1-2
Secrets of Professional Tournaments Poker, Volumes 1-3
Positive Poker
The Main Event with Jonathan Little
Crushing Small Stakes Poker Tournaments, Volmues 1-14

You can get the audiobook version of many of these books at JonathanLittlePoker.com/free

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