This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Ryan Lewis.
The flop check raise is a powerful move in no limit hold em. It is designed to take the initiative away from the initial raiser and symbolises to them that you have a stronger hand than theirs.
A general fundamental weakness in microstakes players is being too passive and instead of betting and raising, they are checking, calling and folding.
When we are in the blinds and face a continuation bet on the flop, we should look to play a small portion of our range aggressively and incorporate a check raise.
This article will attempt to outline why and when you should check raise from the big blind in a single raised pot, followed by beginner and advanced examples.
Why you should check raise the flop
You give yourself the chance to win the hand immediately.
If we opt to check call 100% of the time we do not give ourselves a chance to win the pot immediately. By always calling we become more reliant on our hand to win at showdown.
There is no guarantee we will win at showdown if we flop a pair as villain can bet us out of the pot or have a superior hand themselves.
When we check raise we give ourselves a greater opportunity to win the hand on the flop or on later streets.
That is why check raising must be a part of any good advanced bluffing strategy as I discussed in my latest video.
You give yourself the opportunity to build a bigger pot with your strong hands
When we play from out of position in the big blind we are at an information disadvantage throughout the entire hand.
The player in position always has the final say on if they want to grow a bigger pot or not. This makes it more difficult to play a large pot with our strong hands.
If we always check call with our strong holdings we are basically relying on our opponent to build the pot for us.
This will not always be the case so we must take responsibility to ensure we grow the pot ourselves when we have a strong hand. Check raising accomplishes this.
It is also harder to get paid with draws out of position. If a scary card comes on the turn or river, the player in position has the luxury of checking behind to keep the pot small.
If we instead opt to check raise our strong draws it not only generates fold equity, but it will create a larger pot if our draw completes.
You give yourself the chance to win with hands that cannot win at showdown
The majority of the time it will be hard to reach showdown with middling to low suit connector type hands, such as 65 and 97.
Most of the time you will flop a marginal one pair that is forced to fold by the river, or lose to a stronger hand at showdown.
We can instead opt to check raise these types of hands when we flop a strong draw (or combo type draw). This helps us gain the best chance of turning a profit with these hands over the long term.
You become unpredictable
One of the easiest opponents to play against in no limit hold em is a predictable one. When you become a predictable one trick pony your opponent can easily adjust to your moves and play accordingly.
By incorporating a check raise into our arsenal we become less predictable and force our opponents into tougher situations with their continuation betting range.
Becoming unpredictable is a key part of an overall winning poker strategy that BlackRain79 has discussed many times before.
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When to check raise the flop
Having said all of the tips above, we cannot just go HAM and start a check raise frenzy. All this will do is bloat pots with too many of our marginal holdings and force our win rate to take a substantial hit.
Instead we should look to carefully choose suitable hands on suitable flops and then execute from there. A good check raise number to work with on the flop is between 10-15%.
Anything lower than this (especially below 7%) means you are check raising primarily for value. Higher than 15% suggests you have too many bluffs in your range.
Flop texture will be the main factor when considering a check raise. According to solvers, when the pre flop raiser does not have a nut advantage, you should be check raising in excess of 15%!
This means on low boards where the top card is no higher than an 8 such as:
8♠ 5♦ 2♣
7♦ 5♦ 4♣
6♠ 6♦ 3♦
The big blind should look to check raise a lot on these boards.
In contrast on boards that favour the pre flop raiser we should in theory be doing very little check raising, approximately 5%, such as:
A♠ K♠ 9♦
A♠ Q♦ 6♦
K♠ J♣ T♦
Applying these principles in real world poker can be challenging, as most of the population pool is not check raising higher than 15% at the microstakes.
My advice to you is not to try and strive for these numbers and achieve perfection, but rather gain an understanding on the types of boards that the big blind should attack.
I have outlined 2 examples below which include a beginner friendly check raise strategy, and also one which is more aggressive and ‘solver’ approved.
Other factors to take into account when planning a check raise are HUD stats, player position, and number of players seeing the flop.
HUD stats to look out for when planning a check raise are continuation bet frequency and VPIP. What you want to look for are players playing higher than 25% VPIP and cbetting higher than 60%.
Position is also important - when the pre flop raiser is in the cut off or button then your check raise will have more chance of succeeding because ranges are wider from these positions.
Finally, the number of players seeing the flop will play a part in our check raise strategy. Remember the more people seeing a flop, the more likely someone will have caught a piece of the board.
In theory we should check raise bluff less often when the hand is multiway.
Beginner check raising the flop example
Here is a check raise example which is quite basic and will serve you well at the micros. Lets assume we call a 3BB raise in the big blind versus a cutoff open. For simplicity sake, lets assume we are calling with a rather conservative linear range below.
Flop comes:
8♣ 6♦ 3♦
Villain bets ⅔ pot following our check.
Our value range to check raise is straight forward - all sets and two pairs. For our bluffs we choose the straight draws with flush potential (both front door and back door), and some nut flush draws with back door straight potential.
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This gives us a balanced ratio of value to bluffs and is around the 10% mark of your range. You can stick to these types of holdings on a variety of different boards and is enough to keep the pre flop raiser in check at least.
Advanced check raising the flop example (solver approved!)
Now let's look at an advanced strategy on the same flop which is similar but more aggressive.
Notice in this example there are a lot more combo draws, plus a few more bluffs (we are check raising with all the combos of T9, 97, and 54).
Here you will be check raising approximately 15% of your range. It would not be incorrect to go further with your bluffs and include more flush draws such as A2, J9, and J7.
You do not have to incorporate an advanced poker strategy like this to win at the micros. It is simply an illustration of how a solver would approach a flop that favours the big blind.
However if you want to progress up the poker ladder you will have to become more familiar with what types of hands you should be including in your check raise range.
Final thoughts
Check raising should form a significant part of a cash game player's arsenal. This is also a key feature of any advanced poker strategy training.
Not only will it build the pot with our stronger hands, but it also generates a significant amount of fold equity, giving us more ways to win a hand.
In the big blind we should look to attack flops where the pre flop raiser no longer has a nut advantage, whilst also being more conservative on boards that we are at a disadvantage.
At microstakes levels you should attempt to develop your own check raising strategy that you feel comfortable with.
Try starting off with roughly the same number of value to bluffs, and once you get more comfortable you can incorporate more bluffs and combo type hands into your range.
Remember aggressive poker is winning poker!
Make sure you let me know your thoughts on check raising the flop in the comments below. When do you do it and why?
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This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Ryan Lewis. Ryan specializes in 6max cash small stakes online poker. He focuses on playing a fundamentally strong tight and aggressive strategy. He particularly enjoys the statistics and game theory side of the game. You can follow him on Twitter right here.
This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Kieran “KieHa” Harding.
How do you win at poker? At the end of the day, it all comes down to this: you need to play better than your opponents.
The easiest way to do this is obviously to find games with weak players. Even in today’s “tough” games, you can still find many players who are just bad at poker.
They don’t take the time to study or improve their game and they make incredibly bad plays on a regular basis. You don’t have to be Phil Ivey to win against these guys!
However, no matter how well you table-select, the majority of your opponents will still be players who take the game at least somewhat seriously.
If you really want to maximize your profits and crush the games, you will therefore need to find ways to outplay these “regs”.
The good news is that unless you’re playing mid stakes or higher, the majority of regs you face will have plenty of weaknesses you can exploit. If there is such a thing as the perfect poker player, you won’t find him/her in the NL2 or NL5 games.
Today I will give you some tips on how you can use your knowledge of the regs against them. If you come prepared, you will find that you can absolutely crush players who look solid at first glance.
Here are the best ways to exploit micro-stakes regs.
Identify Good Spots to Exploit Micro-Stakes Regs
The first thing you need to do is identify spots where you can exploit regulars in your current games. If you’re playing micro or small stakes, then almost every reg you’ll come across will play a TAG style.
As you probably know, TAG stands for tight and aggressive. So what strategy do these players use? First, they play tight, meaning they only choose relatively strong hands to play preflop.
Second, they play aggressive. That means they frequently bluff in spots they deem profitable.
It’s the second part that we will exploit.
That’s because we can easily anticipate various situations where a TAG player will be bluffing with a very high frequency. If we develop the right counter strategy, we can use these situations to our advantage.
Understanding how to exploit the tendencies of aggressive poker players like this is something that I discuss in much more detail in my latest video.
The great thing about micro-stakes regs who use a TAG style is that they don’t plan much further than their initial strategy.
They have a plan for certain spots, but if they face resistance, they are usually willing to just give it up.
They know that overall, these plays are still profitable even though they sometimes don’t work. Below are some examples for good spots to exploit micro-stakes regs.
Reg Makes a Flop C-Bet
The perfect example for a spot where we can exploit regs is the flop c-bet.
If a TAG player raised preflop and got called, he will c-bet any dry flop with almost his entire range. He will only check if he has a hand with showdown value, such as middle pair.
Just think about this for a second.
You know in advance what your opponent will do and what range of hands he will do it with. With this in mind, it’s pretty easy to exploit this situation and turn it into a profitable spot for yourself.
There are two ways you can do this:
You can raise the player’s c-bet on the flop.
You can call the c-bet (also known as “floating”) and bluff the turn and/or river.
Both options will work a high percentage of the time. Moreover, even if your bluff-raise gets called, you can often still win the pot by following up with a good-sized bet on the next street.
One thing you should keep in mind here are your opponent’s stats. If he is never calling flop-raises but chooses to call yours, then it might be time to shut down.
Your float-bets on the turn will get called a little more frequently since the don’t look so dangerous. If your float-bet on the turn gets called, then a big river bet usually does the trick.
You can go read BlackRain79's complete guide to floating the flop and betting the turn profitably right here.
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Reg Makes a Late-Position Steal
Another great spot for exploiting the micro stakes regs is after they open-raise in late position. This is very often a bluff with a less than stellar hand. You can 3-bet these raises quite liberally and expect to turn a profit.
Great hands to 3-bet with in these spots are small suited aces (e.g. A3s or A5s). There are a few reasons for this:
Having an ace will make it less likely your opponent has aces or a big ace like AK.
If you get called, you usually have good equity in the hand.
Even against big pairs like QQ or KK you are around 30% to win the pot.
With these hands, you can flop great draws and continue putting pressure on your opponent after the flop.
A word of caution in regards to 3-betting steal attempts: many regs are aware of what you’re doing when you 3-bet them light in these spots. You should only use this play against opponents with a high fold to 3-bet percentage (60% or more).
Also, it is much better to put in the 3-bet while in position. This will make it much harder for your opponent to defend profitably against the 3-bet.
Calling a 3-bet from out of position is usually a bad idea, so his options are basically 4-bet or fold. For this reason, the best spot to make this play is when you’re on the button and a reg raised from the hijack or cutoff.
Since this play has been around for a while, you have to use it with caution. However, if you choose the right opponents, you can make a lot of money by 3-betting them light preflop.
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This play is one of my favourites when playing against LAG players. These are the guys who watched Tom Dwan on High Stakes Poker and want to emulate his aggressive style.
Basically, these players love to put pressure on their opponents whenever they can. If you don’t know how to defend against them, they can be very tough to play against and will put you in lots of tricky spots.
Here is my game plan against LAG players: I refuse to fold.
There are many situations where you can expect a LAG player to barrel all three streets with a weak range. Usually, this happens when they c-bet the flop and then a big card hits on the turn or river.
Here is an example:
You’re on the button in an NL10 6max game.
The LAG player opens from the hijack and you decide to call with A♦J♣.
The flop comes 3♠7♦J♠. Your opponent c-bets and you call.
The turn is the K♣. Your opponent barrels and you call.
The river is the T♦ and your opponent bets full pot.
In this spot, I would call every single time (provided my opponent is a true LAG player).
The reason why is that this board is perfect for LAG players to run a multi-street bluff. They know that we will call them light with a wide range on the flop.
When the K hits on the turn they can barrel and expect plenty of folds. When most of the draws brick on the river, the LAG will think that we have to fold any one-pair hand to a big bet.
I would expect a LAG player to triple barrel with a huge portion of his range in this spot, making my second pair a very trivial call.
A couple of things to keep in mind here: if you think about calling down big bluffs like these, you have to be sure that your opponent really is playing a LAG style. Look for an aggression factor (AF) of 3 and higher and also a high frequency of turn and river bets.
Also, you will sometimes run into a bigger hand and lose a sizeable pot. To be honest, this can make you feel like an idiot since you misread your opponent’s hand and basically go outplayed.
The important thing is to avoid going on tilt in these spots. Usually your play was profitable against your opponent’s overall range. If he happens to have you beat in this spot, it is often just bad luck.
Learning how to play profitably against highly aggressive players like this is a vital skill to learn in today's games.
Final Thoughts
There’s no way around it: if you truly want to maximize your poker win rate, you have to learn how to beat the regulars in your game.
While I always advise to play against weaker players whenever possible, you should not ignore the regs completely.
Instead of avoiding the “stronger” players in your game, identify their weaknesses and exploit them. For most micro-stakes regs, their biggest weakness is that they play a predictable, almost robotic style.
There are countless situations where you can anticipate what they will do and develop a counter strategy.
As always, it’s crucial to know as much about your opponents as possible. You shouldn’t even think about running a big bluff if your opponent doesn’t like to fold. Likewise, don’t call down big bets unless your opponent is a confirmed LAG player.
If you choose the right situations and opponents, you can use your knowledge about their strategy against them.
And always remember: if a play happens to go wrong, it’s not the end of the world. See if you can learn from it and move on. The only mistake is going on tilt and losing even more money.
If you want to learn the complete strategy for crushing the micro stakes regs, make sure you grab a copy of the free BlackRain79 poker cheat sheet.
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This article was written by small and mid stakes poker expert Kieran "KieHa" Harding. Kieran is an accomplished poker pro and coach. You can find many more high level poker strategy articles on his website: www.kiehapoker.com
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Make sure you let me know in the comments below how you play against the micro stakes regs. Do you have any killer strategies to crush them?
Anyways, this means that online poker tournaments are more popular than ever before. But how do you find the perfect online poker tournament?
This is your ultimate guide to the best poker tournaments.
Bankroll management for tournaments - The 1% rule
As with cash games you need to use bankroll management for tournaments, if you are going to play them regularly. You can read the BlackRain79 guide to bankroll management for cash games right here.
For tournaments a simple system, which will work for most people, is to never use more than 1% of your bankroll on a single tournament.
Unlike with cash games however it is often not very practical to only play one stake. If for example you have a bankroll of 500$, rather than waiting two hours for the next 5$ tournament to start, you are better off jumping into one for 2-4$, which is running already or soon to begin.
In that way you can put in more volume and you also further increase your buffer by making the average price of each tournament less than 1% of your bankroll.
The precise bankroll requirement for tournaments depends on the field size. For small tournaments with 50 or less players you can go somewhat above 1%. If on the other hand you only play tournaments with very large fields of 1.000 or more players, you will need a larger bankroll.
Most people however mix it up, and then the 1% rule will work well. Especially if you remember to move down, if you run bad. A single “shot” now and then it also fine with tournaments.
By the way, if you are wondering which poker games to play in order to earn $500+ per month, my latest YouTube video addresses that.
Should you play small or large tournaments?
Some online tournaments can have a field of 10,000 or even more players, which you can figure out by comparing the guaranteed prize pool to the tournament fee.
If the poker site promises to pay out at least 75,000 dollars in a 5$ tournament, you should expect, that at least 15,000 people will be playing this tournament.
Such a large field allows for some very big prizes to be paid out to the winner and other final table contestants. If 10% of the prize money goes to the winner, he will take home at least 7500$ or 1500 times his tournament fee.
This "homerun" potential is a huge attraction for many players, but you need to understand, that you must be incredibly lucky to win a tournament this large.
And when you do not win it, or even reach the final table, you will be paying for those lucky people, who do. Which is fine, if you are playing for fun and willing to consider the tournament fee as money spent.
But if you are looking to build a bankroll, you should mainly play either cash games or smaller tournaments. For me something like 70 to 500 players is ideal. Another problem with very large tournaments is, that they take a long time to complete.
Most players will of course bust far earlier than the end, but there is no point in buying into a tournament, which is going to last 10 hours, if you don’t have time to complete it. Or even if you will not be able to play well, when you have reached the final table.
Especially for new players I strongly recommend playing smaller tournaments. You would probably also not sign up for a marathon, if you are completely new to running.
This can be a bit of a challenge these days, since so many people play online. But you can play on smaller poker sites or play outside the rush hour. Or you can play Sit and Go tournaments.
By the way, you can find BlackRain79's ultimate guide to small stakes poker tournament strategy right here.
What about Sit and Go tournaments?
A Sit and Go or SnG is a poker tournament, which begins, when a certain number of people have registered, rather than on a set time.
SnGs come in many different sizes from 2 and all the way up to 960 players. The most common and traditional SnGs however are those with 6 or 9 players. They are also sometimes called Single Table Tournaments or STTs. As opposed to the more common Multi Table Tournaments or MTTs.
STTs or slightly larger SnGs with 18, 27, 45 or 90 players are the best place for new poker players to start practicing with tournaments.
The reason why is, you will reach the final table on a regular basis, which in many ways is where the real game begins. In an STT you are actually on the final table from the first hand.
SnGs are also ideal, when you don’t have time for larger tournaments. Maybe you finished dinner and want to play for a few hours before going to sleep.
That is easily possible with SnGs, whereas it's pointless to buy into a large tournament, which will last until 5am in the morning.
What's the deal with turbo tournaments?
Another possible solution, if you are short on time, is to play tournaments with a faster structure. Traditional online tournaments have blinds that go up every 8-12 minutes. Faster tournaments are usually called turbos or even hyper turbos.
A fast tournament structure is great, if you are short on time, because it makes the tournament complete faster. This however also means, you get less time to outplay your opponents, so your winrate will be lower.
A fast tournament structure also reduces the average stack size as the tournament progresses. This is because, when players see less hands per blind level, they get less chances to get involved and bust or increase their stack.
Short stacks leave less room for postflop play, and for this reason I recommend beginners to avoid turbo tournaments, or at least those that have an overly fast structure.
The reason why is, you learn less, when the game is mostly reduced to either fold or push all-in before the flop. You are also forced to get involved more often, and for beginners it is better to play a tight and aggressive (TAG) style of poker.
For more seasoned players turbo tournaments can be a good way to put in more volume and/or be able to play larger field tournaments, even when time is somewhat short.
Turbos are also getting more and more popular, so avoiding them completely is difficult for a hardcore tournament grinder.
Should you play Spin and Go tournaments?
Spin and Go tournaments or "Spins" are shorthanded SnGs with typically just 3-4 players, where the size of the prize pool is determined at the start of the tournament by a lottery style spin.
This adds an element of excitement, because there is a small chance to hit a very large prize pool for a small fee. Spins usually play in a very fast format starting with only 25BB and with blinds going up every 2-3 minutes.
In my opinion Spins are mostly good for entertainment. The fast structure leaves little time for true skill edges to show through, and the short stacks does little to develop your poker skills.
On top of that the lottery style prize pools add extra variance, which is great, if you are playing for fun. It is however not great, if you are looking to steadily build a bankroll.
If I am to find anything positive to say about spins, it would be that they are a way to practice your heads-up and 3-handed game.
Which is an important part of poker tournament strategy, because there are always big differences in the payout between the final three.
Normal STTs (which I already discussed above) can give you this practice also though.
My Free Poker Cheat Sheet Teaches You How to Crush Low Limit Poker Tournaments
Are you having trouble beating low stakes poker tournaments whether online or live? Are you looking to make a consistent part time income playing these games?
That is why I wrote this free little 50 page poker cheat sheet to give you the exact strategies to start consistently making $1000 (or more) per month in low stakes poker tournaments.
These are the exact poker strategies that I have used as a 10+ year poker pro. And I lay them all out for you step by step in this free guide.
Enter your details below and I will send my free poker cheat sheet to your inbox right now.
Double or nothing tournaments - Yay or Nay?
A double or nothing or "DON" tournament is a special variety of STTs, where typically 8 or 10 people start, and then half the field gets paid.
There is also a variety called fifty-50, where half the prize money is distributed based on stacks, when the tournament ends.
Because you are essentially just looking to cash, especially in the pure DON format, ICM poker strategy plays a much larger role than in normal tournaments.
For new poker players I think it is better to start with regular tournaments and avoid formats like DONs of fifty-50 that require big adjustments.
If you are very short on time, they are a better solution than spins though.
Should you play Knockout tournaments and Bounty builders?
In knockout tournaments part of the prize pool is rewarded to players, who eliminate other players. Sometimes this can include famous poker pros like Daniel Negreanu.
In the original format there is a fixed bounty per player, which can be for instance a quarter or half the prize pool.
This means, that the bounty is rather important early on, but in the late stage of a large tournament it becomes insignificant compared to the prize money.
The answer to that is bounty builders, where only part of the bounty is paid out to the player, who eliminate another player.
The rest goes on the winning players own bounty. At the end of the tournament players can then have a very large bounty attached to them, and the size changes from player to player.
Bounties add an extra element of excitement to tournaments, which is good, if regular tournaments have started to become a little boring.
For winning players anything that can get people playing poker for fun, must also be considered good, since it gives more opportunities for profit.
For these reasons I like bounty tournaments and play them frequently. Bounties also add complexity, which is good for players who adjust well.
But if you are new to poker tournaments, or if you play a very large number of tables at the same time, you are better off sticking to regular tournaments to keep your decisions simple.
By the way, I recently cut down on how many tournaments I play. I discuss why in my latest YouTube video:
Rebuy + Add-on tournaments
In a rebuy + add-on or R+A tournament you are typically allowed to make unlimited rebuys and often even double rebuys, which makes this phase of the tournament feel more like a cash game.
More important however is the add-on, because it allows you to purchase additional chips for a lower price than the original chips. On 888 Poker for instance a starting stack in a R+A tournament is 3000 chips, but an add-on is 6000 chips.
The downside of a R+A tournament is that it might lure you into playing way above your bankroll. If you have a 200$ bankroll, you are good to go for a 2$ tournament, because you have at least 100 times the tournament fee.
But if it is a R+A, you are going to be spending an add-on and sometimes a rebuy in top of the original tournament fee. It really is more like a 5$ tournament, which means, your bankroll for a 2$ R+A should be 500$ and not just 200$.
I recommend new players to avoid R+A tournaments to keep things simple. For experienced players with enough bankroll however, I think, they are great.
And another great thing is that you don't really even need to know a lot of advanced poker strategy in order to beat them.
The field in a 2$ R+A is much softer than in a 5$ normal tournament with similar payouts. On top of that, some R+As only make you pay rake on the initial tournament fee, while rebuys and add-ons are rake-free.
Not a bad deal!
What's better: Early or late registration?
Nearly all online tournaments offer late registration, sometimes for an extended time period like 2-3 hours or more.
This means, that when you open the tournament lobby, you can choose between jumping in a tournament, which is already running, or registering for one which is yet to begin.
For new players I recommend registering to tournaments, which are yet to begin, or have just recently started.
You are paying a fixed fee to participate in the tournament, and why not get as much fun and practice for that money as possible?
If you have a significant skill edge over the field, being there on time also gives you more opportunities to use that advantage.
On top of that many tournament players are incredibly bad at deep stacked play. So especially if you come from a cash game background, you want to be there on time and take advantage of this.
The flip side of that coin is, that if you are unfamiliar with deep stacked play, you can protect yourself by registering late, when the blinds have already gone up.
For me that is not the ideal solution though. I recommend starting with cash games and only begin to play tournaments, once you have learned the fundamentals of poker including deep stacked play.
There are some advantages to late registration though. You can play more tournaments, and the ICM-value of your chips is larger, because some players have already busted.
For hardcore tournament grinders, some amount of late registration can be a reasonable part of an overall solid strategy.
In knockout tournaments you should avoid late registration as much as possible. This is because, when players are knocked out, some of the prize money is distributed already.
And if you were not there on time, you did not even contend for that money. This is such an obviously bad deal, that it is incomprehensible to me, why so many people register late for knockout tournaments!
On the flip side registering in the last minute makes a lot of sense in R+A tournaments. Because you make sure you can make it to the add-on without rebuying.
You will be playing “catch-up” to the field, and you will have less time to use your skill edge. But you will have bought your chips as a huge discount compared to what the other players have paid on average.
Go ahead and call me cheap but to me that sound like a brilliant deal!
By the way, I discuss this in much more detail in my new Elite Poker University training.
Learn EXACTLY how to start crushing small and mid stakes poker games, play semi-pro or even full time pro. Use my proven elite poker strategies to start winning fast.
What about Poker Tournament Satellites - Good or Bad?
A satellite is a poker tournament, where the prize money is paid out in tickets for a target tournament rather than actual cash.
Back in 2003 Chris Moneymaker famously qualified for the WSOP main event via a satellite and ended up taking down the most prestigious title in poker as well as the $2.5 million first place prize.
This in turn ignited a poker boom, and its importance for poker can hardly be overstated.
It is however important to understand that Chris Moneymaker's achievement was essentially no different from buying a lottery ticket and becoming a millionaire that way.
That also happens to a few lucky people every day around the world. And if you want to spend your money chasing dreams by buying lottery tickets, that is completely fine, if you have extra money to spend.
But if you are a serious poker player looking to build a bankroll, satellites are a trap lurking you into not using proper bankroll management.
If for instance you have a 150$ bankroll, you can play 1.50$ tournaments, because you have at least 100 times the tournament fee. But you cannot play 1.50$ satellites to a 16$ tournament.
If on the other hand you have a 1600$ bankroll, your hourly winrate will almost certainly be higher, if you play more 7$-16$ tournaments rather than 1.50$ satellites to 16$ tournaments. The 1.50$ satellites would need to be incredibly soft or have an overlay to be worth your time.
An overlay by the way is, when the guaranteed prize pool is larger than the sum of the tournament fees paid by players. This will realistically almost never happen these days with so many people playing though.
Final thoughts
There hasn't been a better time to play online poker for at least the past decade than right now, and this includes online poker tournaments. Hopefully this guide has helped you find the best online poker tournament for you.
And the best part about these low limit tournaments in particular is that you don't need to know a lot of highly advanced poker tournament strategy in order to beat in them.
There are several traps to avoid though, and for new players I recommend staying away from satellites, bounties, add-ons, overly fast structures and lottery style spins.
I also recommend staying away from very large tournaments with 10,000 or more players, unless you are purely looking to have some fun and take a shot.
In my opinion the perfect online poker tournament for a new player is one with 6-500 players and no special adjustments to worry about.
You should aim at showing up on time for most tournaments, and if you are completely new to poker, I recommend building your basic skills in cash games first.
Last but not least remember to have fun and always use responsible bankroll management. Make sure you let me know in the comments below what kind of online poker tournaments you like to play.
See you at the tables!
Get My FREE Poker Cheat Sheet
Lastly, if you want to know the optimal strategy to crush today's small stakes poker games (Tournaments, Zoom, Cash Games), make sure you grab a FREE copy of the BlackRain79 poker cheat sheet.
Download it for free. Read it in 20 minutes. Start crushing the fish.
It's that simple.
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This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Lars "fundiver199" Kyhnau Hansen. Lars is a part time online poker player from Denmark currently playing 10NL and 25NL. Lars excels at the math side of the game.
My "office" while self-isolating during the Coronavirus pandemic.
The whole world has been turned upside down of late by the Coronavirus Pandemic (Covid-19).
In fact, as of the time of this writing, the majority of people on earth are under some sort of stay at home or lockdown/quarantine order from various governments around the world.
And that includes me as well.
I am also currently in self isolation, hoping that all this chaos will end soon and we can resume some semblance of a normal life again!
But if there is one potential bright side to come out of all this madness, it is that the online poker games are arguably better right now than they've been in a decade or more.
In fact some are even calling it a mini "poker boom" going on right now.
With so many people suddenly sitting at home now, and unable to play poker at the casino (or work at their normal jobs), many have returned to an old hobby, online poker.
And what this means for you is lots of fish and lots of bad players picking up the game again. Which in turn means lots of opportunity for you!
In fact, many online poker sites have been posting record traffic numbers in recent weeks and the biggest tournament prize pools of all time.
Now I want to be very, very clear right off the top that poker is a very hard game to make consistent profit from. In fact, most people lose at poker in the long run.
And so I do not want anyone to think that poker is some sort of a "get rich quick scheme" or an answer to financial problems during these troubled times.
It simply isn't for the vast majority of people.
But with that disclaimer out of the way, I know that many of the people who read my blog regularly do take poker very seriously (some are even professionals).
So in these times of Coronavirus (Covid-19) chaos, I am going to break down my top 12 tips for how to crush these poker games and earn the maximum profit.
Let's get started!
1. Back to the Basics - How to Crush the Fishy Coronavirus Online Poker Games
First things first.
If you play at the micro stakes online, it's time to officially throw all that GTO (game theory optimal) poker strategy that you may have learned, right out the window.
There are tons and tons of fish who are returning to online poker right now.
And the best strategy to beat them is the exploitative poker strategy that I have been teaching on this blog, in my youtube poker videos, and in my poker books for years and years.
This means back to the basic bread and butter strategies required to beat low level thinking players. For example, isolating them over and over again in position, and then relentlessly value betting after the flop.
You need to be making the most stupidly obvious plays possible versus these types of players. You don't need to do anything fancy and you sure as heck don't need to be "balancing your ranges" versus them.
This is how I became a poker pro starting from $0 by the way as well, as I discuss in my latest video.
Basically, if the right play seems way too simple and obvious to you, please just go right ahead and do it anyways. Do not "trap" these players. Do not slow-play etc.
Very simple example:
You have A♥A♦ on a J♣7♦3♠ flop and the fish checks to you. Just bet a large amount. Do not get fancy. Same thing on the turn. Fish checks, you bet strong again.
Let's change the flop up a bit.
You have A♥A♦ on a A♣7♦3♠ flop. Top set, the nuts. The exact same principle applies. Just bet big. Do not get fancy!
Fish simply love to call, it's what they do. They will always find a reason to call you. Often it is just because they have convinced themselves that you must be "bluffing."
I have literally made a living for years in low stakes games just making the most stupidly obvious braindead plays possible against these types of players.
Please forget all that "advanced" theory that you may have learned during these Coronavirus games, and just take it right back to the basics.
Like I also mentioned, you want to be isolating the fish over and over again preflop in position as well.
This strategy not only gets you involved in tons of pots with weaker opponents, but the other reason why it is highly profitable, is because you are likely to put them on tilt.
And let's face it, a fish on tilt is literally like your personal ATM machine.
So once I locate the weaker players at the table, I am going to be raising them up in position when they limp, with a very wide range of hands including all the obvious stuff like AA, KK, AK but also stuff like:
T♥8♥
K♣9♣
4♠4♥
A♦3♦
I think you catch my drift. Basically anything remotely playable!
By the way, when I say "in position" this means when I am on the left of the bad player. I want to raise them up (isolate them) as often as possible because I will get to act last after the flop.
This is a statistically proven way to win the most money in poker. The person who has position in the hand will always have a massive advantage.
Also, when I say "raise them up" I am talking about when a weak player limps into the pot (just calls the blind).
I would recommend making it 4 big blinds to go in a situation like this. If there are two limpers, then make it 5 big blinds to go and so on.
So along with isolating the weaker players as much as possible when I have position on them, you also need to start getting more aggressive preflop.
This means 3-betting and even 4-betting light sometimes versus the weaker regs. A "reg" by the way is short for a regular player.
This is somebody who you play against every day. They take the game fairly seriously unlike the fish (i.e. they are there to win).
It doesn't mean they are good at poker though. Most regs at the micro stakes are beginner level players with a very limited poker skill-set and understanding of the game.
These players are easy to identify because your HUD will show you that they are folding to 3bets and 4bets far too often.
3bet = A raise preflop and then a re-raise.
4bet = A raise preflop, a re-raise, and then another re-raise.
When I am looking for weaker regs to 3bet or 4bet light, I am looking for a Fold to 3bet of 70% or higher on my HUD and a similarly higher Fold to 4bet percentage.
And the higher the better of course. For example, if I see somebody folding to 80% or 90% of 3bets I am going to attack these players relentlessly (yes, they still exist at the micros).
By the way, if you aren't able to use a HUD on the poker site that you play on, then you will just need to use your observation skills.
Do they appear to be folding too much when they have been 3bet or 4bet in the past?
Are they opening too many hands in late position trying to steal the blinds?
Ask yourself these questions and the weaker regs will be pretty easy to identify.
3. Get Aggressive Postflop
Along with getting more aggressive preflop, you also want to start getting more aggressive postflop in order to take advantage of both the fish and the weaker regs.
What I mean by this is:
Double barreling more often
Floating the flop
Bluffing the river
And so on.
You want to do this versus the weaker players who don't like to go to showdown very often. Once again, your HUD (if you use one), is your greatest asset here.
I have even written an entire article before just about how to use the WTSD% (went to showdown percentage) stat on your HUD to quickly identify the weak (bluffable) players.
In general, a WTSD% below 25 is a tight poker player who only goes to showdown with good hands. And somebody with a WTSD% above 25 is typically a looser poker player who goes to showdown with mediocre hands. Most recreational poker players will have a WTSD% of 30 or higher.
Micro Stakes Example Hand (using points #2 and #3 together)
Weak reg with a low WTSD% of 22 mini-raises from middle position and we have A♥4♥ on the button.
We 3-bet.
The weak reg calls.
The flop comes:
T♠4♣8♥
The weak reg checks.
We make a continuation bet.
The weak reg calls.
The turn comes:
Q♠
The weak reg checks.
We decide to double barrel (bet again).
The weak reg calls.
The river comes:
K♦
The weak reg checks.
What should we do?
We should triple barrel (bet again).
We are certainly not betting for value here with our little pair of fours, this is most certainly a bluff.
The reason why this triple barrel play will likely work though is because a weak reg with a low WTSD% of 22 will often find a reason to fold here.
He will convince himself that we have a monster hand and he might even laydown something extremely strong like two pair.
The other crucial part of this hand is the board runout.
The queen on the turn and the king on the river are both unlikely to have improved his hand. In fact, if he called us on the flop with some sort of Tx hand for example, this is going to be a very, very scary runout for him.
So we can also use this very scary board runout to our advantage in order to make a weak player lay down a better hand.
Important Note: Please, please DO NOT use this strategy against recreational players or the multitude of other calling stations at the micro stakes. Because they will of course, just call you down! Only use this strategy against this specific weak/tight player type.
Go check out this article of mine for much more on how to identify and abuse the weak/tight players at the micro stakes.
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4. Use the "One and Done" Flop Continuation Bet Strategy Versus the Fish
Now, as usual the postflop strategy that you want to use against the fish is going to be completely different than the one that you use against the regs.
As I just mentioned, most of the time the regs will enter the pot preflop with a raise, and so you want to call them with a strong range, but also 3bet them frequently as well, with both strong hands and speculative hands.
Versus the fish it's totally different though. This is because most of the time they will just limp into the pot preflop.
In fact, the classic fish will have HUD stats like this:
VPIP = 55
PFR = 6
In English, this means that they play about 55% of the hands that are dealt to them, and they only raise preflop with 6% though.
In other words, they love to limp, limp, limp!
Which is absolutely great because I love to raise, raise, raise them!
Now, a good portion of the time the fish will call your preflop isolation raise with a whole host of ridiculous hands, even while out of position.
Because that of course is what bad poker players do.
So the basic strategy here is just to make a flop CBet (continuation bet) on most boards and then if they call, just be done with the hand on the turn (assuming you have nothing).
A "continuation bet" by the way is when you raise preflop and then bet the flop. You are "continuing" the aggression on the flop.
This is a great strategy because it forces them to have a hand in order to call you. And so you often get plenty of folds, even when you have the worst hand (huge win for us!).
Now, there are only a few flops which I will not make a flop continuation bet on against a single fish (again, assuming that I have nothing at all).
These are flops like:
7♦8♠9♦
And we have something like A♣3♣. Or in other words, very poor equity.
We don't want to make a flop CBet on highly coordinated, wet flops like this with lots of middling cards, because they hit so many hands that the fish called with preflop.
Therefore, we won't get folds very often, so it is just not even worth making a continuation bet in the first place. But these flops are pretty rare.
The vast majority of flops such as:
9♥9♠3♥
K♦7♣2♣
T♠5♥4♦
You want to be continuation betting versus the fish. And remember that our cards are largely irrelevant here, because we are just trying to make the fish fold.
If we hit the flop that's great, a bonus. But we will be making a flop continuation bet either way.
If they call you though and you have absolutely nothing, please just give up. The easiest way to light money on fire at the micro stakes is by trying to run a big multi-street bluff against a bad player.
Because they will just call you down with their bottom pair without even thinking!
You need to be patient versus all of the fish during the soft Coronavirus online poker games. For the most part you should just be using this simple "one and done" flop continuation bet strategy.
5. Stop Tilt Before It Even Begins
As I have mentioned many times before on this blog, the biggest reason why most people don't succeed at poker actually has nothing to do at with strategy.
Instead, they lose because they can't stop tilting when the cards turn against them.
And if you play at the micro stakes, which is full of bad players who love to chase every draw, you should expect more bad beats than normal.
Right now during the Coronavirus pandemic there are even more fish hitting the tables, so it should be no shock or surprise that they will draw out on you very often.
This is how the game of poker works, because poker is based on mathematics. It is very rare that somebody is drawing completely dead (no outs).
But it is also precisely because they play so bad at the micro stakes that you are able to win so much.
People are always shocked that I was able to make tens of thousands of dollars over the years in very low stakes poker games, while posting some of the highest winrates of all time.
And honestly, I am not gonna lie. It is actually pretty simple. It is because I was playing against some of the worst poker players on earth!
Now, of course I have endured countless bad beats. Far more than I could ever count. That goes without even saying. But that's why you can make so much money at these limits.
Bad poker players are your friend at the table. Yes, they can be frustrating to play against sometimes when they are hitting their river miracles against you.
But you absolutely must view poker from a long term perspective.
These players lose incredible amounts of money with their bad play over the long run, because eventually the math smacks them in the face for all their terrible calls.
So you need to stop the tilt before it even begins by understanding that you will receive an unfathomable amount of bad beats at these stakes.
It's absolutely going to happen to you. So when it does, why get mad about it?
6. Put in Your Study Time Away from the Tables
I have made no secret about it that one of my top ways to improve my poker game and consistently stay on top is to put in the hours away from the tables studying my opponents.
I spend countless hours studying my opponents in PokerTracker.
This is how I create the strategies to beat them before I ever even sit down to play against them.
Most people think a program like PokerTracker (which is what I use), is only good because of the HUD. This actually couldn't be further from the truth.
The most important part is actually the database of hands and the ability to filter for any situation and review poker hands. And this includes reviewing the poker hands and data you have on your opponents.
I show you how to do all that by the way step by step in this article.
This is how you get better at poker. By learning from your own mistakes and also by putting in more work than the next guy away from the tables to find the strategies to beat them.
If you really want to take your poker game to the next level, then I would suggest investing in a good poker tracking program like PokerTracker.
Use it to study and improve your game away from the tables. And also to create the strategies to beat your opponents before you even sit down to play against them.
Preparation = success.
7. Set a Stop Loss to Limit the Damage
But hey, believe me I get it.
No matter how strong willed you are, there is only so many bad beats and suckouts that most people can take within a short period of time.
So this is why it is important that you also set a stop loss.
A stop loss is essentially a promise to yourself that if you lose a certain amount, then you will quit. This prevents you from trying to win it all back while playing in your worst mental state.
That is what most people do, and that is exactly why they lose at poker.
So, for most people, I would recommend using a 3 buy-in stop loss (100 big blinds = 1 buy-in). If you lose 3 buy-ins, you quit.
That's it. No ifs, ands or buts. Game over. Turn the computer off (or at least the poker site).
If you are a more experienced player or a professional then I think a 5 buy-in stop loss is fine. Whatever amount you choose, just make it your mission to stop yourself from playing poker at your worst.
I have said it many times. One of the biggest keys to my poker success isn't that I am some sort of genius or can read your hand better or something.
No, it's that I don't let you play against me when I am in my worst mental state, tilted and frustrated. But most people let me play against them when they are at their worst.
See the difference?
Stop playing while on tilt and watch your poker winnings skyrocket. I have also written extensively before on how to control your tilt.
8. Put Them on Tilt
Now with that said, on the flip side, you absolutely should be doing everything in your power to put your opponents on tilt!
Why nobody ever talks about this is totally crazy to me.
In fact I have even written entire articles before on how to put people on tilt, including the step by step process to really piss them off.
Look, poker is psychological warfare. You would be absolutely crazy to NOT be using this strategy already. People make big mistakes when they are angry and frustrated with you.
So one of the best ways to put people on tilt is something I already mentioned above in point #2, and that is to get more aggressive preflop.
Raise up the fish in position when they limp, re-raise the weak regs in position when they open from middle or late position.
In a nutshell, just be a huge pain, or a "bully" as the recreational players like to call me.
Make people hate you. Make them think you are abusing them and out to get them. Do whatever it takes to get under their skin and to get them tilting towards you.
I normally pick one or two players every session who I have direct position on, and just absolutely raise or 3-bet the crap out of them every time they enter the pot.
Only the weaker players of course, I don't do this versus the (very few) smart and solid players at the micros. Because they can see right through it, or they will just change seats/table.
Anyways, this strategy usually gets the weaker players at the micros spazzing out very quickly and making all sorts of postflop mistakes against me.
People often ask me why they never get any action with their big hands. This is why!
There is an old saying in poker which is so unbelievably true: "You have to give action to get action."
This is something that all top level poker pros already know and understand. Daniel Negreanu actually talks about this at length in his MasterClass training program.
Trust me, you will never have any problem getting action with your AA again, when they view you as a complete and total maniac.
9. Shove All-In on Action Rivers Versus the Fish
Shoving action rivers versus the fish is one of my all-time most profitable strategies at the micros. In fact, I even devoted an entire section on how to do this in my book Crushing the Microstakes.
In short, this one strategy has made me countless amounts of money versus really bad poker players over the years.
And right now during Coronavirus times, there are more bad players trying their hand at poker than arguably ever before.
So what does shoving action rivers actually mean?
It means that when you have a huge hand like a full house for example, you go all-in when a river card comes that completes a very obvious straight or flush draw.
Why does this strategy work so well?
Because no poker fish has ever folded a flush or straight ever. They just don't do it!
Example Hand Shoving an Action River Card
You raise preflop with 6♠6♣ and a huge fish calls you from the big blind.
The flop comes:
6♦5♦4♠
The fish checks and you bet.
The turn comes:
4♥
The fish checks and you bet again.
The river comes:
3♦
The fish checks.
What should you do?
You should shove all-in.
You should shove all-in on this river card for the massive overbet because there is a very good chance that the fish made a straight or a flush on this river card.
They will think you are bluffing and snap call you. Because as I mentioned, fish don't fold straights or flushes...ever.
Don't bet a normal amount here like everybody else. That is not smart.
Instead, make a massive overbet and get their entire stack. Plays like this are why I have some of the highest winrates of all time in these games.
And this is how smart poker players get ahead. They don't listen to the "standard play" advice from mediocre winners.
They challenge themselves to think a little bit deeper instead and ask themselves:
What is the great/optimal/most profitable play here? (not just the "good" or "standard" play). This is something that I literally wrote an entire book about.
If you think a little bit deeper about this hand and consider both your opponent's range, the player type and the board, you will realize that they will call BOTH a normal sized bet and a massive all-in overbet.
So why would you ever bet the former? Take a moment to think about the game on a bit deeper level and you will win far more.
10. Multi-Table, Grind, Beast Mode
Developing a superhuman work ethic and the ability to grind long hours is simply going to be a big part of your success.
I don't know any big winning poker players who haven't played some ungodly amount of hands. I have personally played well over 10 million hands of poker in my career.
Fish, recreational players, mediocre players and so on like to dabble with poker though. They play poker when they "feel like it." Whenever it fits their schedule.
Hardcore grinders think differently. They play all day every day, often mass multi-tabling online in order to beast mode their poker goals.
I have discussed many times on this blog before how I would often play as much as 10,000 hands a day when I was first coming up in online poker.
Poker was simply my entire life...for many, many years. I didn't do anything else.
It takes some people a month to even play that many hands. And that is because they aren't serious about the game. And therefore, they get mediocre results at best.
If you are serious about getting big-time results in poker, moving up, playing professionally and so on, then you need to start thinking about how to grind longer and play more hands.
And right now, when the games are arguably better than I have seen them in over a decade, is a very good time to put your hard hat on (pack a lunch), and start taking this poker thing seriously.
11. Play Multiple Sites and Multiple Formats
I know that in some areas in the world you are limited as to what sites you can play online poker on, America for instance.
But if you want to have the most game selection and play the most tables, then it is better to play on multiple sites at once.
There is no reason why you can't spread your bankroll across multiple cardrooms and therefore take advantage of the much bigger combined player pool.
I would also recommend learning multiple formats, both 6max and full ring for example. This is going to give you the best opportunity to pick and choose tables.
And therefore, find the tables with the softest games and the most fish.
Learn both games and profit more. This will be especially important once you move up the stakes as well where the player pool is drastically smaller.
If you want to thrive at mid stakes or high stakes online, then it is absolutely crucial that you are able to competently play both game types.
12. Take Your Sleep, Exercise and Nutrition Game Seriously
Now, if you are going to be sitting in a chair playing online poker all day during these bizarre Coronavirus times, your results are going to be far better if you are taking care of your mind, body and soul.
So this means making sure that you get enough sleep firstly. Go to bed at the same time every night in a dark cool room. Do whatever it takes to optimize your sleep game so that your poker game is better.
Secondly, you are going to need to be doing some sort of physical exercise to endure these long periods of sitting in a chair and grinding the online poker games.
Physical exercise also has the added benefit of making you feel better overall (especially about yourself), think more clearly, and get better sleep.
And it doesn't take much.
Maybe this is as little as 10 pushups or a few burpees a day if you are just starting out. Or 20 minutes on a stationary bike or a treadmill if you have one.
Just start getting active on a regular basis, no matter how little you are able to do at first.
And you can do all this easily from the comfort of your own home. There are countless YouTube videos on home workouts.
Lastly, proper nutrition is an absolute must and there really are no excuses right now when most of us are ordering all of our food anyways, or have all the time in the world to prepare healthy food.
My typical breakfast
Stop ordering crap food, or buying junk groceries. Period. Only consume healthy food.
This might be the single greatest strategy you have to improve your mental state and ultimately your poker game during these troubled times.
You can also try intermittent fasting.
This is something that I have been doing for many years. I typically don't eat my first meal of the day until mid afternoon. I just sip black coffee throughout the morning.
The added bonus of doing all this by the way is that if you are somehow unlucky enough to get the Coronavirus, you will have a rock solid immune system to fight it!
[Obligatory Disclaimer: Please note that I am not a qualified medical professional and none of the above should in any way be taken as qualified medical advice. Always consult your doctor first. However, common sense seems to suggest that being in good physical and mental health is probably a good idea during a global pandemic!].
All of this "off the poker table" stuff is simple and totally within your control. It will make you play much better poker and tilt less as well.
Elite winning poker pros don't cut corners with this stuff. Amateurs do. You can just follow me on Instagram by the way if you want to see my daily regimen.
I am not just saying all this stuff to talk out of my ass. I actually practice healthy living every single day and I share it all in my Instagram stories.
All of this is a huge "secret" to my success in poker, business and so on by the way, that I have mentioned many times before on this blog.
And every successful poker pro who I know takes this stuff very seriously as well. Bottom line, if you want better results at the poker table, take care of your mind and body first.
Final Thoughts
We are all stuck in this bizarre Coronavirus world for the foreseeable future. And for over half the world's population right now that means some form of lockdown or self-quarantine.
And you can choose to wallow, mope and sit on the couch like most people will, or you can choose to make the best of these times and live your life like a champion.
Because truthfully, times of great calamity and recession actually tend to create the greatest opportunities. And so this is when tough people get going, and grind even harder.
One of these opportunities right now is online poker. The games haven't been this good in as long as I can even remember.
And you definitely don't need to know a ton of advanced poker strategy in order to crush all the super weak competition right now either.
Most online poker sites are currently seeing record traffic and record tournament prize pools with tons of bad recreational players picking up the game again.
This is an opportunity for you to finally start profiting from this poker thing in a big way. Strike while the iron is hot! This is your chance. It is up to you to take it or not.
As I mentioned off the top though, please remember that online poker is NOT an answer to financial problems, and it is also not a get rich quick scheme.
Real true and lasting success in poker is a long term process that only plays out over the course of months and years.
Anyways, I hope some of the "Coronavirus poker tips" in this article helped you.
And of course this global pandemic is much bigger than poker or anything else though. So above all, I hope you are staying safe and staying home!
Let's all beat this thing together.
All the best at the poker tables. And make sure you let me know in the comments below how you are doing in the Coronavirus online poker games.
Are you finding the games softer? Are you playing more? Did any of the tips in this article help you?
Let me know in the comments below!
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