The One Little Thing Holding You Back From Huge Poker Success

Did you know that there is probably just one little thing which is holding you back from having the success you have always dreamed of in poker?

After having coached 100+ students to success in poker in the past, I have seen this one mistake over and over again.

In fact, it is such a common mistake that I have literally seen people lose for years and years at poker because of it.

Alright, so enough already!

What is this one little poker mistake that so many people make?

Making the Right Play Every Single Time, Whether You Feel Like It or Not

The one little thing that is holding you back from the success that you always wanted in poker is simply the ability to make the correct play (every single time), whether you feel like it or not.

Let's face it guys. Winning at poker isn't exactly rocket science.

If you play 6max, then you should play roughly the top 20% of hands that are dealt to you, 15% if you play full ring. And you should play extra loose and aggressive in late position around the button.

Furthermore, you should come into the pot preflop for a raise or a re-raise the vast majority of the time and then follow up on the flop with more aggression most of the time.

You should barrel the turn and river on scare cards or equity cards but largely just give up if you are unimproved and you are playing against a loose calling station.

And most importantly at all, stop tilting and only play on tables that have at least one clear fish. This is all the stuff I have been talking about for 10 years on this blog and in my books.

In fact, I talked about this in my latest YouTube video as well. Why we tilt, and more importantly, how to stop it.

I put out new videos every week by the way so make sure you are subscribed.

But this is honestly pretty much the keys to the vault right here.

It is extremely simple stuff at the lower stakes in particular and that is why most experienced high stakes pros can literally smash these games in their sleep.

I even wrote a totally free little 50 page step by step guide explaining it all for you. So it impossible for anybody to even have an excuse anymore for not beating the micros.

Most of us already know all this stuff already though. It's pretty basic after all.

So why is it so hard to consistently put it all together in the heat of the moment when the pressure is on at the poker tables?

Why do so many people consistently veer from the game-plan, play bad hands, make bad calls, go on monkey tilt and so on?

Simple. It is because they let their emotions get involved in the game.

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 in extensive detail 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 Best Poker Players Feel No Emotions

The biggest problem that many break-even or losing poker players face is that they get way, way too wrapped up and emotional about their short term results.

Go have a look at any poker message board online or poker sub-reddit and you will see full grown men whining like little babies because their AA got cracked a few times in a row.

Heck, I wrote a post awhile back about if PokerStars is rigged or not and there are literally 100+ comments of some of the nastiest stuff you have ever seen written, mostly directed towards me.

These people are triggered beyond belief over a few bad beats in a $5 pot online! Here in fact is how I picture them raging when I nail my flush on the river against them.



It's highly profitable to play against these people. I have literally made a living against them for years. But it's hard to not feel a bit sad for them also.

Because no winning poker player would ever react like this. And this is because of one very clear difference in how they think about the game.

Winning poker players know that only long term results over a period of months or years mean anything in poker.

And this is why they are better able to detach themselves from short term results and therefore play emotionless poker.

I have talked about it many times on this blog before. And some people think it's totally crazy. But I regularly go weeks without even looking at my bankroll.

And this is because I know that it simply isn't important at all. My bankroll is always very large and I only play in games where I am a significant long term winner.

So what this allows me to do is forget about my short term results completely (ignorance is bliss) and simply focus on making the right (logically correct) play every single time.

I don't get my emotions involved in this game every time I take a bad beat because I simply don't care about it. In fact sometimes when multi-tabling online poker I don't even view the results of a hand.

Because why does it even matter?

If I got the money in good with a mathematical edge (which I often do), then I win. Period, end of story.

I might not win this specific hand right now but when I consistently get the money in with the better odds, then the math will sort it all out over the long run.

I don't need to be an emotional wreck like so many others at the poker table, married to the results of every individual hand.

Not only is that a very counter-productive way to approach the game of poker, but that also sounds downright miserable as well.

I want to enjoy myself all the time when I am playing poker. This is why we all first started playing this game in the first place right?

My Free Poker Cheat Sheet Teaches You How to Make the Right Play (Every Time)

Are you having trouble beating low stakes poker games 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 $500 or $1000 per month in low stakes poker games right now.

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.

Name

Email

Start De-Programming the Way You Think About Poker Right Now

And this is why it time for you to start de-programming the way you look at the game right now. This is if you finally want to start winning consistently.

Do you really?

Then you have to simply lose the notion that poker is "gambling" or that there is something on the line in each individual hand.

This is pure nonsense.

Poker is cold hard mathematics, odds and statistics played out over hundreds of thousands and millions of hands.

There is nothing more to it.

You don't win a prize because your AA just held up in your $10 tournament online. You also don't lose anything if they suck out and you get eliminated.

This is just one tiny and totally insignificant sample size in your poker career. In fact, run this same scenario 10 times, 100 times, 1000 times.

It still doesn't mean anything!

Assuming that you got the money in good with the best odds to win (as you should always try to in poker), then you will realize your equity over the course of months and years of playing tournaments like this.

If you are going to get angry every time your AA gets cracked in a routine spot where somebody usually has at least 20% equity against you, then you are literally going to make yourself sick.

You are also very unlikely to ever become a winning poker player. Because winning poker players understand that the only way to overcome the short term madness in poker is to stop caring entirely.

This is the only way you are going to finally stop wasting all your time telling people bad beat stories on the internet (which nobody cares about by the way), and start actually focusing on playing consistent winning poker.

And more importantly, actually start grinding!

It still makes my head spin how little most people actually play poker these days. I became a poker pro over 10 years ago because I have played over 10 million hands of poker.

In my early days all I did was eat, breathe and sleep this game. I didn't do anything else. And I certainly didn't have time to be complaining about every little bad beat I took either!

My AA has been cracked thousands and thousands of times. Does it really matter? Nope, I have made a lot of money playing this game.

If you want to finally start winning consistently at poker then you need to de-program yourself completely from short term variance (bad beats), and simply learn to embrace the grind.

Then you will learn to start laughing all the way to the bank over the long run, when it actually matters.

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.

Enroll in BlackRain79 Elite Poker University

Get $100 OFF Use Code: Elite100

Final Thoughts

The one little thing that is probably holding you back from having the poker success you have always dreamed about is actually pretty simple.

It is the ability to make the right play every single time, even when you don't feel like it.

And this becomes remarkably easy when you learn to stop allowing your emotions to get so heavily involved in this game.

Because let's be real. While it is a good idea to learn some advanced poker strategies, most of us already know enough to at least crush the micro stakes.

This stuff isn't rocket science guys! Make good hands and bet them. Don't bluff fish and so on. You have heard it all a million times before.

I preach it every single week on this blog, in my YouTube poker videos and in my books.

The only thing that separates the long term winners from everybody else is the ability to consistently put these basic strategies into practice every single time, no matter how they feel.

And that is because they don't feel anything.

They aren't married to every little bad beat like most people are. They don't take it as some sort of deep personal insult when their AA gets cracked a few times in a row.

It's just a part of the long term mathematical game of poker. Continue to get the money in good over and over again and let the math sort it all out over the long term.

That's really all there is to it. Seriously. 

The end.

If you want to know the simple poker strategies I have used to consistently crush low stakes games as a 10+ year pro, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

---

Let me know in the comments below what is the one thing that holds you back in poker. Do you struggle with making the right play every time?

This One Little Word is the Key to My Poker Success

Have you ever made a call at the poker tables even when you absolutely knew for sure that you were beat? Perhaps you just had to see it?

Well, if so don't worry because we all have. They even have a name for it. They call it a "crying call." But what if I told you that there is actually no such thing as a crying call in poker, only bad calls?

It is true.

There is actually one little word in poker that will drastically change your results at the micros in particular if you start implementing it right now.

When I finally learned to incorporate this one little word into my poker game, especially against the tight players at the lower limits, my results skyrocketed.

It literally changed everything for me. It is the key to my poker success. And I know it will be for you as well. So what is this one little word already?

Fold.

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.

Most People Don't Actually Even Like to Bluff

Here's the funny thing about poker. Most people are highly suspicious that other people are constantly bluffing them. It's this crazy little egotistical game that many of us play in our heads.

This suspicion is magnified drastically in a game like poker because you often don't actually get to see their cards if you fold.

So in other words you are always left wondering and wondering. And this eats away at some people. It causes them to become paranoid that people are constantly out to bluff them.

But here's the other thing about poker. Most people don't actually like to bluff all that often. This is especially true at the lower limits.

It is really only a handful of recreational players (fish) who like to bluff. And usually when they do it, it is so transparent and bad that you can just easily snap it off.

But the vast majority of regular players at the lower limits in particular (online or live) actually aren't bluffing anywhere near as much as you might think.

And this is because bluffing is not something that most people naturally like to do. It is a bit like lying. It can cause you to become nervous, raise your heartbeat a bit.

Bluffing also causes confrontation which many people do not like. It is much easier to just sit around and wait for the nuts and play an "honest" game.

So this is what most people actually do at the lower stakes in particular. They might make a small bluff here and there, but by and large, when they are betting big amounts, it's because they have it.

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

Turn Raise is Usually the Nuts, River Raise is Always the Nuts

In my first poker book Crushing the Microstakes I firmly stated that the turn raise is usually the nuts and the river raise is always the nuts.

And this is because in my vast experience of playing millions and millions of hands at the micro stakes online, this statement is almost always true, especially against the legions of tight nitty regulars that you will encounter frequently these days.

These set-mining nits who are playing on 15 tables just aren't running a random bluff against you out of the blue. You aren't special, they aren't picking on you for something to do.

No, they don't even have time for that!

When they raise the turn it's because they can beat your one pair hand. And when they raise you on the river you can literally bet the farm that they have your one pair hand crushed.

I am talking about players who are multi-tabling and have HUD stats of like 18/15/2 in 6max or 12/10/2 in full ring.


Here is an example:

You raise A♥A♦ from early position and a tight regular calls you on the button.


Flop:

3♣5♥7♠

You CBet

He calls


Turn:

9♣

You CBet

He calls


River:

2♦

You CBet

He raises...


Now, you can go ahead and make the "crying call" here. This is what most people do after all. But let me tell you something else that most people do.

They lose at poker.

And why do most people lose at poker? Because they make bad calls like this.

If you make the call here (on this board and versus this player type) he is going to show you one of the following hands the vast overwhelming majority of the time:

• 33
• 55
• 77
• 99

Many people will try to convince themselves that maybe he has a bluff or another overpair like:

• TT
• JJ
• QQ
• KK

The problem with this line of thinking though is that most tight regulars at the micros will just call down with these hands when you triple barrel. And if he had QQ or KK he probably would have re-raised us before the flop anyways.

So what is he left with? Yup, you guessed it. Hands that beat our one pair. Specifically sets. And it really doesn't even matter which one he has because all of them beat AA.

Most people will call here anyways without even thinking. And that is why they get the results that they do in poker.

The select few who win big in poker however will think a bit deeper and find the fold button instead.

Why is It So Hard to Fold a Hand Like Pocket AA or KK?

So why is it so hard for most people to toss away a hand like pocket AA in a situation like this? Well, I think they get married to how pretty their hand looks.

They think that having a big over pair like this is basically a licence to print money. The problem is that it isn't though. Hands like Aces and Kings are just one pair. And they can and will lose sometimes.

Now let's look at just how disastrous it is for your poker winrate to make the crying call here against a nut peddling nit in a situation like this.

You will often need to call as much as 50 big blinds in order to see a showdown with your pocket aces in a spot like this.


Let's assume some very typical bet sizing amounts of 3bb preflop / 55% pot flop / 70% pot turn / 70% pot river:

• Preflop: you raise 3bb + 3bb call + blinds = pot 7bb
• Flop: you CBet 4bb + 4bb call = pot 15bb
• Turn: you CBet 10bb + 10bb call = pot 35bb
• River: you CBet 25bb and he raises to 75bb = 50bb to call.

50 big blinds is an absolutely huge amount to call here when you know that you are beat a very, very high percentage of the time.

Now let's just think about how the math works if you were able to make the correct laydown here even once every 1000 hands.

This would save you 5bb every 100 hands. So if you are currently a break-even type player with say a 1bb/100 winrate you would now be crushing the games with a 6bb/100 winrate instead.

Please just let that sink in a little bit longer.

Making the correct fold in a situation like this a little bit more often could quite literally be the difference between you being a break even poker player versus a big winner.


Now you might be wondering does this type of situation actually pop up once every 1000 hands on average? That is debatable. I am certainly being a little bit liberal here in my estimates.

However, I hope the gravity of these numbers strikes a chord with you.

If you can learn to just stop making these bad crying calls against a nit on the turn or river it can actually improve your overall poker results in a massive way.

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.

Enroll in BlackRain79 Elite Poker University

Get $100 OFF Use Code: Elite100

The Key to Poker Success

So what this really boils down to actually is a very simple question. And that is: Do you truly want to be a winning poker player or not?

Because I will tell you what finally gets you to start making these folds can be summed up in one word, discipline. This is the real key to poker success.

Most people straight up just do not have it. After all, it's the micros right? It's only $5 to call. Who cares right?! They just have to see it!

But once again, if you are playing NL10 for example then $5 is actually 50 big blinds. That's no joke!

And like I just said, being able to make this fold more often can actually be a key difference between you having mediocre results in this game or being a large winner.

Look guys, it's really not rocket science. It's just discipline. It's wanting it more than the next guy does at the end of the day.

Amateurs make the call, pros fold. Why is this?

Because the pros have seen it enough times already. They are ready to learn from their mistakes. They take this game seriously. They truly want to win.

They don't need to keep getting their ego involved every time like amateurs do. Because that's all it is. It's an ego call. It's an "I need to see his set one more time" to satisfy my ego call.

Go See The Cold Hard Stats For Yourself

But as I always say, you don't even need to believe me or take my word for it. Just go log into your PokerTracker database right now and go see the results for yourself.

Just click on the View Stats tab, click on More Filters, then Actions and Opportunities. Now filter for all the hands where you got raised on the turn or the river and you chose to continue in the hand.



See all the glorious losses for yourself that came from your crying calls in situations like this! Let all that red ink fully sink in.

Because that right there is a big part of the difference between you finally getting the results that you want at the poker tables or continuing on with your "somewhere around break-even" ways.

It's having the discipline to finally start making the right folds when you need to make them. Now look, nobody is perfect, everybody still screws up and makes a bad call from time to time.

It is important not to beat yourself up about it when it happens.

But the biggest winners (the professionals) are able to make these folds most of the time. The amateurs get their ego involved and they just "have to see it."

And that is why they get the results that they get in this game. It's a simple matter of discipline. And it's always your choice every single day at the poker tables.

Final Thoughts

So what is the one little word that will completely change your poker results? Fold.

This is truly the key to my poker success. This is how I made a career out of this game at the micros as a 10+ year poker pro and now a multiple time poker author as well.

It's not easy to do. Everybody wants to see it. They want to know for sure that the guy has it again. But the problem is that you often have to pay a big price to see it.

And when we are talking about turn or river raises here, we are talking about a heavy price of 20bb, 30bb or even 50bb sometimes.

In today's micro stakes games where the edges are often very thin this is quite literally the difference between a winning and a losing poker player.

Begin with the tight nitty multi-tabling regulars at the micro stakes online. When they raise you on the turn or river, just start folding.

Bite your tongue and just do it. Remember that you pocket aces or your pocket kings are just one pair. And they aren't good anymore.

Do you really have to see it yet again? You already know what hand he is going to show you. Have the discipline to let it go just this one time and you will start seeing how easy it actually is.

I actually just laugh and fold these days. This nit has literally been waiting an hour to hit his set against me while I have been stealing so many other pots against him.

Now he finally hits his set against my pocket AA or KK and I don't even pay him off! Can you imagine how much that must piss him off?

It really becomes easier and easier once you get used to doing it. You don't need to see it. You don't need proof that the sky is gonna be blue again today either.

The bottom line is that when a nit raises you on the turn or the river he has your one pair hand beat. Just laugh and fold. And thank me later.

---

Lastly, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet to learn all my best strategies to crush the micros.

And let me know in the comments below if you are able to make the difficult folds at the poker table. Or is this something you struggle with?

Preparing Yourself For Success at the Micros in 2025

Since we are already almost a month into the new year I hope that many of you are achieving your new year's goals at the poker tables. But if you are not then this article is going to be a quick guide to help you get refocused for success.

I have talked about having a winning mentality before but preparing yourself for success goes beyond simply believing in your abilities. You need to have the right strategy, goals and approach to the game as well.

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.

A Winning Strategy for Micro Stakes Poker

First things first you should realize that there is no one correct way to beat the micros or any level of poker for that matter. Many different styles can win from a nitty approach to a tight and aggressive game to a loose and aggressive strategy.

A winning approach at the micros these days is still surprisingly simple though. The basics revolve around:

• Playing in Position
• Playing with the Initiative
• Value Betting

Playing in Position

Playing in position is vital to your success in this game. When you get to act last in the hand you wear the pants so to speak. You possess the massive advantage of seeing what your opponent does before you act on every street.

This allows you to dictate what size of pot you want to play, get thin value, make a bluff or simply get out of the way and look for a better spot. You can look in your Pokertracker or Hold'em Manager database and filter for hands played in position to see just how much higher your winrate is.


Playing with the Initiative

Having the initiative in the hand is also key. Despite all the talk of balancing your ranges and playing GTO correct in recent years the simple fact of the matter is that the vast majority of your opponents at the stakes that I am talking about in this article are not paying any attention to this.

It is well known that in Crushing the Microstakes I advise a very heavy 3Bet or fold strategy. The reason why is because it simply works. Your average NL5 reg is simply not paying attention to how often you flat from the blinds for instance.

And once again, you can simply look in your poker tracking program and see for yourself just how much higher your winrate is when you have the betting lead in the hand.

I am not saying that you should never flat. There are definitely spots to do so especially when in position. But do not get wrapped up in the over-thinking trap that is fashionable these days. You do not need to re-invent the wheel in order to have success against really bad opponents.

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

Value Betting

Lastly, yes it is still all about value betting at the micros. These are the stakes where many of your opponents will have a hard time finding the fold button. And it is not just fish, it is sometimes the regs too. This is especially the case if you have been cultivating a wild image from time to time as I suggest.

Quite simply, you can't expect passive players who like to call a lot to build the pot for you. These are the guys with a Total AF (aggression factor) of 1 or 2 who you still see everywhere at these stakes.

There will be some aggressive regs as well (Total AF of 3 or 4). It is fine to lay traps against them and try to use their aggression against them. Against most players though you need to be betting your good hands and doing it often.

Goal Setting Prepares You For Success

It is very important that you set poker goals this year so that you know what you are playing for. There is a popular email in my free newsletter series which talks about going from NL2 to NL100 in a single calendar year.

The way to do this is by setting clear guidelines for when to move up and also for when to move down. Perhaps that threshold is 40 buyins move up and 30 buyins move down for you. Whatever it is, it is important that you lay it out clearly right now.

This is why I have talked before about the importance of having a blog. Many years ago when I started this website it was not to write articles like this one. You can go back through the history of this blog and see that it was all about goal setting and keeping myself accountable.

And by this I mean hand goals, not monetary goals. Life is going to get in the way in some months this year but it is important that you maintain a relatively consistent playing schedule. If moving up and succeeding in online poker is truly important to you then it can't be the 12th priority in your life.

Set clear monthly hand goals or even rakeback targets. Perhaps this is 20k, 50k or 100k hands for you. Just make sure that you set clear targets in order to hold yourself accountable. Because as I always say, the biggest winners are almost always the ones that you find at the tables playing, not the guys yapping on forums or Twitter.

When I first went pro in this game many years ago I played for hours every single night for a year before quitting my job. I made online poker the number #1 priority in my life and I got the results that I wanted.

Poker Is Not a Sprint, It is a Marathon

One of the biggest reasons why people lack consistency at the poker tables is because they get frustrated by poor results and quit. I think it is important to always remember that this is a long term endeavor where the only thing that matters are your results after months or even the entire year.

You can predict the future.

There will be many times this year where things will go bad. On a few occasions things will go horribly bad and you will lose buyin after buyin for days or even weeks and be unable to win a single hand.

All of this is part of the natural cycle of the game though. Everybody goes through it, not just you. If you choose to throw in the towel every time this happens, then you will seriously stunt your ability to put in the kind of big volume at the tables which is so crucial for your success.

This is not to say that you should never quit for the day or that you should battle through every downswing. On the contrary, it is a very good idea to recognize the signs of tilt and be able to walk away when things are not going your way.

However, the most difficult thing to deal with in this game is the fact that your results will never come fast. Even if you get lucky and go on a big heater this is not reality. At some point it will balance out.

We are not trained to think this way in our instant gratification modern society. But there is no way to force anything in poker. It can sometimes take hundreds of thousands of hands for things to sort themselves out.

Perhaps the single greatest skill in this game is realizing that your results in a single session or even a series of sessions (win or lose) are completely meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Final Thoughts

Despite the fears every year that the games are now impossibly hard at the micros and you need a PHD in mathematics in order to breakeven the recipe for success is still surprisingly simple.

A relatively tight and aggressive positionally aware strategy with an emphasis on value betting frequently versus the right opponents is still absolutely the way to beat the micro stakes cash games.
You don't need to practice balancing your ranges versus some mindless 18 tabling nit at NL5. Just keep things simple and profit the most.

Secondly, you really need to take goal setting seriously in order to have success in this game. And by this I don't mean monetary goals. I mean the goals that we actually have control over such as how many hands we play or what rakeback targets we hit.

You can create a free blog with Blogger, Tumblr or Wordpress in minutes. It takes no in depth computer know-how at all. Create an action plan detailing where you are now and where you are going to be by the years end. Post regular updates about your progress.

Lastly, predict the future this year. Poker will go bad and sometimes for long stretches. Don't fear this, embrace it as part of the natural cycle of the game. And also, don't allow it to deter you from putting in the effort at the tables which is necessary to achieve your goals.

There are no overnight success stories in poker. Bad stuff is going to happen. Those who achieve big results accept this and keep striving forward.

I hope this article helped prepare you for success at the tables this year in some small way. Let me know in the comments below what your goals are in poker this year and how you plan to achieve them.

If you found this article helpful then please do me a favor and share it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter below!

The Biggest Key to My Success at the Micros (It Might Shock You)

I am fairly well known in the online poker world as that guy who has some of the most winnings ever at NL2 and NL5. I almost certainly have the highest winrates ever in these games while 24 tabling.

This isn't really meant to be a brag. After all, as I discussed recently, if you are from any Western country (which I am) then your time would probably be better spent flipping burgers than relying on these stakes for any serious part of your income.

These limits do represent the very bottom levels of online poker though and therefore getting past them is a crucial step to reaching the higher stakes where some decent money can be made.

However, many people never get to this point because they have problems beating, let alone crushing, the very lowest stakes. This has always struck me as odd. I know that poker is a game where only a relatively small percentage of people actually win big in the long run. But this is NL2 and NL5!

I still play these games on occasion today and let me tell you that they are both still a complete circus! Some of the biggest donkeys that you will ever find populate these stakes around the clock especially at NL2. And the regs at both limits are all beginners to put it kindly. They are not good at poker...at all.

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.

So What is the Biggest Key to My Success at These Stakes?

Well, let me first say that the standard line that you will often hear people say of value betting heavily at these limits and not bluffing too much are indeed key. I agree completely and these two things do factor heavily into my success at these stakes. But there is a third rule for me at these limits which gets little fanfare when these stakes are discussed. In fact, I am not sure that I have ever seen it talked about in depth anywhere. As I mentioned, this may shock you so please brace yourself.

I fold a lot.

Yup, a lot of the time when I don't think that I have the best hand (or it's really close) I just give up and let them have the pot. I don't fight for marginal edges in these games because they are not important to my success at all. I focus on what really matters which is making big hands and stacking terrible players.

Here is a good example of this. This is a really tough fold to make. Would you fold a straight here?

Also, I don't get into "reg wars," I don't make fancy plays very often and if I am in control of the pot (which I usually am) I simply make my flop CBet and then give up most of the time. Thoroughly boring. Terribly un-sexy. But highly effective at these stakes.

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But What About Your Red Line?

There has been an absolute obsession with red lines on poker forums and other places for several years now. For those of you who have never heard of a red line it is the measure which indicates your non-showdown winnings in Hold'em Manager or PokerTracker. I have to admit, my red line is not very good. I have posted it on this blog before. It basically goes at a 45 degree angle in the wrong direction. I fail terribly at red lines. Sad face.

However, truth be told I haven't lost a lot of sleep over this. This is because during this period of red line mania I have had my own little private obsession with the green line. Once again for those of you who are not familiar this is the indicator of your total winnings in HEM or PT.

You know, the one that actually matters. 

I fully accept the fact that I will never be the non-showdown bluffing king of NL2 or NL5. My red line is destined to always suffer at these stakes. However, my green line is sexy as hell. It goes at a nice 45 degree angle in the proper direction. I suppose I can live with that.

But These Are Terrible Habits Aren't They?

Folding in most marginal spots is not a good idea for your winrate at NL10 and higher versus the more competent opponents at these stakes who are more likely to be able to exploit this.

But of course you will notice that I have not mentioned these limits anywhere so far in this article. This is because I am not talking about these stakes in this article. Some people have criticized my approach at the lowest stakes because it leads to "bad habits" which need to be changed at higher limits.

My answer to this is always the same. Have you not realized yet that success in poker is all about adapting? When I teach this "keep it simple approach" for NL2 and NL5 here on my blog, in my first book and in my videos I do so because it is the most optimal strategy for success at these stakes. I let my results in these games speak for themselves.

Nowhere however do I claim that you should play like this at NL25 or NL200. In fact I repeatedly say just the opposite. You should battle for marginal spots much more often at these stakes because they are completely different games which require a completely different set of strategies to beat them.

This is part of your job as a winning poker player to be able to adjust to the game that you are playing in to achieve the maximum EV. The play money games offer a perfect illustration of this. For anyone who has ever played fake money poker on the internet you will know that nobody folds anything at all. It's 7 people to the river in every hand. Even if you simply shove preflop you are likely to get a few callers.

So raising it 3x the big blind with AA in play money would be absolutely horrible. The entire table will call and you will be in a very difficult spot postflop with the best starting hand in Hold'em but with a solid chance of now being behind. The optimal play here was indeed to simply go all in preflop.

Would I ever suggest just going all in preflop with AA in any real money cash game? Of course not. People play far differently when there is real money on the line and everyone will just fold literally every single time. Success in poker is about adapting to your opponents. This is why there is no single set of strategies that applies across all limits.

Hidden Benefits of Keeping it Simple at NL2 and NL5

There is another big reason why I suggest folding a lot in marginal spots at the lowest stakes. And I have never seen this discussed anywhere even though it is absolutely crucial to your success at these limits. This is the idea of keeping yourself off of tilt.

I also discuss this in my more detail in my all new free poker strategy cheat sheet.

Most of the people who play at these limits (and this shouldn't be a shocker) are relatively new to poker. Newer poker players are notoriously bad at managing their tilt. When I talk about tilt I mean anything from the odd bad call on the river to full blown shoving every hand preflop. 99% of people tilt in the former way. However, this still has massive long term implications on their winrate.

I used to run "spew tests" where I would spend an hour or two poring over every single major losing hand of the month and asking myself how much I should have lost in each hand had it played it optimally.



I took all of the unnecessary losses and added them together. I remember counting some $800 in spew in just one month when playing heavy volume at NL25.

Yes that's right, 32 buyins down the drain due to bad calls and tilty decisions. Keep in mind that I am also a very experienced player who prides myself on being pretty solid in the anti-tilt department. I don't think I need to tell you how much nicer my winrate would have looked for that month with an extra $800 in the winnings column.

So this is why I suggest that newer poker players simply avoid big pots in marginal situations at all costs. This is because tilt is almost always set in motion by losing a bunch of big pots in a row. When you are constantly putting yourself in marginal spots where your edge is not much higher than a coinflip, then the likelihood of losing a bunch of these pots all in a row is high.

This hidden cost of all of the buyins lost due to tilt when this happens is something that we never really discuss. I have never heard of anyone else running "spew tests" like I mentioned above yet clearly if my results are anything close to the norm, this can absolutely be the difference between winning and losing poker for a ton of people at these stakes.

Winning at NL2 and NL5 is Boring

Lastly, as I mentioned above there is nothing exciting about having big success at these stakes. Many newer players first found their interest in poker by watching high stakes tournament final tables on TV. I did too.

But what you have to remember is that these are heavily edited programs (what you are seeing is 1 hour of the most exciting spots over 12 hours of play). Furthermore, this is final table tournament poker where the money on the line is often massive and the stacks are really shallow.

Neither of these conditions are the case at NL2 or NL5. The money is certainly not massive. Also the stacks in cash games are typically 100bb in online play whereas they might be 40bb at a final table in most live tournaments. This completely changes the way that the game is going to be played. There are going to be way more all ins with marginal hands when the stacks are shallow like this.


This is where I spend countless hours grinding poker these days:

A post shared by Nathan Williams (@nathan79williams) on Dec 27, 2018 at 2:27am PST

And yes it is extremely boring sometimes. But it is precisely because I developed this discipline early on in my poker career that I now live the life I do and travel the world thanks to this silly little card game.

Winning at poker is boring, especially at the lowest limits online. [Click to Tweet]

Even most of these TV pros that you watch grinded away for days just to get to that final table. They never show you this. They will never show you how many times they simply folded their hand in smaller pots and gave up either. Why? Because that isn't exciting! That doesn't boost the ratings. No TV executive in their right mind would ever allow that crap on the air.

But that is what winning poker is actually about. Grinding it out and being disciplined. Losing your ego when playing against the hordes of massive donkeys and calling stations at NL2 and NL5 is vital to your success at these stakes. You can try and play like your favorite high stakes online or TV pro at these limits but I promise you that your winrate will suffer because of it. Keep it simple and profit the most.

Make sure to pick up my free ebook which will teach you the exact strategy that I have used to crush the micro stakes for some of the highest winrates in online poker history.

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