"Crushing the Microstakes" Nathan Williams

Question 1

Facing an EP raise

Answer 1

Regs (and tight passive opponents) tend to be tight from EP so give them respect, therefore you should tighten your calling range.

Question 2

Which hands should you call a preflop raise with? (3)

Answer 2

1) Pocket pair with intention to set mine
2) You have a big ace and don’t want to 3bet, especially if it is a nit or reg in EP
3) You’re IP and fish are involved in the pot. If no fish are involved then it’s best to fold

Question 3

Calling raises in general

Answer 3

Either look to 3bet or fold, usually fold as you need to have the initiative going into the flop

Question 4

3betting: things to remember

Answer 4

• key is to do it at the right spots especially IP
• do not put yourself in difficult spots before/after the flop; you need to make your decisions easier so don’t 3bet just for the sake of 3betting
• most of the time 3betting should be tighter and for value, but you should loosen up at higher stakes

Question 5

What is light 3-betting?

Answer 5

Light 3betting is using less than premium hands and take control of the betting and initiative. Should be used if opponent has a high fold-to-3bet and/or high fold-to-cbet (above 70%). Usually 3x IP or 4x OOP the size of the original open.

Question 6

What if somebody 3bets you?

Answer 6

You should fold most of the time especially when OOP. If it is a bare minimum 3bet then call especially when IP.

Question 7

Hand strength: No Pair

Answer 7

1) No Pair Hands: put the least amount of money in the pot for pot control, you should give up or check it down.

Question 8

Hand Strength: Paired Hand

Answer 8

• still does not win much in the long run
• play with caution using pot control by checking turn/river
• best to get involved w/ top pair as it would be hard for your opponent to have it as you already have one in your hand and the other is on the flop (leaving only 2 left)

Question 9

Hand Strength: 2pair

Answer 9

• play aggressively and for stacks, pot control not as important
• difficult for opponent to have better, if they do then it’s just a cooler
• 2pairs can be a gray area so use discretion and take note if there are aces or potential draws on the board.

Question 10

Difference between set/trips?

Answer 10

• 55 on a 952 board is a set; 89 on a 993 board are trips
• sets are stronger b/c it has hidden strength, and also it is harder for a set to be outkicked by another set
• trips are more easier outkicked as any number of hands can beat trips.

Question 11

Set Mining 101

Answer 11

(1) If you intend to set mine and you miss your set (or oesd) then you should usually fold.
(2) You need to have the correct odds to set mine and continue

Question 12

Planning out a hand

Answer 12

• make your decisions for later streets before you get to them
• choose black/white, do not be mamby-pamby and say “I’ll call and see what happens.”
• Instead plan your lines and say instead ““I am going to call the flop with the intention of raising the turn on X, Y and Z cards. And I will call the turn and river for value as long as A, B or C cards don’t come.”
• in general, when facing aggression at the micros it is best to fold most of the time.

Question 13

Not cbetting?

Answer 13

• usually where you are OOP against fish and the flop is wet and coordinated which hits their perceived range and you don’t have a piece of it
• check those boards when OOP against an active TAG or maniac, best to check/fold and not waste a cbet on them.
• the most “profitable” thing to do is check/fold against most opponents unless they min-raise;
• fold 1/3 pot or more

Question 14

Cbetting the following:

• 60%
• 75%
• 100%

Answer 14

• 60%: flop hasn’t improved your hand much but hits your perceived range and not theirs; hits both of yours but you’re in IP; IP is best as they have shown weakness and you will control pot size; OOP check/fold
• 75%: you have a good>great hand either OOP/IP against a stick reg (a nit/TAG that folds -60%)
• 100%: against bad players (maybe even some regs situational) and you have Top Pair Top Kicker TPTK+ either OOP/IP

Question 15

Donked into!?

Answer 15

• check the HUD for donk stats
• you will only be paired 33%, if donk stats are higher then they will have a weak hand
• donks are usually dinky so 3x their bet
• if you raise make sure you have equity even if it’s a gutshot/two-overs as they will call with their draws/pairs
• check down at least 6 outs or ace-high

Question 16

What if your flop cbet gets raised?

Answer 16

-Cbet/fold to passive player types, but you may call against more aggressive types

Question 17

What if you get floated?

Answer 17

• a float tells us that your opponent probably hit the board in some way but not in a huge way (or trapping)
• response depends on player type: if a player is a nit or tight reg who folds to cbets 70%+ then you should probably give it credit; if a player is a fish that calls with a wide range they probably have weak/middle pairs, gutshots, and overs and don’t deserve as much respect

Question 18

The “Turn”

Answer 18

• if you don’t have top pair + by the turn you shouldn’t be putting another penny in that @#$! pot
• this mostly applies to the micros and against a decently sized bet and not dinky min bets
• even after being aggressive and you can’t shake them off you have to accept that you’re probably behind.

Question 19

Pot Controlling

Answer 19

• slowing down the action by check/calling or checking behind
• dependent on player type: loose passive / fish then bet b/c of their wide range; regs you should x/fold as they usually don’t call with as much worse hands like fish do

Question 20

Bluffing

Answer 20

• you are done with the hand w/o top pair+ on the turn, but…
• you can bluff sticky regs who float a lot if there is a scary turn card and/or you have a good draw
• 60-70% pot is fine here
• if they call your turn bluff then give up by the river

Question 21

Bluffing the fish

Answer 21

• keep it to a minimum as they almost always call
• if you don’t have anything by the turn then give up
• if you at least have a draw then pot control

Question 22

Delayed Cbet

Answer 22

• You didn’t cbet the flop with a mediocre strength card (middle pair/top pair no kicker) and you usually are OOP vs an aggressive opponent
• if your opponent bets the flop, call it, then re-evaluate on the turn (most don’t check twice if they have something decent); if they bet big then let them have the pot
• if it goes check/check on the flop, bet your mediocre strength hand on the turn for value; if they raise the turn then fold.

Question 23

River: no pair hands

Answer 23

• best to give up at this point
• fish are different, they will often ‘bluff’ missed draws, their small ‘bluffs’ give us good odds and we only need to be right a small amount of the time; however if they bet 1/2 pot or more best to fold
• BUT we need to be at the very top of our no-pair range with a strong Ace-high at the bare minimum.

Question 24

Value River Betting with a Top Pair hand

Answer 24

• If OOP then probably bet, if IP it’s an easier bet as most don’t check a good hand twice; 60% pot bet is good enough
• for fish/SLPs then a big bet is best especially if you are ahead of their range.

Question 25

Value River Betting with Bottom/Middle Pair

Answer 25

• probably should not value bet too often as opponents’ ranges are polarized by the river which means they will either fold missed draws or call/raise with better
• fish/SLPs will often call with worse
• if up against a reg, then bet with MPGK+ at the minimum

Question 26

Extraction

Answer 26

Getting the most maximum value of your good>great hands at the micros, most fish/SLPs will call with garbage

Question 27

Extraction: TPTK

Answer 27

• use pot control against reasonable opponents

- bet big on all 3 streets vs. fish/SLPs (and even some regs)

Question 28

Extraction: 2pair

Answer 28

• dry board try to get 3 streets of value;
• all player types beg big, more than 50% pot
• Fish/SLPs use pot size
• regs then 75% so it doesn’t look too obvious
• as with anything, look at board texture; check behind, x/call, and x/fold vs. some players by taking their AF and bet sizing into account.

Question 29

What do you do when you hit sets?

Answer 29

Depends on position and whether you are preflop raiser/caller:

• IP as Preflop raiser: cbet big when they check you OR 4x+ raise if they try to lead
• IP as Preflop caller: bet close to pot if they don’t cbet OR 4x+ their raise
• OOP as Preflop raiser: cbet big
• OOP as Preflop caller: x/raise 4x

Question 30

General strategy for sets?

Answer 30

Bet, bet, shove

Question 31

Pocket Overpairs

Answer 31

Bet, bet, shove for the most part