Micro Stakes Playbook: Preflop/Flop

Question 1

Winning poker summed up:

Answer 1

Consistently exercising your skill advantage over weaker opponents AND not giving them that profit back over to them by going on tilt when they only got lucky.”

Question 2

2 key components of reading a player’s hand

Answer 2

1) Type of Player

2) Actions: a sequence of decisions that a player makes throughout the hand or the “line” they take

Question 3

Flop probabilities

Answer 3

• 30% of flopping a pair
• 12% flopping trips (if you have pocket pairs)
• 2% flopping a two pair
• 1.3% flopping a straight
• 0.8% flopping a flush

The best players know this, and they know that their opponents will not have much either.

Question 4

If you’re the preflop raiser

Answer 4

Default is to cbet and take it down

• Nits/TAGfish will have fold-to-flop-cbet 70-80%
• Cbet around 60%, mathematically speaking we only need folds 1/3 times to make a profit

Question 5

Breaking Nits on the flop

Answer 5

• high fold-to-cbet stats: cbet them frequently, and even if they don’t fold it will help set you up for additional pressure on the turn
• remember to always be mindful of board texture, position, and outs

Question 6

Making the fish pay on the flop

Answer 6

• if you have a value hand (most likely to be the best) then bet 100% of the time even if it is just Ace-high or King-high
• value hands are usually Top Pair +, 2pair+ 100% of the pot
• x/raise is more effective vs. maniacs but doesn’t work with passive whales/fish who will always just check.

Question 7

Staying in control vs. good regs

Answer 7

• keep them guessing about your range so mix it up
• for example, don’t cbet with your strong hands, mix it up with x/call, x/raise, and/or more aggression
• from the blinds, mix it up with more flat calls with your 3bets when defending your blinds
• remember: good regs will also float you light, so don’t just auto-cbet like you would with a weak reg/rec
• if you display fake weakness on the flop, they’ll bluff you (hence another reason why position is important)

Question 8

Floating Cbets

Answer 8

• you call cbets with the intention of taking the pot away on later streets. We have IP and some sort of equity
• be mindful of a wide gap between flop-cbet% and turn-cbet% which essentially means they give up by the turn if they’re floated
• remember: you can’t always give up if we don’t hit a pair or draw, you need to continue on some boards where you catch at least a small piece of the board even if it’s a backdoor draw or two overs. Float the flop with a wider range IP vs good regs

Question 9

Raising on the flop

Answer 9

Raise in the right spot, and do it about 10-20% of the time. Hands with at least 10-20% equity

• Never raise with pure junk/air
• The usual: sets, 2pair, Over pairs, Monster draws (12+outs)
• Situational: regular flush/straight draws, two overs with some backdoor equity, gutshots

Question 10

Handling 3bet pots

Answer 10

• 3bet pots can spiral out of control, MAKE SURE you are making +EV decisions at all times! 3bet pots are 3x more important than a regular pot
• You can float regs, for example if they x on the turn, you can fire away, but if they double barrel then get out (bad regs don’t bluff)
• Don’t over think, KISS
• bad regs give off clues about their hand strength