This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.
Low stakes cash games are arguably the best poker format to make money (at least somewhat) consistently.
Live cash games also have a relatively weaker player pool than you would find in online poker, as there are a lot of recreational players around.
For these reasons, live cash games are a great way to start earning a decent income from poker, but only if you follow the right strategy.
This article will cover everything you need to know to crush $2/$5 cash games at your local casino.
This includes the full technical game strategy, as well as the general approach and adjustments to make if you’re transitioning from other poker formats.
By the way, if you're still playing lower stakes like $1/$2 cash games right now, I have already written the most comprehensive $1/$2 poker strategy guide available online to beat those games.
Alright, let's get started!
1. What to Expect from 2/5 Poker Cash Games?
$2/$5 cash games are still one of the lowest limits you can play live, so the basic strategy to beat it isn't too different from what you would apply in $1/$2 live cash games or the microstakes online.
With that being said, there are a few key differences between low stakes live cash games versus online cash games:
a) The player pool live tends to be weaker than their online counterparts.
Online poker players tend to be more technically skilled than live players on average, even at the lower stakes.
With the plethora of available content online, a lot of online poker players use this to further their technical knowledge of the game and have probably studied basic winning strategies.
b) Prepare for a lot of multiway pots.
There's a lot of limping going around in a live environment, as well as a lot of calling preflop, so you can expect a lot of big family pots.
Limping is the act of just paying the big blind instead of open-raising the pot preflop. A multiway pot simply means a pot with more than two players involved.
The way to adapt to these tendencies will be explained in more detail later, but you should be aware of them going in.
c) Live poker is significantly slower than online poker.
If you're used to the fast pace of online poker, live poker may seem like moving in slow motion for you.
You obviously cannot multitable when playing live, but the number of hands you can play on one table per hour is also significantly lower than in online poker.
You can expect to only be dealt about 30 hands per hour when playing live.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing. While it may feel like a snoozefest at times, this slow pace makes it more likely for players to get bored and play hands they shouldn't really be playing.
That's why you can expect recreational players in particular to play an insanely high number of hands.
This is obviously great news for you, but only if you have the discipline to only play hands that are worth playing, and slog through the occasional boredom.
While this slow pace may compel you to watch Youtube or read the news in your downtime, avoid this temptation and stay present in the game, even when not involved in the hand.
As a matter of fact, ESPECIALLY when you're not involved in the hand. This is the best time to actually pick up on tells from your opponents.
Live poker is an entirely different beast than online poker, and your results will depend more on your ability to read your opponents because you can actually physically see them.
By the way, check out Nathan's recent video on how to quickly spot a recreational player at your table.
2. Best $2/$5 Cash Game Strategy - Yes, Tight is Still Right
Since you can expect the overall player pool to play a loose and passive style, your best bet is to do the exact opposite, i.e. adopt a tight and aggressive (TAG) style.
The reason this strategy works so well is because it exploits the weaknesses in your opponent's game, and often puts you in a favourable position against them.
In a 6-max game (i.e. a table with 6 players) it's advised to play only about 20% of all starting hands on average.
When you're playing live, you'll often play against more players on a 9-handed table (i.e. full ring).
On a full ring table, it's advised to tighten up your range even more, and play only about 15% of all starting hands dealt to you.
And here by the way is a rough representation of exactly what hands this refers to.
By the way, you can find these charts and much more in my free poker cheat sheet as well.
This may sound a bit too restrictive, but it's just a ballpark number. You can get away with playing way more hands in late positions, and even less than 15% in early positions (more on that below).
By the way, you can find these charts and much more in my free poker cheat sheet as well.
This may sound a bit too restrictive, but it's just a ballpark number. You can get away with playing way more hands in late positions, and even less than 15% in early positions (more on that below).
The reason to play such a tight range, especially in the early position, is the number of opponents you're facing.
The more players involved, the more likely it is for one of them to have a stronger hand than you. The more opponents, the stronger your range needs to be to play it profitably.
Add the fact that live poker tends to have huge multiway pots, and the need to play strong ranges becomes even more apparent.
Check out my other article by the way to learn exactly which hands to play and how to play them.
When playing from the early positions (i.e. under the gun - UTG, UTG+1 and UTG+2) you should play a very tight range indeed, and you should always enter the pot with a raise.
Avoid open-limping altogether.
I won't bash on open-limping too much here, but you can check out my other article about egregious poker plays you should avoid at all costs.
As you get closer to the button, you can start expanding your open-raising range. When you get to the button itself, you should all but ABUSE this position.
When playing from the button, you can often get away with opening an insanely wide range. Playing from the button should be your bread and butter, and it should be your most profitable seat by far.
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3. Value Bet Your Strong Hands Relentlessly in Order to Beat $2/$5 Poker Games
A tight and aggressive strategy works like a charm in low stakes cash games.
In addition to playing tight and playing most of your hands in position, the third cornerstone of a successful proven TAG strategy is to play your hand aggressively (i.e. betting and raising a lot).
If you are the first person to enter the pot, you should ALWAYS do so with a raise, instead of open limping.
Entering the pot with a raise is preferable because:
a) you will have the range advantage and the initiative post flop.
The preflop aggressor is the one that's perceived to have the strongest hand. If you are the preflop aggressor, your range is uncapped, meaning you theoretically have more strong hands in your range than their opponents.
b) you can get more value out of your strong hands.
If you have a strong hand, you need to build up the pot as quickly as possible.
Building up the pot preflop with a raise as opposed to just open limping could make a difference between winning a small pot and totally stacking your opponent.
This has to do with pot geometry. Simply put, pot geometry dictates the price of the final pot based on the initial size of the pot.
The bigger the initial pot, the easier it becomes to build an even bigger pot on future streets.
Here's an example:
$2/$5 Cash Game Hand Example
Effective stack size: 100 BB
You are dealt pocket A♥A♣ under the gun. You open-raise to 2.5 BB. Small blind calls.
Initial pot size: 6 BB. You bet half pot on the flop, turn and river. Villain calls all the way.
Final pot size: 48 BB
Same example hand, you have pocket A♥A♣ once again, but this time you open-raise to 4 BB, and the villain calls you all the way.
Initial pot size: 9 BB Same action sequence, half pot bet on flop, turn, river, and the villain calls.
Final pot size: 72 BB
As you can see, the difference between pot sizes is massive. Only a tiny difference of 1.5 BB between the open-raising sizes resulted in the difference of 24 big blinds in the final pot.
It is tiny differences like this (which many people don't consider) which allowed me to create some of the highest winnings ever recorded in small stakes poker games.
The difference could be even bigger if you just jam the rest of your stack on the river. It's way easier to take the rest of your opponent's stack if they already committed a huge chunk of it on the previous streets.
Of course, you can always overbet (make a bet that's larger than the current pot size), but that's not the most elegant way to stack your opponents, and they're more likely to see through your bet sizing.
Bottom line: when you have a strong value hand, it's in your best interest to build the pot as quickly as possible, while your hand has a mathematical advantage.
You're also charging your opponents a premium on their drawing hands, and don't allow them to draw out on you cheaply.
c) you can often win the pot outright preflop.
If you open-limp, you can't win the pot outright. If you open-raise, you'll often be able to steal the blinds from your opponents.
At its core, poker is all about blind stealing.
If the players weren't compelled to put the blinds in, everyone would just wait around for pocket Aces all day to put money into the pot. The blinds stimulate the action, and while stealing a 1.5 BB doesn't seem like it's worth the hassle, it all adds up tremendously over time.
We’ve already mentioned there tends to be a lot of limping in low stakes cash games, so it might be wise to adjust your open-raising sizes.
The more limpers are in front of you, the more you should increase your open-raising size.
This way, you’re essentially killing a few birds with one stone:
a) you discourage multiway pots.
By increasing your open-raise size, you’re giving your opponents a worse price on a call, so they won’t be as likely to get involved in the pot. The less players in the pot, the easier it is for you to win it.
b) you can isolate fish more effectively.
Fish usually don’t care about the pot odds they’re getting, so they’re likely to call regardless of the price if they like their hand enough.
If you go for a bigger open-raise, you’ll often end up in a heads-up pot with the fish, while having the initiative postflop. This is the most profitable spot to be in no-limit hold’em, and you should look for these spots as often as possible.
c) you build up the pot with your strong value hands.
If you have a strong hand, you want: a) a big pot and b) a few opponents, because every additional opponent reduces your hand equity (i.e. makes you less likely to win the pot).
If you’re up against a bunch of recreational players, you can’t really rely on them to build the pot for you, so you’re better off building it up yourself.
The bigger the pot you build preflop, the easier it is to put the rest of your stack in the middle post flop, due to the aforementioned pot geometry.
One caveat: you won’t always have a hand that wants to build a huge pot as soon as possible.
If you have a speculative hand, you may want to see the flop cheaply, and have huge implied odds if you do get lucky enough to connect with the board.
In this case, limping behind (calling the big blind after another player open-limped) could be a viable strategy.
(A speculative hand is a hand that isn’t strong enough in and of itself, but has the potential of making strong combinations like straights, flushes, full houses and so on).
Hands like suited connectors (9♦8♦ or 6♠5♠) or small pocket pairs (like pocket Fives or pocket Twos) fit the bill.
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4. Mix up Your Play Style to Keep the Regs Guessing in $2/$5 Cash Games
While a basic TAG strategy works like a charm against recreational players, it does come at a cost, which is the risk of your game becoming overly predictable to players who are actually paying attention.
The TAG strategy exploits the weaknesses in your opponent's game, but it also has weaknesses of its own.
If you only bet or raise your strong hands and fold your weak hands, your more observant opponents will be able to play perfectly against you.
This isn't a problem when you have a table full of oblivious fish, but at $2/$5 cash games you're bound to run into a few regular players (or regs for short) who take the game a bit more seriously.
While they probably won't be world class professionals, beating them won't be as simple and straightforward as beating recreational players.
That's because they'll make way less costly mistakes than recreational players.
That's because they'll make way less costly mistakes than recreational players.
While you can't expect to make a bunch of money from these players over the long run, you can still make a profit from them.
And the best way to do so is to constantly keep them guessing. In other words, you need to mix up your playstyle against them from time to time.
What I'm talking about here specifically is to occasionally transition from tight and aggressive (TAG) to a loose and aggressive (LAG) playstyle.
The two are similar in so far that they rely on playing aggressively and putting constant pressure on your opponents.
This is something that even the great Phil Ivey recommends in his advanced poker training program.
And he's made over $50,000,000 playing poker. Enough said!
The main aspect in which TAG and LAG differ is the number of hands you choose to play.
While playing a LAG style, you expand your starting hand selection preflop, i.e. you are playing looser ranges.
You should also bluff more when playing a LAG style (i.e. bet or raise with the intention of getting your opponents to fold).
This way, your opponents will never be sure of the exact strength of your hand, which makes them more likely to make mistakes against you.
There are a few benefits to playing a LAG style:
a) You can win more than your "fair share".
Really strong hands don't come around often in no-limit hold'em, so relying on them alone is not enough to be a profitable long term winner. Sometimes you'll need to win the pot even without a strong hand.
b) You make yourself more difficult to play against.
As mentioned, if you only bet or raise strong hands, you're allowing your opponents to play perfectly against you. They'll just fold to your aggression unless they happen to have a monster hand themselves.
What's worse, they'll constantly try to push you out of the pot because they know you won't be inclined to fight back.
If you do fight back, they'll have to think twice before getting involved in a hand with you, because they'll know it's going to cost them.
If you apply just the right amount of pressure, you can also annoy and frustrate your opponents, which makes them EVEN MORE likely to make mistakes against you.
This may not seem like a very nice thing to do, but hey, poker is psychological warfare, and you need to use every tiny edge you can.
c) You can get more value out of your strong hands.
If your opponents are never sure if you're bluffing or not, they won't be able to accurately assess your hand strength. This makes them more likely to pay you off once you actually do get a monster hand.
If you put enough pressure on them, you may even lead them to the wrong conclusion that you're ALWAYS bluffing (or at least bluffing too much) so they'll be more inclined to make "hero calls” against you.
This is actually how you get the most value out of your strong hands: by making your opponents think you're bluffing, while you actually had the nuts the whole time.
By the way, check out my complete guide on how to play a loose and aggressive style like the pros.
Bottom line: if you keep playing in the same games, you're going to encounter regular players who actually pay attention to your playing tendencies.
Sticking to the "just play tight" approach can only get you so far against them. You need to mix up your game against them to always keep them on their toes.
Check out my other article on the 5 insanely profitable advanced poker strategies to crush both the regs and recreational players alike.
5. Have a Healthy Bankroll to Avoid Going Broke
While beating the $2/$5 live cash games isn’t overly difficult if you follow the right strategy, it’s still advised to adhere to proper bankroll management to avoid going broke.
Low stakes cash games have arguably the lowest level of variance of all poker formats, so your results are bound to be less “swingy” than in say, online cash games or multi table tournaments.
For this reason, you can probably get away with having a smaller bankroll (i.e. a fewer number of buyins) than you would in an online environment, provided that you’re already a winning player.
If you’re not a winning poker player, the biggest bankroll in the world won’t help you. It will just take you longer to end up broke.
It’s also worth noting that the lower your winrate, the bigger the variance (i.e. there will be more swings in your results).
If that’s the case, it’s wise to bump up your bankroll with a few extra buyins to be on the safe side.
There’s also other factors (or expenses) to account for, of course, like the rake, tipping the dealer, gas money, drinks, snacks, and so on.
If that’s the case, it’s wise to bump up your bankroll with a few extra buyins to be on the safe side.
There’s also other factors (or expenses) to account for, of course, like the rake, tipping the dealer, gas money, drinks, snacks, and so on.
So it takes a bit of honest self reflection to gauge whether or not the game is profitable for you after the costs are accounted for, or should you consider dropping in stakes.
As for the bankroll, the better player you are (i.e. the better your winrate), the less you need to worry about variance.
It’s also worth noting there’s no way of measuring your winrate except tracking it manually.
If you want to improve as a poker player, you need to have a reliable way to accurately track your results. You can’t improve what you can’t measure.
At the very least, you should keep track of:
- Money you bought in and cashed out
- Time spent playing
- Number of hands played (preferably)
- Optional: location, other useful stats like VPIP (voluntary put money in pot), PFR (preflop raise), information on your opponents, other expenses etc.
See my entire guide to poker success as a 10+ year professional poker player for much more.
This all may seem like a hassle, and fair enough. If you just like playing poker recreationally and have fun, you don’t need to bother.
But given the fact you’re reading articles such as these, it’s fair to assume you’re doing it because you want to improve your game and you want to win.
If that’s the case, finding a way to keep track of your progress is crucial. You can use your phone to jot down the basic information, or you can even use an app for this purpose.
There’s no shortage of apps specifically designed to take poker notes, so shop around to find the one that suits you.
Finally, to answer the cardinal question, what kind of a bankroll should you have for $2/$5 cash games?
It depends on the factors outlined above, namely your skill level and experience, your winrate, and so on.
It also depends on your temperament, risk tolerance, and how you deal with adversity and (sometimes inevitable) losing periods.
But as a rule of thumb, I’d advise to have about 20 buy-ins for $2/$5 cash games to reduce the risk of going broke, provided you’re already a winning poker player.
This may seem excessive to some, and fair enough. You don’t NEED to have so many buy-ins in your bankroll. The rule of thumb is aimed to be on the conservative side.
In reality, you can have as many or as few buy-ins you want, because it entirely depends on your individual preferences.
The point of a bankroll is only to give you a peace of mind to keep playing your best without fretting about the negative short term results and avoid going broke as a consequence.
Bonus Tip for $2/$5: Don’t Tilt
If you stay disciplined with your preflop hand selection, learn to quickly spot and isolate recreational players, and stick to the proper bankroll management, you shouldn’t have too many problems beating $2/$5 cash games.
However, you should still be prepared that it won’t always be a simple and straightforward process.
You could still experience prolonged losing periods due to running cold, suffering bad beats, suckouts and so on.
If you have a feeling bad players constantly get against you, it simply means you’re playing in profitable games.
By the way, check out Nathan's recent video on how to beat wild poker players.
But it can still be frustrating as hell. Since you’re bound to go against a bunch of recreational players, they WILL beat you in a spectacularly awful fashion from time to time.
When this happens, you may feel the need to berate your opponents and explain to them how egregiously they played their hand.
Don’t do this under any circumstances, no matter how much your ego might be bruised.
Simply laugh it off, say nice hand (try to do this genuinely, not sarcastically) and move on. Be happy knowing that you just met your new customer.
If you berate or try to explain the mistakes of your opponents, these are the likely scenarios to follow:
a) your opponent will realize they indeed made a mistake and they won’t repeat it again, and you will have lost a valuable exploit for the future.
b) your explanation will go right over their head, and you will look like a sore loser and/or a jerk.
c) you will have revealed information about your playstyle and tendencies to the whole table for free.
d) your opponent (and other players, for that matter) could start targeting you by playing back against or applying pressure on you, either to get back at you, or to exploit a weakness you might have revealed.
So the best case scenario is that you will teach your opponent to not make mistakes against you in the future, and a fat chance of teaching people anything they don’t want to learn.
Obviously none of these scenarios work in your favour, so it’s best to just suck it up and focus on the next hand.
When you play low stakes cash games, you will often encounter such abhorrent mistakes you won’t believe anyone would have the gall to sit down at the poker table and play so terribly.
And sometimes, you’ll be on the receiving end of these mistakes, and lose your stack in a spectacular fashion.
Again, while annoying as hell, these situations make poker profitable in the first place, because over the long run, you’ll earn much more money from these mistakes than you will lose, even though it may not seem like it at the moment.
Knowing the technical game strategy is important, but so is having the proper table etiquette.
Always be polite to recreational players, congratulate them on their genius plays, and they will keep coming back for more.
In fact, having a mature approach like this towards the weaker players is one of the surest signs that you are a better poker player than most.
$2/$5 Cash Game Strategy - Pro's Guide Summary
While the player pool at $2/$5 cash games is relatively more skilled than their $1/$2 counterparts, there will still be plenty of recreational players around, so you can still beat it by following a simple TAG strategy, i.e.:
a) being selective with the hands you choose to play preflop
b) playing most of your hands in position and
c) playing your hands aggressively (i.e. betting and raising a lot.
Against more observant opponents, try to mix up your game to keep them guessing. You can do this by shifting to a loose and aggressive (LAG) strategy from time to time.
See my extremely popular 21 Texas Hold'em tips the pros don't want you to know article for much more on this.
But in a nutshell this includes expanding your preflop hand selection and bluffing more.
While there will arguably be less variance in live cash games than other poker formats, it’s still advised to adhere to proper bankroll management to avoid going broke.
Bonus tip: Don’t tilt away your winnings. At low stakes cash games, you’re still bound to encounter all kinds of ludicrous plays, and you will lose in a spectacular fashion.
Don’t let it get to you and keep playing your best. At the end of the day, you should welcome these kinds of plays, because it only means you’re playing in profitable games.
Lastly, if you want to know the complete strategy I use to make $1000+ per month in small stakes games, get a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.
