A Simple Yet Highly Profitable Poker Strategy You're Probably Not Using

A Simple Yet Highly Profitable Strategy at the Micros That You're Probably Not Using
This simple little strategy that I am going to talk with you about today can provide a massive boost to your win rate at the micros even against the best regs. And yet nobody seems to really ever talk about it at all! Ok so enough with the posturing already. What exactly am I talking about?

Intentionally tilting your opponents.

We all know that tilt is a game changer in poker. Even the very best players go on tilt from time to time and much of their technical know-how goes out the window. They begin to play on raw emotion and make snap decisions without thinking. 

Micro limit players in particular are notoriously known for this. But why should we wait until our opponent hits a huge downswing or we happen to cooler the crap out of them for this to occur? Is there a way for us to put them on tilt or to "get in their head" right now instead?

Of course there is! You just start fu messing with them!

Now this strategy isn't for everybody and it doesn't come naturally for most either. After all, what I am essentially advocating here is that you go out of your way to intentionally piss somebody off (I will explain exactly how to do it in detail below, don't worry!). We would typically never do something like this in real life though. And I get that.

However, poker is war. This is how winning poker players view it anyways. When I sit down at a poker table my goal is to bust every last person there. It might sound harsh but I am not there to make friends and I am not there for small talk. My goal is to get your chips and add them to my stack, period.


The Mental Game is Where the Really Big Edges Are Today


So therefore I think we should utilize every single edge that we can get. This is even more important in an era when people are constantly complaining about how hard the games are. Everyone is solid! No money at the micros!

This isn't actually true by the way.

You could always just utilize a little bit of table selection as well as stop playing Zoom and find bad players all over the place. But let's play along anyways.

If everybody is a world beater at the micros these days then why waste your time poring over every flashy new technical theory or piece of software that comes out claiming to give you a leg up on solid players?

You do realize that we call them solid for a reason right? You aren't going to suddenly find some new way to play AK that is going to shock the world.

The mental game is where the really big edges are found these days. The reason why is because most players at the micros are still incredibly weak in this area.

In fact you will often find me at the gym before each poker session because I find that this helps keep me more focused at the tables and it reduces my chances of tilting significantly.


I take the mental game of poker very, very seriously.




Now if you still don't believe the mental game is that important though just go visit any forum, reddit thread or anywhere where low stakes poker is being discussed and you will find somebody complaining about how their aces got cracked 3 times in a row.

Oh my God! Sound the alarm! They took a bad beat! This has never happened to anybody else in the history of online poker!

And with that their quality of play typically goes right down the pisser as well. They can't believe their awful luck! Nobody has ever run this bad for 2400 hands before. Nobody can understand their pain, all is lost etc.

All rational thought gets tossed out the window and they can become just as profitable to play against as the recreational players who we usually look for.

This isn't a phenomenon that is limited to the micros by the way. 

Many people have been commenting for years now that high stakes games only run when one of two conditions is true: a recreational player sits down or a reg is on tilt.

Tilt changes every thing. It turns good players, solid players, some times even world class players, into spewy ATMs.


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The 5 Step Process to Tilting Regs at the Micros


So let me break down my strategy to tilt regs here into 5 simple steps.


Step 1: Find the Mark


As I mention in my book, at the start of most sessions I will pick a reg who I have on my right on multiple tables and go out of my way to screw with them at every opportunity. Having position (especially direct position) is vitally important here so make sure that this is the case. 

Often though this will happen by pure fluke. A particular reg just happens to already be on your right on a bunch of tables. Easy, pick him.

However, I do want to be a little bit more selective than this at times. I much prefer that the mark be a bad reg (Nit or TAGfish). 

By the way, just use a good free poker HUD to easily identify player types in online poker.

The reason why is because these players are often marginal winners at best and therefore emotional stability is usually not a strong point for them.

This doesn't mean that I won't go after any of the good regs either though. I certainly do from time to time. However, it's just easier and more profitable to pick the low hanging fruit. 

I should add that I won't be talking about recreational players in this article because it goes without saying that you should be trying to isolate and tilt them at every opportunity already.

Lastly, once I have found the mark I want to be clear that I will be targeting them in this particular session only. I always pick a different reg every time. And therein lies another reason why this strategy is so effective.

Many bad regs at these stakes will automatically peg me as a maniac for life because I got out of line versus them during this one specific session. 

The reality is the exact opposite though. My play will actually revert to normal versus them in all future sessions. 

However, on many occasions I have had weak regs stack off ridiculously light to me weeks or even months down the road just because of the image that I created during this one single session.


Step 2: Be as Annoying as Possible


First things first, I am going to start 3Betting them every single time they open the pot. I don't care what I have, it could be 72o. A lot of bad regs play way too many tables these days.

Therefore, it will usually take them several orbits to clue in to what I am doing. So I will often get away with it many times in the beginning unless they happen to wake up with a really big hand.

I should mention that it is fine to mix in some preflop flatting and postflop floating/raising with any two cards during this stage as well.

I tend to lean towards 3Betting them more at the start though because it gets under their skin quicker. You should also be doing all the normal stuff like barreling the crap out of them on scare cards.

Example of me barreling several nits off their hands on the turn:




The main point here though is to be as utterly annoying as possible versus them in the early going and bluff them every chance that you get.

If you want to learn this loose and aggressive strategy in detail, I discuss it at length in my new Elite Poker University training.

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Step 3: Tighten Up Your Range and Run Big Bluffs


Eventually they will start to figure out that something is up. How long this takes varies from reg to reg. It might be just 3 hands with some. It might take 10 or more with another. It is usually pretty obvious when they start adjusting though because they will start doing things which are completely out of character.

For instance, they will start calling your 3Bets much lighter than normal or even 4Betting more than they usually would. If you have been flatting preflop and floating/raising postflop then they will start barreling or even bluff re-raising you with a higher frequency. So it is important that we re-adjust at this point as well.

I have two key goals here. I want to keep getting in a lot of pots with them but I also want to tighten up my range considerably as well. So instead of 3Betting them with any two cards I will have a much more value laden range that might look something like this:
putting regs on tilt online poker
Please keep in mind that I might choose to flat or even fold some of the hands listed above. It totally depends on the action in the hand and how my opponent has been adjusting. However, as you can see here this range is mostly made up of broadways, pairs and a few good suited connectors. Not the nuts by any means, but still fairly strong.

Furthermore, if I were to construct a range of the hands that I will 3Bet OR flat with here it would be even wider. Perhaps something like this:
A Simple Yet Highly Profitable Strategy at the Micros That You're Probably Not Using
I still want to play a lot of pots with them during this stage as I believe that I can still get away with plenty of funny business. At this point our opponent is highly suspicious of our actions but there is one key thing that you should always remember about most bad regs at the micros:

They absolutely hate to get their entire stack in the middle without the nuts.

That is, unless they view us as a maniac. But at this point they are still not sure. They will look at their HUD and see us as a reasonably tight player even if they are using versus hero stats because this is how I have always played against them before. So they will try to reason with themselves that we have just been hitting a sick run of cards.

The great thing is that if I can get away with a big bluff or two here (which I often will because it is really hard to make the nuts) then it will almost always be the tipping point which puts them on monkey tilt. 

And you must remember that even if we get caught it is not the end of the world. In fact it is insanely good for your image. When they see my ten high they will never give me any respect again and I will get all sorts of action in the future.

By the way, if you want to get the charts above, they are all included in my free poker cheat sheet.


Step 4: Value Town and Bluff Catching


Congratulations! By this point (unless they have been catching a bunch of cards) you have probably ruined this reg's day. He will be foaming at the mouth to get even with you. So it is definitely time for us to re-adjust again at this point.

In the end stages when I have them on life tilt I am going to revert to a completely normal 3Betting range. In fact I will sometimes tighten it up even more because I expect them to spaz 4Bet me a lot which can create a difficult spot with hands like 99, 88, AJ or KQ. So my 3Betting range at this point might be as narrow as this:
simple strategy putting regs on tilt
My 3Betting OR flatting range though is still going to remain fairly wide. Not quite as wide as before because I know that I am going to need to make a hand much more often now. But perhaps something like this:
tilting regs micro stakes
It is all about value now. We aren't going to get away with too many bluffs anymore. Our opponent is going to look us up if he has anything. On the flip side though, this means that we can expect to get some crazy value if we can make a hand. And it doesn't need to be a monster at all.

We could win a big pot by hitting top pair or even middle pair because we expect a lot more wild bluffs out of them and our value bets to get looked up almost every time. This is why I still intend to flat them reasonably wide preflop with the intention of calling down light quite a bit.

Our implied odds here are literally through the roof. And this is why I stressed how important having position was before. They will literally be fighting an uphill battle against us the whole way.

See the "Fish Psychology" section of my first book Crushing the Microstakes for much more on this.


Step 5: Profit


Employing this simple strategy is the easiest way to separate a micro reg from their stack in today's games. And even if it is not immediately profitable due to some run-bad you will often enjoy the benefits of your new terrible image for a long time to come.

All top pros have long known about this strategy and used it. In fact Phil Ivey even discusses it in detail in his new poker training program.

Because here's the thing.

Most regs at the micros these days have a reasonable knowledge of the technical side of the game. They know roughly what hands to play and where.

Many of them can even get away from their aces when you hit your set. You can pull some moves on them here and there but you will never win big with just an ABC TAG strategy.

If you want to win big versus the regs in today's games then it is important that you attack their mental weaknesses as well.

Get on their left on a bunch of tables and just make their life hell for awhile. Believe me, they aren't used to this at all and they won't take too kindly to it either. You will get all the action that you ever wanted after that!

If you want to know how to consistently make $1000+ per month at the micro stakes, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

Let me know in the comments below how this strategy works for you. If you enjoyed this article please "Like" or "Tweet" it below!

profitable poker strategy

Can You Win at Online Poker Without Using a HUD? [2024]

Can You Win at Online Poker Without Using a HUD?
A lot of people want to know if you can win at online poker without using a HUD. I see this question on forums all the time and I get emails about it as well.

Here is the short answer:

Yes, you can win at online poker without using a HUD. However, you are putting yourself at a big disadvantage by not using a HUD. Most online professional poker players use a HUD because it helps them get better reads while multi-tabling.


What Exactly is a Poker HUD?


For anyone who does not know what a HUD (Heads Up Display) is, it is a component of the popular poker tracking programs like Pokertracker 4 or Hold'em Manager 2. 

It allows you to display information on your opponents directly beside their name at the poker tables.

This information is extracted by these programs from your own hand histories. Hand histories are small text files that are automatically created by the poker site after every hand and stored on your computer.

So for instance, say that you have played 100 hands of poker with a specific player. And by this I simply mean that you were seated at the same table as them for 100 hands. You probably both folded preflop the majority of the time.

The poker tracking program will find 100 different hand histories where this player showed up and it will then be able to calculate for instance what percentage of those hands that they decided to play. 

You can then display this information (as well as many other stats) next to the person's name at the table if you wish.

So your online poker table with a HUD enabled may look something like this (I blacked out the player names to protect their privacy):

Winning at online poker without using a HUD


Don't worry about what all of these stats mean right now. I will have more on that later. First let me explain how these HUD stats will help you play better poker.


Using a HUD Simply Gives You More Options


Playing online poker without using a HUD would be like playing golf with only 2 clubs. There is a reason why most golfers (professional or amateur) usually carry around a dozen or more of them. It just gives them more options when confronted with different scenarios.

Could you still win a round of golf against someone by using just two clubs? Sure, if you played against somebody who is terrible at the game like me then you could probably still manage to get the win on most occasions. 

But if you were to play against somebody who is equally as skilled then this advantage that they have might be difficult to overcome.

The same goes for online poker. All a HUD really does is give you some extra options (information in this case) at the tables. You don't even have to pay much attention to it if you don't want to.

In fact for people just starting out at the lowest stakes I recommend a very scaled down bare bones HUD so that they focus more on the fundamentals of the game instead. Information is power though even if you only make limited use of it.

Think about how having the following data in front of you might help you make a better decision in a key spot:
  • Percentage of hands that they play
  • Percentage of hands that they raise
  • How aggressive or passive they are
  • How often they make a 3Bet
  • How often they fold to a 3Bet
  • How often they make a continuation bet on the flop
  • How often they fold to a continuation bet on the flop
I could go on but I think you get my point.

By the way, if you want to know all 12 poker HUD stats that I have personally used for nearly a decade as an online poker pro, I recently made a video showing you.


If you want to start using these HUD stats for yourself at the poker table right now, get the free trail version of the poker HUD that I use right here.


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But Using a HUD Isn't Real Poker!


This is a common complaint that I hear from those who are more let's say "old school" about the game or those who come from a live background. Many of these people think that a HUD breaks with the tradition of the game which includes reading your opponent and making gut decisions.

Well I think first off we need to remember that online poker and live poker are in fact two different games. While it is true that the rules are the same just about everything else is different from the pace of the action to the ability to physically interact with your opponent.

There is a huge dimension of the live game including physical tells, appearance and table talk that just really does not exist in the online game.

"Reads" in online poker are much more based on stuff like timing tells and betting patterns. And of course the other main difference is that the online game is played through a powerful computing device like a laptop, pc or tablet.

It is only natural that people are going to try and make use of this technology to their advantage. You must remember though: 

All a HUD really does is process data from a bunch of hands that you yourself have already played. 

While it might sound a bit ridiculous there is absolutely nothing stopping you in a live game from using some sort of mobile device and compiling data on your opponents in a similar way. So to answer another common complaint, no, there is absolutely nothing about using a HUD that is "cheating" or breaking the rules of the game.

At the end of the day the information that we get from a HUD merely gives us clues to work with. No HUD on earth can tell you what two cards your opponent is actually holding. If you had access to that sort of information then you absolutely would be cheating.

In online poker we still make decisions based on our gut instinct all the time. A HUD simply organizes the information that we already have in a more efficient and useful manner.


Using a HUD Pays For Itself Quickly


I actually scoffed at the idea of using a HUD for a long time myself, for years even. I have still played a slight majority of my 7 million+ hands of online poker without the use of one.

Nearly all of these hands were played several years ago though when the edges were bigger online and it was easier to get away without using a HUD. Also, very few of my opponents were using one at the time either which is certainly NOT the case today.

I eventually smartened up though after realizing how useful the information that they provide could be and how easy they actually were to use. Now when I sit down to play poker on the internet my HUD is always fired up and ready to go with hesitation.

It is not something that I even need to think about. A HUD is simply a key tool that all serious poker players use in today's games. And the reason why is because even with minimal use they pay for themselves very quickly.


For Instance:

You have QQ in an NL5 full ring game. You raise back and forth with a particular opponent and then he shoves all in. What do you do?

Can you win at poker without using a HUD?

Well, if you are using a HUD then you might notice that your opponent is a massive nit who only plays 10% of his hands. 

Most nits are hesitant to get all the money in preflop without the mortal nuts and your HUD might provide you with further evidence to back this up.

So there is probably a pretty good chance then that this player actually does have one of the two hands that beat you. You could probably safely lay down your queens and save yourself $5.

On the other hand, your HUD might tell you that your opponent is a maniac who plays 50% of his hands and raises and re-raises with a large amount of them as well. In this case we should quite literally beat our opponent into the pot.

We will most likely win and stack them for a $5 gain. A very simplistic situation like this will come up often enough that the entire cost of the HUD would be paid for in a short period of time even at extremely low stakes like this.

Now of course one might argue that you could just play a single table or two and watch your opponents closely. But then you would take away from one of the key strengths of online poker which is the ability to multi-table.

This allows you to maximize your hourly, get to the long run faster and collect more rakeback all at the same time. 

And also, raw numbers (actual data and percentages on your screen) are always going to be more accurate than your memory.

By the way, I discuss this in much more detail in my new BlackRain79 Elite Poker University training program. 

I also have an entire video showing you the 15 HUD stats that all online pros use, and that you need to include on your HUD as well.

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If You Are Serious About Online Poker, Then Use a HUD


If you take online poker seriously at all then getting a HUD is easily one of the most +EV investments that you can make.

This is not even to mention all of the innumerable benefits of the poker tracking program itself such as the ability to conduct a session review and a database analysis of your game and that of your opponents.

As we already saw, even if you only use your HUD for the most basic scenarios it would already start paying for itself very quickly. 

But furthermore, both of the major HUDs that are used these days have a free trial so you can simply test drive them for 30 days at no cost and see for yourself.

I personally use PokerTracker 4 when I play online because of how well designed the interface is, how easy it is to find stats, use filters and setup the HUD.

It is very easy to get started. I made this video in fact which shows you step by step how to get it running in less than 5 minutes.


And lastly, I have written a comprehensive guide on how to optimize your HUD which also happens to be the most popular post in the history of this website.

In it I discuss:
  • What each of the HUD stats mean and the technical abbreviations that are used
  • How I sort the stats on my HUD and use them to make poker decisions
  • Sample size convergence for various stats
  • Complete HUD customization including how to add or remove stats, change fonts, prefixes etc.
  • FREE downloads of both the lite and full versions of the custom PT4 HUD profiles that I personally use at the poker tables.

Make sure that you check that the online poker site you play at allows HUDs. Not all of them do but most of the major online poker sites do.

Bottom line, if you take online poker seriously, getting a good HUD is the biggest no brainer decision you can make.


Final Thoughts


I hope that this blog post has once and for all helped answer the question of whether or not you can win at online poker without using a HUD.

Yes, you definitely can.

If you are a solid player, table select well and keep the tilt to a minimum then you should have no problem beating most levels at the micros.

However it makes no sense to be without the kind of quality information on your opponents that a HUD can provide. 

This is information by the way that an increasing number of your opponents will have on you as you climb up the stakes.

Using a HUD is not some magic wand that allows you to print money at the tables. However, when used effectively it will help you make better decisions based on the data that you have already gathered. 

This will pay off in a big way over the long run.

If you are serious about online poker and you do not use a HUD yet then do yourself a favor and at least try one out. Don't be that anti-HUD hero. You are only hurting your own bottom line at the tables.

A HUD is just one of the resources that I use to improve my poker game by the way. If you want a complete list of all the poker software tools I use, you can find that right here.

Lastly, if you want to know how to start consistently making $1000+ per month in low stakes games, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.


Let me know your thoughts on playing online poker with or without a HUD below.

poker hud

How to Play Against the Fish Who Doesn't Fold Anything

How to Play Against the Fish Who Doesn't Fold Anything
We've all encountered them. The recreational player who does not fold to any bet.

It is as if they do not have a fold (or even a raise button) like the rest of us. They just like to call with anything and everything.

These types of players can be extremely frustrating to deal with when you are not running well.

There are simply going to be times when you are up against this type of player and you can't hit a flop to save your life.

It is very important not to get over aggressive here and try to bluff a player who cannot be bluffed.

You will see these players most often at the very lowest stakes with stats that look something like this:

64/5/1 (VPIP/PFR/AF).

By the way, these are HUD stats that you can get on your screen if you play online poker. Just use a good free poker HUD.

These are the limits where a typical bet size often isn't even as much as the price of a coffee. Therefore, if they have any kind of a draw they are calling. If they have bottom pair they are calling. If they have ace high, king high (hell, sometimes even 8 high), they are calling!

You need to remember that these players play the game in order to catch you in a bluff or make their long-shot draw to win a big pot. Logic and mathematics be damned. They get a thrill out of playing sheriff or making something ridiculous on the river.

Example of a terrible poker player making a terrible play (online poker):



There is no point in getting mad at these players, or even worse, trying to educate them. You need to accept them as they are and realize that their existence at the tables is one of the biggest reasons why this game is so profitable.

If you look at long term win rates (loss rates in this case) these players pay a heavy price for their terrible play. Often they are losing at 20bb/100, 30bb/100, 50bb/100 or more! They are literally giving away their money (at a very fast pace) in the long run.

So since we know exactly how these players think about the game the only thing that we should be concerned with is how to most profitably counter it.

There are two main points with regards to this that I want to cover in this article. The first one is mental, the second one is technical.


Do Not Get Frustrated


As mentioned it is extremely important that you do not to get frustrated when playing versus fish who don't fold anything. 

We already know that they are going call if they have any piece of the board so what is the point in getting annoyed when they go ahead and do just that? Let's be honest here.

The only reason that it is frustrating sometimes is because either a) you aren't hitting anything or b) they are hitting their long-shot draws much more often than they should. It is important to remember though that neither of these two events are normal.

When you are playing fairly good cards like most regs do these days (I suggest about 15% of hands in full ring and 20% in 6max) then you are going to have a decent hand after the flop a good amount of the time.

Statistically you will make at least a pair after the flop around 1 out of 3 times with a completely random hand. Since you are playing much better than a random hand you will hit the flop even more often than this.

I have long used physical exercise to help keep my levels of frustration and tilt down in poker. You could call it my secret weapon!




Bottom line though, sometimes you will have one of those sessions (or even a couple of them in a row) where you just cannot hit a flop, turn or even a river no matter what. On the other hand, sometimes you will have sessions where you literally knock it out of the park every single hand.

Curiously we tend to remember the former much more vividly than the latter. That is a topic for another post though. What is important to understand here is that neither of these two events (hitting nothing or hitting everything) are normal.

Also sometimes you will experience a session (or a few of them in a row) where these recreational players will hit every ridiculous draw in the world. We call them "long-shot draws" for a reason though. We all know that mathematically you don't hit a gutshot straight draw very often for instance.

It is roughly 11 to 1 with one card to come and 5 to 1 from the flop to the river. Same thing with bottom pair. 

Guess what normally happens when you call down the whole way with bottom pair? Yup, you guessed it! You still have just bottom pair on the river.

See my ultimate poker odds "cheat sheet" for more on the exact math in these common spots.

However, just like we discussed above, sometimes they will hit their ridiculous draws with a much higher frequency than they should.

On the flip side, sometimes they will hit even less often than the odds would dictate. Once again, we tend to recall the former much more vividly than the latter. And also once again it is important to remember that neither of these two events are normal.


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Are you struggling to beat the low stakes poker games? Do you want a simple step by step guide to show you exactly how to start winning consistently right now?
Blackrain79 free book
That is why I recently wrote this free little 50 page no BS guide to teach you exactly how to start crushing these games right now.

You will learn the exact strategies that I have used to consistently make $1000 per month in low stakes poker games.

Enter your details below and I will send my free poker cheat sheet to your email right now.









Value, Value, Value


So from a technical standpoint what is the most profitable way to counter the fish who doesn't fold anything? Well clearly trying to bluff them will be the worst strategy possible.

We already know that these players love to call with anything and one of the very reasons that they play the game is to catch you in a bluff! Trying to bluff these players is pretty much like kicking the ball directly into your own net.

This is why I stressed above that we need to stay calm against this player type when things aren't going well. This is because the tendency can be strong to get over-aggressive and "make something happen." They can't have it every single time! I will show them what is up!

Wrong.

Their bottom pair is still way ahead of your ace high. And guess what? They are going to call the whole way with it. By attempting to bluff them off of their hand you will simply lose much more money than you should have and also manage to tilt yourself even more!

The correct and most profitable strategy versus the fish who doesn't fold anything is to value bet the living crap out of them. And then value bet them some more!

Here is a good example of value betting against the fish:



Now it is important here for me to define what I mean by "value bet."

The reason why is because this is a relative term. Betting the turn or river for value against most nits for instance requires a very strong hand. This is because these types of players often will not go past the flop without something really strong like top pair, a solid draw or better.

However, we already know that the whale described in this article will call you down with two napkins. So therefore we can lower our standards significantly when value betting against them.

Any strong hand like top pair or better is an easy three streets of value. Middle pair can often be good enough for three streets as well versus a complete drooler with no fold button.

There are even some spots where we could get some really thin value with hands as weak as bottom pair or ace high.

By the way if you want to learn more about value betting I suggest checking out my best selling poker book Crushing the Microstakes.

In it I show you exactly how I created some of the highest winnings in online poker history by using a very simple value betting strategy.


Super Thin Value!


One of my favorite spots to get thin value on the river versus this player type is on a double paired board like this:

TT♠4♣42

I will always bet the river here with 99, 88, 77, 66 or 55. This is because they will never fold ace high on this board.

I will also frequently make a bet here with ace high as well because sometimes they won't be able to find the fold button with king high either. We chop at worst.

Boards where there is an obvious missed draw is another spot where you could go for some super thin value versus a recreational player. On this river for instance:

J♠T6♣22♣

You could often make a profitable value bet versus the doesn't fold anything fish with Tx, 6x or any pocket pair such as 99, 88, 77, 55, 44 or 33.

The reason why is because this player type will often call down with a hand like AK or AQ the whole way here. And with the river pairing a low card they will be even more inclined to look you up.

Sometimes they won't even be able to fold the most obvious missed draw here which is KQ. It is important not to bomb the pot in cases like this.

We want to toss out that teaser bet of half pot or so which will make them just curious enough to hero call you with their ace high or king high.

By the way, I discuss this in much more detail in my new Elite Poker University training. 

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Keep Calm and Value Bet On


So I hope this article helped prove useful to some of you guys battling these crazy fish at the lowest stakes. They show up all the time at the lower limits especially if you play on soft poker sites.

It is important to remember two things when playing against these player types.


1. Stay patient 

Stay patient when you can't hit anything and they are hitting all of their crazy draws. Remember that this is not a normal occurrence and these players pay a heavy price in the long run for their terrible play.


2. Full Value

Make sure that you are always getting full value versus these players with your big hands.

Once again, Crushing the Microstakes will teach you everything you need to know about value betting versus the bad players.

But also make sure that you are getting that thin value versus these whales as well. This is about effectively countering their style of play. We often do not need anything close to the nuts in order to extract value from them.

Also, make sure that you look out if they ever do find the raise button especially on the later streets. We often have a tendency to dismiss the actions of fish altogether. But the fact remains that they get to hit their flush, straight and two pair sometimes too.

They get dealt strong hands just as often as we do as well. These players are typically about as passive as you can get. When they finally decide to wake up you would be best served to give them a little bit of respect sometimes.

Lastly, if you want to learn how to start making $1000+ per month from low stakes poker games, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.


Let me know how you play against a fish who doesn't fold anything in the comments below.

poker fish