The key to winning micro limits poker
I have finally managed to exceed the $100 profit mark after about 5900 hands, not counting the wingows profit of course since Poker Office does not support that. Recently, I have been fortunate that my pocket aces are holding up when I go all in pre-flop.  Probability theory says I will lose about 1 out of every 5 times when I am all-in with pocket aces against any single opponent so maybe my pocket aces are due to get busted soon hehe.

I like the way an Internet player described the strategy of winning in no limit hold'em poker where the stakes are 2 cents/5 cents.  Don't expect to outplay your opponents.  Many of them are never going to fold once they hit anything when the flop comes.  Some pathetic players even call all the way to showdown with bottom or middle pair.  If you do not hit the flop, just let it go.  Your bets and raises are not going to throw these players off their hands.

You are only going to win pots when you make your hand so play tight.  Learn the poker mantra uttered by many experts like David Sklansky, "Use your skill to minimize your losses with your bad hands and maximize your profits on your big hands".

Also recognize this "theorem", that if you are good, you are gonna get drawn out more often than others because players more unskilled than you will get worse hands in with you.

The "proof" of this theorem is by contradiction. Let me start with some definitions first.

By definition, a "good" player is one that can lay down second best hands. Also, by definition, "draw out" means you have the second best hand at the flop or the turn. However, you ignore the pot odds and continue to call, say a pot-sized bet, and the next card that comes results in your hand being the winner.

Now comes the fun part when we "prove" the theorem. Suppose not, that a good player often draws out on his opponents. We can easily see that this implies he is often not able to lay down his second best hands. But then this implication contradicts the definition of being a good player, QED =)

Let me illustrate the above theory by showing a hand where I managed to lay down 2 pairs when the flop was all of a single suit and my pot-sized bet was raised to 5 times the pot and called by another opponent.  It was so obvious to me that someone already made a flush so I managed to get away from my hand.

What was interesting was that, one other guy made a set but he was unable to let it go so, even if no one had a flush, my 2 pair would be no good.  The flop saved me from losing more I guess hehe.

From the above theorem, I was unable to outdraw him since I could lay down 2 pair. If I cannot lay it down and miraclously hit another ten either at the turn or at the river, giving me a full house tens of sevens, thus beating both players, I would have outdrawn them. Yes, they would curse at me, but I will always lose money in the long run chasing like that, making me a "bad" player hehe.


** Game ID 1356660791 starting - 2007-05-01 10:19:57
** Fresh Fuel [Hold em] (0.02|0.05 No Limit -  Cash Game) Real Money
- superson sitting in seat 1 with $2.89
- Ibelive sitting in seat 2 with $16.14
- ohmygodnbone sitting in seat 3 with $3.98
- pokergirl11 sitting in seat 4 with $1.48
- Chinchin8 sitting in seat 5 with $3.14
- wmarshall2 sitting in seat 6 with $3.09
- Trina205 sitting in seat 7 with $1.34
- atomicaster sitting in seat 8 with $4.45
- Guojing88 sitting in seat 9 with $1.51 [Dealer]
superson posted the small blind - $0.02
Ibelive posted the big blind - $0.05
** Dealing card to Guojing88: 7 of Hearts, 10 of Hearts
ohmygodnbone folded
pokergirl11 called - $0.05
Chinchin8 folded
wmarshall2 called - $0.05
Trina205 folded
atomicaster folded
Guojing88 called - $0.05
superson called - $0.05
Ibelive checked
** Dealing the flop: 9 of Clubs, 7 of Clubs, 10 of Clubs
superson checked
Ibelive checked
pokergirl11 bet - $0.05
wmarshall2 called - $0.05
Guojing88 raised - $0.22
superson folded
Ibelive folded
pokergirl11 called - $0.22
wmarshall2 raised - $1.13
Guojing88 folded
pokergirl11 called - $1.13
** Dealing the turn: 3 of Diamonds
pokergirl11 checked
wmarshall2 bet - $0.68
pokergirl11 went all-in - $0.30
** Dealing the river: Queen of Clubs
pokergirl11 shows: 9 of Spades, 9 of Hearts
wmarshall2 shows: 2 of Clubs, 6 of Clubs
wmarshall2 wins $3.26 from the main pot
End of game 1356660791</p>