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Poker Video: No Limit Hold'Em by slowlane123 (Micro/Small Stakes)

Perfect fit for me, the more micro-focused videos the better! Thanks!

btw the first four and a half minutes or so is repeated from ~5-9:30 and then it kind of glitches into the liveplay video. Still a great video but some glitches

Can I make a small point of ettiquette. First ask yourself who wants to watch a video about beating micro stakes. Perhaps someone who is not beating the micro stakes themselves. Someone who is in fact a micro stakes player. I realize that when you move down and are yourself a successful higher limits player, it all looks a little elementary, and I am sure it is. However, it is more than a little tilting to hear you go on about how retarded everyone is at this level and how easy it is to beat these stakes. If we were beating these stakes we would not by definition need to watch a video called "Escaping the Micro Stakes". If you were teaching a first year university class, would you spend your time telling them that everything they are learning was easy and how they would be dumb if they do not already understand this.
I also think this kind of thinking does not really help to teach anything. Most of your play was based on the argument that "since everyone at these stakes is bad ... then this is the right play". Besides being ad hominem it really does not inform to proper fundamental play, which from what I understand, is what I need to be doing to play at these levels successfully. Sorry for the minor rant, I am sure it will be a great series, especially when you get up to your more regular levels. Just remember that teaching is about bringing people up to your level of understanding. Not ridiculing people who have not yet brought themselves up to yours. Good luck.

btw the first four and a half minutes or so is repeated from ~5-9:30 and then it kind of glitches into the liveplay video. Still a great video but some glitches

We are aware of the glitch at the beginning of the video, unfortunately our video editor Rusty is out of town for the weekend, so he will put up a fixed version early next week. I decided to leave this version up for now as the rest of the video appears fine and the content is good. Thanks for the heads up!

Time Link to 00:44:56

You should stop telling us how bad the players are at 25NL and how they're extremly crushable. It doesn't make the players who are watching this video because they are stuck at these stakes feel any better about their game. It's just arrogant. Nice video though.

Unfortunately got to agree with Ulyss - most of your decisions seems to be based on the fact you are way better than these players. How does that help us?

Also, I'm at a bit of a loss to understand why DC has commissioned a video series on how to escape the microstakes from someone who halfway through the video says he began his poker career at 100nl.

I'll keep with it though.

I agree with a lot of the comments here and I apologise for being condescending in my comments about the play at 25nl. That being said, I'm not here to make you feel good about your game. I'm here to show you why these stakes are easily beat and how to do it.

I'm at a bit of a loss to understand why DC has commissioned a video series on how to escape the microstakes from someone who halfway through the video says he began his poker career at 100nl.

I've probably spent more hours coaching micro-stakes FR than many of those those who are watching will have spent playing them. Would you really want to watch a vid by someone whose played 100s of thousands of hands at 25nl? Why would you want to watch a vid made by someone who hasn't been able to move out of the smallest limits possible?

Unfortunately got to agree with Ulyss - most of your decisions seems to be based on the fact you are way better than these players. How does that help us?

Because I'm explaining the reasoning behind every decision I make and what makes me better than these players (stealing in good spots, spotting timing/sizing tells, thinking ahead etc etc). By slowly adding these elements to your own game, hopefully you too will become a far better player than these guys and move onwards and upwards.

If you were teaching a first year university class, would you spend your time telling them that everything they are learning was easy and how they would be dumb if they do not already understand this.

I'm sorry but this metaphor doesn't apply at all. I never suggested poker theorem is easily learnt or applied. Nor did I announce that anyone that didn't know what I was teaching was stupid. I was simply suggesting that the surroundings in which you have to apply your knowledge is a very comfortable setting (25nl is extremely fishy). If it were a university class, it would be kind of like doing an exam in the comfort of your bedroom with a few of your study notes lying around (meaning you have a few things to help you along the way, like random donkeys shoving buyins w/ no equity).

I think anyone that studies/reviews/discusses poker correctly can and will crush these limits. Those who are stuck at 25nl isn't because they don't have the ability to beat it. It's because they're misapplying the knowledge that they have or are not studying enough. I will make sure to be more understanding in my comments and hopefully this series will help motivate people to raise the bar instead of feeling downtrodden! :-)

Time Link to 00:10:59

.Which is it? Is he a clueless shortstacker or he is really thinking about his fold equity after he donk bets the flop and you reraise fairly small.

Just because he is clueless doesn't mean he can't be thinking that I might fold if he shoves his last few dollars with a 5 there...

There is some relevance to what you are saying, yet as an inconsistent player myself at Stars for my first 10 months of learning this game, and having my HUD up for much of that time, I was able to accumulate a lot of stats on players at the 10 to 25cent levels ... and really, for the most part, most ARE fish, stations or nits of varying types.
In fact, if HUD stats (which are only averages that inadequately informs hand ranges, etc.) are to be believed at all, I only found about 20 players in hundreds that I marked as good or decent. So if we are to beat the micros, we really need to accept that most players on most sites esp. at the micros are nits, stns or fish.
The challenge for us then is to learn at their expense as our own game evolves, trustfully upward.

But i hasten to add that for someone who has earned only about $10k on FT on a sample size of 30k hands over the course of 3 years (check out PTR anyone) needs to inject some humility into any vids made.
If your earnings were hovering around the $200K to $1M levels as are many pros at mid-high stake games, I would place much more relevance on what you have to say...!!!

I've probably spent more hours coaching micro-stakes FR than many of those those who are watching will have spent playing them. Would you really want to watch a vid by someone whose played 100s of thousands of hands at 25nl? Why would you want to watch a vid made by someone who hasn't been able to move out of the smallest limits possible?

This is not what I meant. Of course I don't want to watch a video by someone who can't beat the microstakes.

But I would like to watch one by someone who has. That being said, the fact that you have coached many 25nl players, and say so at the start of the vid, obviously makes my point fairly redundant,

I rewatched the vid and you do explain yourself. I must have just been on one yesterday.

Just because he is clueless doesn't mean he can't be thinking that I might fold if he shoves his last few dollars with a 5 there...

Hi, thanks for replying. Forgive me for questioning further, and I may be wrong, which won't be the first time today; But this spot really interests me as I find myself in similar situations on occaision.

Why not just call here? it appears to me that you don't really want him to fold and you're calling a shove regardless of the cards to come. I would think a call would be more likely to induce him to continue firing more so than a minimum'ish raise would. To me, the min raise looks like you're trying to induce him to shove over with worse and if he is thinking at all, he might just slam on the breaks and not pay off entirely.

That said, I don't think he's folding regardless here because, as you said, he's probably clueless. I just don't think he's really considering his fold equity at all. It's 25nl, he hit his flop, and he's getting it in regardless, all the flop donking drama is just entertainment.

Thanks for video.

But i hasten to add that for someone who has earned only about $10k on FT on a sample size of 30k hands over the course of 3 years (check out PTR anyone) needs to inject some humility into any vids made.
If your earnings were hovering around the $200K to $1M levels as are many pros at mid-high stake games, I would place much more relevance on what you have to say...!!!

I'm not sure if you are trolling but you do realize FTP blocks PTR from tracking all results and that the majority of slowlane's hands are from Rush Poker, which is untracked right?

I'm only half through the vid, so take this fwiw - I think this vid and series idea deserves a lot more love than it's getting. Try not to be offended by the tone, virtually all microstakes players (I'm included of course) have major leaks all over the place. When a guy like slowlane says it's beatable, here's how, this is what I'm doing at the table and why, and I can get away with doing it because the players at this limit are "bad" or whatever, take the word "bad" as "have major leaks all over the place". The trick is to understand what the leaks are, how to eliminate those leaks in your own game, and how to exploit those leaks in the other players.

I'm looking forward to the fresh take on a Moving On Up style series. There are always tons of posts complaining that there isn't enough micro content here, and that there isn't enough FR content, so... fwiw, I skipped slowlane's last series because I have no interest in rush poker, so this is my first exposure to one of his vids, and so far I quite like it and am looking forward to the series.

slowlane, small suggestion (and again, I'm only halfway through the vid, so...), maybe a summary of some of the more exploitable leaks/tendencies/whatever at the limit could be helpful at the end of the video, ideally referencing situations that appeared in the video (afaik, it's already at the end of the video and I'm an idiot lol).

Very interested in this, any chance of a episode every week?

But i hasten to add that for someone who has earned only about $10k on FT on a sample size of 30k hands over the course of 3 years (check out PTR anyone) needs to inject some humility into any vids made.
If your earnings were hovering around the $200K to $1M levels as are many pros at mid-high stake games, I would place much more relevance on what you have to say...!!!

lol

Why not just call here?

As I say in the video, full pot/large donks I generally read a strength, while min/small donks I read as weak. If he's strong on this board (and he was with TPGK) then I want to put more money in. Especially, as you say because we don't see him folding here very often.

Slyce: Great suggestion and I will be adding this in my next vid (an explanation of how to beat each stake).

Kybert: I'm doing every 2nd week, threads13's series runs in conjunction with this series on other weeks.

lol



As I say in the video, full pot/large donks I generally read a strength, while min/small donks I read as weak. If he's strong on this board (and he was with TPGK) then I want to put more money in. Especially, as you say because we don't see him folding here very often.

Thank you for the further explanation. This makes perfect sense to me now.

.

Time Link to 00:50:53

Bottom left table, you're in SB & fold 88 to raise preflop. Why not see the flop or even 3bet?

Whats with the stars hate? I've played on nearly every other site and I dont think you can beat it.

Time Link to 00:57:23

Is it really a mistake to fold a hand because if you loose it then you think you'll get your money back anyway? They guy was bad I know but if you were sweating a student in this situaiton would you encourage him/her to call down because we can win it back later anyway?

Time Link to 00:13:59

Hello,

nice video so far :-)

I think, this board fits the limpingrange very well and you have not a lot of foldequity in general on this type of board.

What would be your plan for the hand, if you got called on the flop?

Which kind of cards would you secondbarrel?
Which kind of cards would you go broke, if you got raised on the Turn?

Thanks for the answers.

Time Link to 00:24:49

Table 4:

Why did you bet out on the Turn?

The A seems to be a good bluffcard for the preflopraiser and therefore I think, that a ch/ca line would have an higher EV, because you would get additional Bluffbets from your opponent.

What do you think?

Time Link to 00:25:07

Table 1:

I think, if our opponent checks back this board, he will have very often a weak hand. If he made a Pair with the 7 (which is imo very unlikely, because he raised from MP1) he is not likely to call a Turn and River bet.

Would this be a good double barrel spot?

Time Link to 00:34:58

Table 6:

Why did you fold AJo to the mindonk?

I guess, you did not saw it in the middle of the heat.

What would you do on such a drawy flop?
Would you prefer to raise or to just call?

Time Link to 00:50:10

Table 5:

Why did you c-bet on the Turn and River? Which range do you assign him?

You have the best hand very often on the Turn and River, but I see not any hand, which is worser than your hand, that will call a Turn- and River-Bet.

A ch/ca line would be better imo on the Turn, because he has the chance to bet worser hands. If he checks behind you can make a small River-bet for value.

These games may be crushable to someone who can play on PS, but for US players, the few remaining sites are ULTRA reg-infested and certainly NOT crushable. Beatable? Yes. Crushable? No.

Bottom left table, you're in SB & fold 88 to raise preflop. Why not see the flop or even 3bet?

He is half-stacked, hasn't raise a hand yet and we have an aggro player in the BB whom I will to see 3b a decent amount given his aggression so far.

Is it really a mistake to fold a hand because if you loose it then you think you'll get your money back anyway? They guy was bad I know but if you were sweating a student in this situaiton would you encourage him/her to call down because we can win it back later anyway?

You seem to be forgetting the fact that a decent % of the time here we will be good as he is just spazzbluffing or whatever.

Against opponents like this it is more +EV to make more marginal plays like this as they will be spazzing so much more often than regs.

Hello,

nice video so far :-)

I think, this board fits the limpingrange very well and you have not a lot of foldequity in general on this type of board.

What would be your plan for the hand, if you got called on the flop?

Which kind of cards would you secondbarrel?
Which kind of cards would you go broke, if you got raised on the Turn?

Thanks for the answers.

That is a great flop for us so if we're not planning on cbetting with 2 overs, a gutshot and backdoor FD then we should raise pre.

I'd be dbarrelling A, K, Q, J, flush cards, maybe some other depends on my gut feeling of the hand.

Too many factors to consider for going broke. How much did he raise, how quick, what card came, gut feeling etc.

Table 4:

Why did you bet out on the Turn?

The A seems to be a good bluffcard for the preflopraiser and therefore I think, that a ch/ca line would have an higher EV, because you would get additional Bluffbets from your opponent.

What do you think?

The board is really drawy and we have no sample on our opponent so I'd rather just bet and expect to be called by a lot of worse hands.

x would be ok if we had some sample and he was quite aggressive but tbh if he's aggro he'd surely just bet flop.

Table 1:

I think, if our opponent checks back this board, he will have very often a weak hand. If he made a Pair with the 7 (which is imo very unlikely, because he raised from MP1) he is not likely to call a Turn and River bet.

Would this be a good double barrel spot?

We have no sample on him so saying it's very unlikely he makes a pair with the 7 is a big mistake. In addition, when the turn comes I feel like he's usually picked up some equity with gutshots making it harder to get him to fold better and there are so many bad river cards it will be hard to us to get to SD profitably if we feel we're good.

Table 6:

Why did you fold AJo to the mindonk?

I guess, you did not saw it in the middle of the heat.

What would you do on such a drawy flop?
Would you prefer to raise or to just call?

I wouldn't ever fold here, you're right.

Either option is fine, raising small would probably be my default with 2 overs vs a clear small PP here.

Table 5:

Why did you c-bet on the Turn and River? Which range do you assign him?

You have the best hand very often on the Turn and River, but I see not any hand, which is worser than your hand, that will call a Turn- and River-Bet.

A ch/ca line would be better imo on the Turn, because he has the chance to bet worser hands. If he checks behind you can make a small River-bet for value.

I think he has a decent amount of small-mid PPs that I am way ahead of and want to get value from. I don't think he folds them to the tiny underbet, in addition I think he will often spazz. Your questions often seem to have missed the fact that I have massively underbet pots in some spots.

You also seem to want to be x/c a lot against opponents that we have no idea if they will be aggressive or not. This is a waste of time, you can assume most players at these stakes will not be overly aggressive unless your sample tells you otherwise.

cant wait to watch this, all these comments are great. i play micros and i suck if this guy can say 'these guys are bad and this why so i do this' sounds like the best information ever to me!

Time Link to 00:56:57

I laughed so hard juice came out my noise. Some really funny comments. I'm not sure why people got so touchy in the feedback. As you do explain very clearly why the villains are retarded. Good video!

Thanks for the feedback. Doing another series that launches on Thursday.

Stay tuned, similar concept to this one but mainly zoom focused.

slowlane, i notice in most of your vids in this series you tend to min bet steal, i feel as though this prompts villians to 3bet lighter, putting me in tough/marginal spots.

Also in your 50nl vids you open to 1.25 at times, In a few of nolans videos however he opts to 4x from all positions. I would like to know your thoughts on this . great series!