5 Legendary Ways to Steal More Pots From the Regs

You have probably heard the saying before. Everybody gets dealt the same amount of good hands and bad hands in poker in the long run. And it is totally true.

Furthermore, these hands tend to play themselves. You should be betting all of your big hands for value and you want to be folding most of the time when you have nothing. Easy game right?

So why is it that only a small amount of people end up winning really big in this game creating a nice side income or even a full time one?

The answer is that they steal way more of all those little pots where everybody has some sort of mediocre hand like a weak pair or a draw.

These are the pots that most people aren't really willing to fight for at the end of the day. And winning more of these pots than the next guy cuts to the very heart of elite poker. 

I have been working all year behind the scenes on a new book that is literally all about this exact topic. But before that finally gets released I wanted to discuss a few of my favorite ways to take more pots away from the regulars at the micros.

Let's get to it!

By the way, if you're new to poker and you just want to learn my simple system for exactly what hands to play, grab my free poker cheat sheet.

Memorize the charts. Stop guessing. Start winning.

1. Float the Weak Regs

Arguably the very best way to steal more pots from the regs in today's micro stakes games is to float them a lot more often. What I mean by this is that you call in position on the flop with the intention of taking the pot away on a later street.

The reason why this strategy works so well is because there are still a ton of regs at the lower stakes who will frequently bet the flop but if you are still around by the turn, they will often just give up. This means that you can make a simple bet and just take down the pot.


Take the following reg for example:

The player above is a typical example of a nitty 6max regular that you will see everywhere at the micros. Bets the flop 73% of the time. Only bets the turn 38%.

I would float this guy so often it's ridiculous. Some regs are so transparent like this that your hand almost becomes irrelevant. It's just free money.

I am always on the lookout for players like this and that is why I always have these stats on my HUD like you see above.

There really is no easier way to start stealing more pots from all the weak regs at the micros these days than this. If they have a big gap between Flop Cbet% and Turn CBet%, then just float them wide in position and make a bet when they check and give up on the turn. 

By the way, if you just want to learn my simple no BS system for exactly what hands to play, when to bet, raise and bluff, I cover this all in my brand new training program, Play Fearless Poker.

Memorize the charts. Stop guessing. Start winning.

My new Play Fearless Poker training program includes 12+ hours of advanced poker lessons, 100+ step by step example hands and "cheat sheets" below every single video.

If you're serious about taking your poker game to the next level, enroll today.

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2. Play Your Draws Aggressively

Another one of my favorite strategies is to play my draws fast. What I mean by this is that I will often raise my flush or straight draw for instance on the flop and then follow it up on the turn if they are still around.

If I manage to hit my draw on the turn, that's great. But I am betting either way. 

The reason why this strategy works so well against a lot of micro stakes regs is because it applies a ton of pressure without really risking a lot. And once again I will target the weaker regs that tend to give up on pots too easily.

Your HUD can be very helpful here once again. I will really focus on the regs with a low WTSD% (went to showdown). And if I have enough hands on them then I will also check their fold to flop raise and fold to turn bet as well. 

The bottom line is that pressure and aggression is the best way to start stealing more pots from many of the regulars at the lower stakes these days.

Often they just won't be willing to fight for it. They will just "let it go and look for a better spot." How many times have you heard people say that? That's just money in the bank.

If you have some equity with a draw for instance, try playing it fast a little more often by raising and betting. Do this especially against the weaker players.

This will give you more ways to win the pot. You can win by either making the best hand or forcing them to fold.

3. Hero Call the Aggressive Regs

Now of course there are also quite a few aggressive regs at the micros these days as well. The strategies that I have discussed so far won't work nearly as well against them so you need to take a different approach. 

I know that this is going to sound a little bit crazy. But versus many of the highly aggro regs at the micros these days the best strategy to beat them is just to literally become a calling station against them. 

Years ago they used to call you a "donkey" in poker and make fun of you if you called too much. But in today's games many of the biggest winners have realized that the best counter strategy to insane levels of aggression is to simply call down with a wider range.

Go watch any mid or high stakes game online these days and you can see this in action for yourself. Poker has almost become like a game of chicken at these limits now.

What you will often see is one reg barreling away at the pot and the other reg is just in total call down mode hanging on with some weak pair or a draw. And these guys are playing for thousands of dollars in many cases!

The next time some highly aggressive reg at the micros 3Bets you and then starts bombing away at the pot after the flop, consider hero calling them lighter than you normally would (top pair, even middle pair sometimes).

There is no reason to raise at any point. So much of the time they are just on some ridiculous bluff. Better to just let them keep tossing their dead money in the middle.

This is something I discuss in much more detail in my new Elite Poker University training.

There are 17+ hours of advanced poker lessons, hundreds of step by step example hands and downloadable "cheat sheets"

If you are serious about taking your poker game to the next level, enroll today.

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4. Cold 4Bet the Light 3Bettors

Now I have talked about 3Betting the weak regs with a wide range a million times before on this blog and in all my books and videos. It is still an awesome strategy and it still works really well at the micros. 

But another related strategy that works just as well against the good aggressive regs is to 4Bet them light when it is obvious that they are just light 3Betting a weak reg or a fish. 

I will do this with a wide variety of decent but not great hands such as:

• Suited aces
• Suited connectors
• Small pairs

These are all hands that can potentially flop big and make a monster but they are too weak to flat a 3Bet with.


So I am constantly on the lookout for aggressive regs with a high 3Bet like this:

If I see them clearly trying to take advantage of a weak player in position by 3Betting light, then I will just go ahead and cold 4Bet them light with all my strong premium hands and with this range of speculative hands as well.

Sometimes they even know exactly what I am doing but there isn't much they can do about it. This simple play can yield you an easy ~10bb-15bb after everybody folds (original raise + 3Bet).

5. Bluff the River More Often

The last way to win more pots at the micros is to bluff the river more often. Most regs at the micros either don't bluff the river often enough or they don't do it in the right spots.


There are a couple of key reasons why you should bluff:

• No chance of winning the pot if you don't
• Believable story given the board runout
• Weak opponent

One of the most important reasons why you should bluff is if you have something like 6 high on the river. Clearly there is no way on earth that you are going to win the pot unless you bluff at it.

Now this doesn't necessarily mean that you should bluff. However, when I am in a spot like this I am always going to at least ask myself if there is any conceivable way to win the pot by betting. Because checking it down and giving up like many people do is a guaranteed loss.

Secondly, one of the biggest reasons why bluffs aren't successful at the micros is because they aren't telling a believable story. I regularly hero call regs who try to bluff me because their bet simply doesn't make any sense.

The easiest way to figure out if your bluff makes sense is to always ask yourself if there are at least a couple other value hands that you would play in the exact same way.

Your competition at the micros might not be world beaters. However, they aren't complete idiots either. If you are literally representing nothing with your bluff, then they are just going to call you down. You need to be telling them a believable story instead.

Lastly, you should only be bluffing the weak players at the micros. These are usually the tighter regs who have a WTSD% in the low 20's or less. These are the guys who don't like to go to showdown without a strong hand.

If you try to bluff the calling station regs or almost any fish, they are just going to call you down without even thinking. Because that is what they do best.

Final Thoughts

One of the quickest ways to start turning your results around at the micros is to win a few more of the pots that nobody really wants to fight for. Most people will just check it down and hope that their hand winds up the best.

But how can this ever be a good strategy to get ahead in this game or in any pursuit in life for that matter? You are literally leaving your success up to chance.

The only way to really start winning big in poker is to take more pots away from your opponents than they take away from you. And luckily this is still pretty easy to do at the lower limits.

Hopefully a few of the strategies in this article will help you out. Let me know your favorite ways to steal more pots at the micros in the comments below.

Lastly, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker ebook in order to learn my complete strategy for crushing the micros.

Don't Get Left Behind: How to Outplay the Regs and Win More Pots

One of the biggest keys to success in today's micro stakes cash games is learning how to outplay the regs (the regulars who you see every day at the tables).

With the recreational players being fewer in numbers these days it is more imperative than ever that you develop strategies to beat decent thinking opponents.

Most people these days essentially still just "play their hand" against the regs though. That is, they just play a straight forward ABC game, make disciplined folds and never really get out of line.

This strategy leads to a lot of trading the blinds back and forth and ultimately a tiny winrate. If you want to win big then you need to find ways to start winning more pots against the regs.

So in this article I am going to discuss a couple of key ways to outplay the regs in today's small stakes cash games.

By the way, if you're new to poker and you just want to know exactly what hands to play, grab my free poker cheat sheet.

Memorize the charts. Stop guessing. Start winning.

Outplaying the Regs - Know Your Enemy

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

In order to stop trading the blinds back and forth with the regs you need to know your enemy. Once you discover their weaknesses then you can start attacking them and turn the balance of pots won in your favor.

What are some of their weaknesses?


1. They Are Overly Aggressive When Small Money is Involved

Ever notice how crazy the 3Betting and 4Betting can get sometimes at the micros today even at very low stakes? You might have noticed a high amount of CBets on the flop and turn as well.

This is because most regs get over aggressive when small amounts of money (relative to the overall stacks) are involved. This is not a bad thing in and of itself.

The real problem is point #2.


2. They Are Overly Weak When Big Money is Involved

Most regs at the micros these days are like the little dog who is all bark and no bite. They put on a mean face and try to scare you out of the pot with frequent bets and raises on the small money streets.

However, once a significant portion of their stack is at risk unless they have a monster hand they can't find the fold button fast enough.

So there are a few different ways to exploit this.

By the way, if you just want to learn my simple no BS system for exactly what hands to play, when to bet, raise and bluff, I cover this all in my brand new training program, Play Fearless Poker.

Memorize the charts. Stop guessing. Start winning.

My new Play Fearless Poker training program includes 12+ hours of advanced poker lessons, 100+ step by step example hands and "cheat sheets" below every single video.

If you're serious about taking your poker game to the next level, enroll today.

Enroll in Play Fearless Poker

Get $100 OFF Use Code: 100OFF

The Turn Semi-Bluff Raise

One of the easiest ways to outplay many of the regs at the micros these days is to raise their double barrel with a wider range than normal.

Most people will only raise on the turn if they have a huge hand like two pair or better. The problem with this strategy is that every reg out there knows this as well.

Therefore, when you finally hit your set and raise them on the turn they just make the easiest fold in the world and you are left wondering why you never get any action with your big hands.

Well, the easiest way to exploit their tendency to double barrel frequently but then fold to further aggression is to simply open up your raising range in these spots.

So instead of only raising the turn with two pair or better try adding some hands like this:

• Open ended straight draw
• Flush draw
• Middle pair
• Bottom pair
• Gutshot straight draw

Skew it more towards the quality draws and pairs but I think you get my point. Raise the regs more often with hands that have some reasonable equity but aren't the nuts.

By raising the turn with hands like this you will take down several more pots uncontested. This will also do wonders for both your winrate and your redline (non-showdown winnings).

And don't worry if you get called from time to time. This doesn't mean that you can't still win the pot on the river with another well placed bluff.

You could also simply outdraw them. This is why you should only make this play with hands that have some equity.

Lastly, on the rare occasion that they re-raise you they clearly have a monster and it is the easiest fold in the world.

The Double Float 

You don't always have to raise the turn though. Another line that you can take is to simply float them twice (call their flop and turn CBets in position) and then bet the river when they check to you.

Like I said before, most regs at the micros these days are all bark and no bite. This means that they will fire on the flop and the turn but if you can continue (even just by calling) they often won't have the heart to fire again.

So you can take many of the same hands that I listed above and instead of folding to their double barrel just call again with the intention of taking it away on the river.

This last point is extremely important.

Many people forget that the entire point of floating is to take the pot away. Floating and then not betting when they check to you is like getting the hot girl's phone number and then not phoning her.

Massive fail. Facepalm etc.

So when you double float the turn and they check to you on the river you should be betting with all of your missed draws and bluffing with many of your weak pairs as well.

Just like before on the turn, you will of course get looked up here from time to time. It is important not to let that deter you. Showing down a bluff or a bad hand on occasion versus a reg can actually be a very good thing because it gives you a bad image which leads to more loose action in the future.

Don't Bluff the Sticky Regs

It is important to note that you should look out for the calling station regs though. The WTSD% (went to showdown) stat on your HUD is a huge help in many situations like this.

If the reg has a WTSD% in the mid 20's or higher then I am going to bluff them less often with many of these hands. If on the other hand their WTSD% is in the low 20's or less then I will be bluffing them all day.

As I discuss at length in Modern Small Stakes I am often planning all of this ahead of time on the earlier streets though. I will often only double float a player who I know likes to barrel a lot but gives up easily on the river.

If I see that they like to triple barrel or call down wide though then I will be much less likely to try and run a big bluff against them. I might call down wide myself or just give up on the hand on an earlier street.

Final Thoughts

Devising strategies to outplay the regs is extremely important to your success in today's micro stakes cash games. After all, these are the players who you are going to see by far the most at the tables.

The biggest key to having success against them is understanding how they view the game, their tendencies and then creating counter-strategies.

And indeed, this is what winning poker is all about. There is always a ying to every yang. Your opponent is too aggressive? Call down lighter. Your opponent is too passive/weak? Bluff them more often.

It is important to understand that not all regs at the micros are created the same. But many of them these days do exhibit a tendency towards being overly aggressive on the earlier streets and overly weak on the later ones.

The turn semi-bluff raise and the double float are two strategies that you can use to counter-act this. Try them out yourself at the tables and you might notice a few more pots coming your way.

Let me know some of your strategies to outplay the regs in the comments below.

By the way, for my entire poker strategy, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

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