6 Common Leaks Among Small Stakes Players

This article briefly discusses 6 very common mistakes made by micro and small stakes players. By correcting these mistakes you will improve your game and consequently increase your earnings.

1 – Ignore the position

Many people are aware that position is important but are determined to believe that it is not as important as they are told. It is impossible to combat people who play a lot of hands in position, calling or raising. Obviously everything matters in poker, but against tight blinds you should open more than 50% of your hands on the button when everyone has folded to you in a 6-Max game. Against loose and aggressive defenders with high 3-bets from the blinds you can do several things to combat them. Remember, you have position, you have the advantage. It doesn't matter if you are Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Phil Ivey or Patrik Antonius. If they had to play every hand out of position they would not win. Position, position, position. Open a lot of hands, make a lot of 3-bets and destroy your opponents in position. Start extremely aggressively and when people start to notice you, make your adjustments.

Party Poker is back in Brazil! Learn about the bonus and benefits when creating your Poker Dicas affiliate account.

2 – Robotic actions

When we refer to robotic or autopilot actions, we are not saying that all grinders who play a ton of tables are bad. That is not the case. There are mid stakes players who consistently play 16+ tables and crush the game with a huge winrate. However, these players are few and far between. They have done their homework away from the tables to figure out the most efficient way to play standard games and have an incredible amount of experience. The problem that many grinders face is that they use the “standard” line that is not the best all the time and then repeat their mistakes and problems over and over again. Often they are unaware of these leaks. If these players would spend time away from the table examining “why” they do certain things they would be more successful. Imagine going from a 1bb/100 profit to a 3bb/100 profit playing 16 tables. Do the work away from the tables and notice the improvements.

3 – Not taking your opponents into account

This is almost a repeat of the last tip, but many regulars have inflexible opening ranges and bet sizes. It's important to look at the players at a table before opening any preflop hands. Do you have calling stations in position on you? Are all players nits? Do you have an aggressive player 3-betting big on the button? Are there short stacks in the blinds? Is there a fish in the big blind? All of these things affect how often you open and bet size. Use your brain to figure out how.

Take advantage of your study time and create your 888 Poker account by clicking this link! You'll get $88 free* and you can also play our weekly $100 freeroll every Tuesday! (*$8 cash and $80 bonus).

4 – Predictable actions

In poker you often want to do the opposite of what your opponent expects you to do. There are some pre- and post-flop spots that are incredibly strong for integrating bluffs when you would normally have the nuts. Some examples of this type of spot would be 3-betting a light UTG raise or 3-betting an EP raise when you are in the SB or BB. Some post-flop spots would be to turn made hands into bluffs, such as check/calling two streets with a middle pair and check-raising the river to represent a different type of hand.

Whenever your opponent thinks your range of hands looks strong, it's a good opportunity to bluff. Naturally, this will be integrated into your hands where you actually have the nuts, and thus, you'll be called more lightly in the future and gain more value in some cases. Just make sure you can represent good hands and that there is a balance against good players.

5 – Paying passive players

Whenever you think about hero calling someone, just ask yourself one question. Is this person passive or aggressive? If the answer is unknown or passive, you should generally fold your hand to your big bet.

6 – Wasting chips pre-flop

Some players make emotional decisions instead of logical ones. Some think, “He must be 3-betting me lightly this time, I’ll 4-bet” based on gut feeling because they don’t like being 3-bet for the third time in two rounds. This is absolutely the wrong way to go about things. Yes, 4-betting is a good adjustment for someone who 3-bets a lot, but there are other adjustments to make, such as opening fewer hands, flat calling, 4-betting more for value, check/raising or check/shoving on flops. Your decision to 4-bet should not be based on responding to a provocation.

Article translated and adapted from the original: Cardschat