Crushing Low Stakes Poker

Crushing Low Stakes Poker
How to Make $1,000s Playing Low Stakes

Sit ’n Gos
Volume 1: Strategy
by Mike Turner
Copyright © 2016 KickstartPoker.com
Fourth Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without
the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
While every attempt has been made to verify the accuracy of the information in this publication, neither
the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretations
of the material contained herein.
Table of Contents
Free Sit ’n Go Course
Introduction
Part 1: Sit ’n Go Fundamentals
Poker and Sit ’n Go Basics
Structure and Rules of Sit ’n Gos
Position
Pre-flop Hand Strength
Important Poker Concepts
Variance
Expressed and Implied Pot Odds
Outs
Effective Stack Size
Risk-Reward Ratio
Stack to Pot Ratio
ICM
Starting Your Sit ’n Go Career
Measuring Success in Poker
Choosing Your Game
Specialize
Bankroll Management
Part 2: Low Stakes Strategy

Introduction to Low Stakes Strategy
Low Stakes Strategy: The Foundation
Levels of Thinking
Table Image
Playing Tight-Cautious Early On
Elements of Low Stakes Strategy
Playing Speculative Hands
Calling Raises Pre-Flop
Continuation Betting
Hand Value
Value Betting
Calling Bets Post-Flop
Playing Your Hand Fast
A Promise to Call
Observing Stack Sizes
Exploiting Static Strategies
Summary
How to Play All the Stages of a Low Stakes SNG
Low Blinds (10/20, 15/30)
Medium Blinds (25/50, 50/100)
High Blinds (75/150, 100/200 and higher)
Push/Fold
Bubble
Heads-Up
Part 3: Increasing Your Profits

Introduction
Table Selection
Judging Other Players’ Skill Levels
Color Coding
Controlling Tilt
Tilt Triggers
Avoiding Tilt
How to Deal with Tilt
Useful Poker Tools and Sites
Poker Tracking and Analysis Software
Setting Up Your HUD
Multi-tabling Tools
ICM Tools
Equity Calculators
Hand Replayers
Poker Forums, Sites and Blogs
Poker Training Sites
Training and Coaching
Sit ’n Go Training Course
Coaching and Training Videos
Practice and Play
Other Books in the Series
Bibliography and Further Reading
Appendix I: Push/Fold Charts
Appendix II: Heads-Up Push/Fold Charts
Nash Equilibrium Push/Fold Charts
Sit And Go Endgame System
Appendix III: Poker Hand Rankings
Appendix IV: Glossary of Poker Terms
Free Sit ’n Go Course
As a way of saying thanks for your purchase, I’m offering a free Sit ’n Go
Training Course exclusively for my book and blog readers.
In this course you will learn how to start crushing SNGs and boost your
bankroll. In a series of email lessons you will get access to:
A 3-part video series on low stakes SNG strategy
The 5 secrets of Sit ’n Go success
The best tools and training resources to level up your game
To sign up for the course go to www.kickstartpoker.com/free.
Introduction
Are you interested in making a nice side income playing poker? Are you new
to poker or a beginning/intermediate player and looking for solid strategy
advice to consistently crush low stakes poker games? Then the Crushing
Low Stakes Poker series is for you!
Most poker books, articles, and training videos out there do not specifically
cover low stakes games. A missed opportunity, because the strategy and
approach required for low stakes games is very different from medium and
high stakes games. This book series fills that gap and explains how to play
low stakes games as profitably as possible. In Volume 1, we’ll talk about
fundamental concepts and strategy. Volume 2 covers heads-up play.
The Crushing Low Stakes Poker series deals specifically with Sit ’n Gos,
exciting and very profitable single or multi-table tournaments that start as
soon as enough players have registered. Sit ’n Gos are easier to play than big
field multi-table tournaments and cash games, making them an ideal format for
beginning players. The strategy for them is also more straightforward, making
it easier to play multiple tables at once thereby increasing your hourly rate.
And most of all, they’re a lot of fun!
About the Author

Mike Turner has a lot of experience playing low stakes Sit ’n Gos and has had
great success playing them. His favorite game types are non-turbos and hyper
turbos, and he specializes in heads-up and 6-max. Including bonuses and
rakeback, Mike has earned more than $25,000 playing low stakes Sit ’n
Gos.
About the Book
In this book, the author shares his secrets and strategies for consistently
crushing low stakes Sit ’n Gos. Multiple example hands, which illustrate the
different strategy concepts and ideas, will be presented in this book and the
accompanying training videos.
Although the book focuses on low stakes games, it also contains a lot of
information on general poker concepts and strategy that are applicable to
medium and high stakes SNGs.
This book is divided into three parts. Each part represents a step in building
your Sit ’n Go career, going from the basics to more advanced ideas and
strategies.
Part 1 discusses Sit ’n Go Fundamentals, covering poker and SNG basics as
well as important poker concepts you need to be familiar with. The final
chapter of Part 1 is about starting your Sit ’n Go career and discusses topics
like which games to choose and how to exercise proper bankroll management.
Part 2 deals with low stakes strategy. It will focus on and explain general
strategy concepts that are essential to be successful at low stakes SNGs. We
will then go more into detail and describe the best way to play during the
different stages of a low stakes SNG: low blinds, medium blinds, high blinds,
push/fold, bubble, and heads-up.
Part 3 is the final step in building your Sit ’n Go career and is focused on
increasing your profits. We will look at important things like table selection
and controlling tilt. There is also a separate chapter on poker tools and sites
that can help to analyze and improve your game as well as get an edge over
your opponents. Here, you will find an overview of the best and most
popular/useful tools and sites, so you can pick the ones that are right for you.
In this chapter, we will also take a look at how to best configure your Heads-
Up Display (HUD) when you are using poker tracking software. Finally, Part
3 also contains more info on SNG coaching as well as free training videos
from our coaches.
Useful push/fold charts for 3 to 6-handed play as well as for Heads-Up
play are included in Appendix I and II of this book. With these charts, you can
improve your late game strategy and maximize your winnings by making
mathematically correct push/fold decisions.
If you are a beginning player, poker can be quite overwhelming at times.
Perhaps you’re still struggling with hand values and rankings. Or maybe you
frequently come across poker terms you are unfamiliar with, either in this
book or anywhere else. In that case, appendix III and IV will help you out.
Appendix III contains all the different hand rankings in Texas Hold’em and
appendix IV presents an extensive overview of all kinds of poker terms with
their meaning.
“The key aspect that makes this a classic poker book is the author has
managed to teach the basic concepts of a mid-stakes game in a logical way,
while pointing out the parts you should discard at low stakes.”
--Aaron C. Brown, Amazon Top 1,000 Reviewer
"I highly recommend this book to beginners and to anyone struggling to find
a winning formula. I even find myself quoting parts of the book during
coaching sessions!"
--Ben "gamb64" Hayles, poker coach at poker-coach.com
“This is a comprehensive guide for both newbies and intermediate players.

In it you’ll find the right mix of foundational concepts and game analysis.”
--L. Coleman
“I was shocked how valuable this book was.”

--Halibut
Part 1:
Sit ’n Go Fundamentals
Poker and Sit ’n Go Basics
There’s a lot to learn if you want to be a successful poker player. Especially if
you’re just starting out, it can be pretty overwhelming at times. However,
don’t forget that every poker player has been in that situation. Even the biggest
stars of the game were complete beginners once. And look where they are
today!
Success doesn’t come out of nowhere. In order to do well, you have to study,
practice, and always keep improving and developing your game. This book
will help you become a profitable poker player by explaining all the things
you need to know to start crushing low stakes Sit ’n Gos. And who knows
where you will go from there.
In Part 1, we will start at the beginning by looking at the fundamentals of Sit
’n Gos. This Part will lay the foundation for the rest of the book as well as for
your Sit ’n Go career. It covers the essential things that every Sit ’n Go player
should be familiar with.
First, we will look at the structure and rules of No Limit Hold’em Sit ’n Gos.
If you’re already familiar with that, you can skip this section. But don’t skip
too far ahead: Part 1 covers a lot more interesting poker fundamentals, such
as:
Expressed and implied pot odds
Stack to Pot Ratio, and
The Independent Chip Model, or ICM
Without further ado, let’s get started and jump right in!
Structure and Rules of Sit ’n Gos

This book focuses on No Limit Hold’em. This form of poker has been
described as “the Cadillac of poker” and is by far the most popular game
played today, both live and online.
Let’s take a look at how No Limit Hold’em Sit ’n Gos are played.
The Button and Blinds
In Hold’em, a “button” or “dealer button” is used to indicate the player in the
dealer position. The button rotates clockwise after each hand.
Before the cards are dealt, the two players to the left of the button place a
forced bet, called a “blind”. The player sitting directly to the left of the button
posts the small blind. The player sitting to the left of the small blind, posts the
big blind (which is typically twice the size of the small blind). Sometimes
there is also another forced bet, called an “ante”, which all players have to
post before the hand starts.
When the blinds (and antes) have been posted, each player at the table is dealt
two cards face down (known as “hole cards”). Then, a first round of betting
follows: the “pre-flop” action.
Betting Rounds and Betting Action

A poker hand consists of four betting rounds:
Pre-flop
Flop
Turn, and
River
Betting action always proceeds clockwise around the table. Pre-flop, the
action starts with the player sitting directly to the left of the big blind (this
position is known as “under the gun” or UTG). On all subsequent rounds
(flop, turn, and river), the action starts with the first active player sitting to the
left of the button.
The available actions to a player are to “fold”, “check”, “call”, “bet”, or
“raise”. A player always has the option to fold his hand. The availability of
the other actions depends on what other players have done before you.
Pre-Flop
After all players have received their two hole cards, the pre-flop betting
round begins with the player sitting under the gun. He can decide to either fold
or play his hand, by calling (also referred to as “limping”) or raising the big
blind.
The amount of chips he has to call or raise depends on the big blind. Suppose
the blinds are 10/20 (the small blind being 10 chips and the big blind 20
chips). The player under the gun can now either call (limp) for 20 chips or
make a raise. The minimum amount he has to raise is two times the big blind
(i.e. 40 chips).
Action then moves clockwise around the table and subsequent players have
the option to fold, call, bet, or raise depending on the previous action. If
nobody raised, the big blind also has the option to check.
A betting round ends when the total amount of chips bet by all active players
is equal. If there is only one active player left at any stage, that player wins
the pot.
Flop, Turn and River

The next betting round is the flop, where three cards are dealt face up in the
center of the table. These are “community cards”, meaning they are shared by
all players.
From now on, action always starts with the first active player sitting
immediately to the left of the button. Because no blinds are being posted at the
beginning of the betting round (which only happens pre-flop), a player can
now also decide to check if nobody has previously made a bet.
After the flop betting is completed, another betting round follows when a
fourth card is dealt face up on the board: the “turn”. After the turn, another
card is dealt face up on the board, called the “river”. The river is the fifth and
final community card and is followed by a final round of betting.
Showdown
If, after the final round of betting, there are two or more players remaining,
there is a showdown. The remaining players show their hand and the pot is
won by the player with the best 5-card hand made from his own two hole
cards and the five community cards. In case of a tie, the pot will be equally
divided between the players with the best hands.
Want to know what beats what in Hold’em? Then check out the poker hand
rankings chart in Appendix III.
Sit ’n Go Structure
When registering for a Sit ’n Go, each player pays a fixed buy-in for which he
receives the same amount of chips. During the game, the blinds gradually
increase at set intervals. How long each blind level lasts, depends on the type
of game you play.
A standard Sit ’n Go is won by the player who accumulates all the chips in
play. But there are also other formats that work differently. For example, a
Double or Nothing Sit ’n Go typically ends when half of the players at the
table have been eliminated. The remaining players then double their buy-in.
Always be aware of the specific (payout) structure of the SNG that you’re
playing, because it has a big impact on the strategy that you should follow. For
example, a hyper turbo 6-max Sit ’n Go that pays the top two places requires
a completely different strategy than a 10-player non-turbo Double or Nothing
Sit ’n Go where half the field doubles their buy-in.
Position
Position is a crucial concept in any game of poker. It means that you get to act
last in the hand. In other words, you are “in position” versus opponents who
act before you and you are “out of position” versus opponents who act
after you.
Being in position gives you a huge playing advantage. You always get to see
what your opponent does first and this extra information allows you to make
much better decisions than when you’re out of position.
Generally, everything works better in position, whether that’s value betting,
bluffing, floating, drawing, or slowplaying. Players who are positionally
aware make a lot more money in poker than players who are not.
The importance of position in poker means that you have to play tighter out
of position, whereas you can play looser in position.
There are two different types of position:
Absolute position, and
Relative position
Absolute Position
Absolute position is the position relative to the dealer button in a hand. The
closer to the right of the button, the better your absolute position is. The button
has the best absolute position at the table: he is last to act on the flop, turn,
and river.
The image above shows the different positions at a 6-handed poker table:
UTG = Under The Gun
UTG+1 = Under The Gun +1
CO = Cutoff
BTN = Button
SB = Small Blind
BB = Big Blind
Note that the seat two to the right of the button (UTG+1) can also be called the
Hijack (HJ). On 6-max tables, this position is sometimes also referred to as
MP or Middle Position.
As we’ve seen, UTG begins the action pre-flop so he has the worst position
before the flop. After the flop, the first active player directly to the left of the
button has the worst position (i.e. the small blind, if he is still active in the
hand).
Relative Position
In many cases, your relative position is even more important than your
absolute position.
Relative position is your position relative to the likely aggressor in the
hand (typically the pre-flop raiser).
The closer you are to the right of the likely aggressor, the better your
relative position is.
The reason why relative position can decrease the value of absolute position,
is that a bet or raise re-opens the betting action.
Let’s illustrate this with an example. Suppose we find ourselves on the button
with J♥-T♥. The player UTG limps in and then the loose-aggressive cutoff
makes a small raise. We decide to call. The big blind and UTG call as well.
The flop comes down K♥-T♠-9♣ and both the big blind and the player UTG
check to the likely aggressor in the cutoff (the pre-flop raiser). The cutoff
indeed makes a continuation bet.
Now, we’re in a tough spot. With middle pair, a gutshot straight draw and a
backdoor flush draw, we think our hand is good enough to call. However, our
play does not close the action. The cutoff’s bet re-opens the betting action, so
now the big blind and UTG are still left to act behind us.
The big blind and UTG both checked, but this doesn’t mean they have a weak
hand. After all, the standard play in this spot is for them to check to the pre-
flop raiser. If we call, the two players behind us could still make a raise, in
which case we would probably have to fold.
So even though we’re on the button and have the best absolute position at the
table, in this spot we don’t have very good relative position, because there
are still two players left to act behind us. The player with the best relative
position in this hand is the player UTG, because he is directly to the right of
the aggressor. He has the advantage that he can see how the button and big
blind respond to the cutoff’s continuation bet first, before he has to make a
decision himself.
This is a good illustration that relative position in many cases can devalue
your absolute position. Being on the button doesn’t always give you the best
position!
Pre-flop Hand Strength

A good understanding of the pre-flop strength of different types of hands, is
something that every good poker player should have. If you are aware of pre-
flop hand strength, it becomes a lot easier to decide whether you want to play
your hand in a certain spot or not. The two tables presented below illustrate
pre-flop hand strengths in Texas Hold’em.
The first table gives the equity (meaning the chance of winning) of several
hands versus a random hand (i.e. versus a 100% hand range). The second
table lists a number of pre-flop hand match-ups for certain types of hands.
Notice how being suited and/or connected adds to your winning chances.
Hand Equity versus a Random
Hand
AA 85%
22 50%
AKs 67%
AKo 65%
QTs 60%
QTo 57%
98s 51%
J4o 46%
78o 45%
72o 35%
32o 32%
Pre-flop Match- Examples Win

Up %
Pair v 2 QQ v J5o 87%
Undercards QQ v 45s 77%
Pair v 1 JJ v A5o 70%
Overcard JJ v A5s 67%
Pair v 2 22 v K8o 53%
Overcards 22 v 9Ts 46%
Overpair v KK v 99 81%
Underpair KK v 22 82%
2 Overcards v 2 AKo v 72o 68%
Undercards AKo v 78s 59%
Dominated hand AKo v 74%
AQo 71%
98o v 78o
Very dominated AA v AJo 92%
hand QQ v QJs 84%
1 Overcard v 2 A4o v K8o 60%
Cards In A4o v 78s 52%
Between
1 Overcard v 1 A7o v Q5o 63%
Card In Between A7o v Q5s 60%
Another useful overview is the Sklansky and Malmuth starting hand table
(Sklansky and Malmuth 1999). Even though this table was made specifically
for Limit Hold’em, it also has some practical value for No Limit Hold’em.
Group Hands
1 AA, AKs, KK, QQ, JJ
2 AK, AQs, AJs, KQs, TT
3 AQ, ATs, KJs, QJs, JTs, 99
4 AJ, KQ, KTs, QTs, J9s, T9s,
98s, 88
5 A9s - A2s, KJ, QJ, JT, Q9s,
T8s, 97s, 87s, 77, 76s, 66
6 AT, KT, QT, J8s, 86s, 75s,
65s, 55, 54s
7 K9s - K2s, J9, T9, 98, 64s,
53s, 44, 43s, 33, 22
8 A9, K9, Q9, J8, J7s, T8, 96s,
87, 85s, 76, 74s, 65, 54, 42s,
32s
9 The rest
The Sklansky and Malmuth starting hand table groups hands together that
roughly have the same pre-flop hand strength. The strongest hands are in group
1 and the weakest ones in group 9.
Important Poker Concepts
In this chapter, we will take a look at a number of important poker concepts.
Whereas we’ll discuss other (more advanced) poker concepts in Parts 2 and
3, it’s important to know about the concepts in this chapter first. They are
crucial for every poker (tournament) player and will also help you better
understand the discussions and example hands in the rest of this book.
Variance
Poker is a game of both skill and luck, where luck is king in the short
term and skill is king in the long term.
The short-term luck factor in poker causes variance, meaning the normal up
and downswings of a player’s bankroll. A good poker player always needs
to play for the long term. This involves trying to make the “correct” decision
every single hand by choosing the play that yields the highest expected value
in the long run. By “correct”, I mean the best play you could reasonably be
expected to make, given the information you have available and taking into
account all relevant variables.
A player must thus try to not attribute too much significance to short-term
results. The results of a small number of games and especially results of
individual sessions, are virtually meaningless. This seems like a simple thing
to do, but it is actually quite difficult, considering that we are naturally
inclined to be very results-oriented. Players placing too much emphasis on
short-term results will be prone to crucial errors such as:
Doing everything to prevent a losing session by continuing to play
until they are at least even;
Playing very conservatively when ahead to protect their winnings;
Tilting;
Making rash changes to their game on the basis of poor short-term
results. A good player should know the difference between running
badly and playing badly.
Try not to make such errors and focus on the long term instead of the short
term.
Expressed and Implied Pot Odds

Pot odds are the ratio of pot size to bet size. In other words: the amount of
money in the pot compared to the amount you must put in the pot to continue
playing. For example, if someone bets 50 chips into a 100 chips pot you have
to call 50 to win 150, making your pot odds 3:1. These pot odds are called
expressed odds.
The pot odds that you get, should be the most important factor in deciding
whether to call a bet. Calling a bet means making an investment to win the
pot and pot odds tell you how good this investment actually is. The smaller
the investment is in relation to the potential reward (the pot), the better your
pot odds are. Pot odds also allow you to assess whether it is profitable to
draw. For example, if you have a flush draw on the turn, your odds of
improving to a flush on the river are around 4:1. This means that you should
call a turn bet with 4:1 pot odds or better.
Next to expressed odds, there are also implied odds, which take into
consideration estimated future betting. For example, if you are on a draw
and expect to gain additional bets in later rounds when you make your draw,
these extra bets could be added to the current size of the pot. Continuing the
above example, if you think you can expect to win an extra 2 bets on the river
if you hit your flush, these implied odds mean that you would only need to
have 2:1 odds or better to call a turn bet instead of 4:1 odds. In other words,
implied odds can give the justification for playing speculative/drawing hands
that you do not necessarily get the correct expressed odds for. As we will see
later on, implied odds play an important role in low stakes games.
Outs
The cards that (likely) improve your hand to a winning one, are known as
outs. By knowing the number of outs, you can calculate the odds of making
your hand. A simple method to roughly calculate this quickly is the 4 x 2
rule. To calculate the % chance of making your hand with two cards to
come (i.e. both turn and river), you take the number of outs you have and
multiply it by 4. For example: if you flop an open-ended straight draw, you
have 8 outs to improve to a straight, which means you have an 8 x 4 = 32%
chance to hit your straight on both turn and river combined. To calculate the
% chance of making your hand on the next card dealt (either the turn or
river), you take the number of outs and multiply it by 2. For example, a flush
draw gives you 9 outs to your flush, which means you have a 9 x 2 = 18%
chance of making your hand on the next card dealt (be it either the turn or the
river).
The 4 x 2 rule gives an approximate figure. The exact odds and % chances of
making certain types of draws are presented in the drawing odds chart
below. The first column contains the number of outs with one example of
such a draw (for some number of outs, there could be more examples). So
suppose you hold trips, then you have 1 out to improve to quads. And when
you hold one pair, you have 5 outs to improve your hand to either two pair or
trips. The second column of the chart gives the % chance of improving with
one card to come (on the turn going to the river). The third column gives the
% chance to improve with two cards to come (on the flop).
Drawing Odds Chart
No. of Outs 1 card 2 cards
Turn Flop
1 (trips) 2.2% 4.3%
2 (pocket pair) 4.3% 8.4%
3 (1 overcard) 6.5% 12.5%
4 (gutshot) 8.7% 16.5%
5 (one pair) 10.9% 20.4%
6 (two overcards) 13.0% 24.1%
7 (gutshot + 1 over) 15.2% 27.8%
8 (OESD) 17.4% 31.5%
9 (flush draw) 19.6% 35.0%
10 (gutshot + 2 overs) 21.7% 38.4%
11 (OESD + 1 over) 23.9% 41.7%
12 (flush draw + 26.1% 45.0%
gutshot)
13 (OESD + pair) 28.3% 48.1%
14 (flush draw + pair) 30.4% 51.2%
15 (flush draw + 32.6% 54.1%
OESD)
To have a good understanding of the strength of your draw, it’s important to

know the number of outs for the most common types of draws by heart:
One overcard = 3 outs.
Gutshot straight draw = 4 outs.
One pair (to two pair or trips) = 5 outs.
Two overcards = 6 outs.
Open-ended straight draw = 8 outs.
Flush draw = 9 outs.
Note that when you have a draw, some of your outs could be tainted. For
example, if you have an open-ended straight draw on a flop containing two
diamonds, the diamond cards that make you a straight could, at the same time,
make your opponent a flush. This means you might have only 6 outs instead of
8.
Effective Stack Size

A mistake that beginning players often make, is that they only ever look at
their own stack size. However, this is not always that useful in poker. After
all, you can’t win or lose more than the amount of chips of the smallest stack.
Suppose you’re playing heads-up with the following stack sizes:
You: 2,000 chips
Villain: 500 chips
The fact that you have 2,000 chips yourself is not relevant. Here, you can
only win or lose 500 chips. This, then, is the effective stack size:
Effective stack size is the size of the smallest stack between two players.
In other words, it is the maximum amount of chips you can win or lose.
Note that effective stack size is only a consideration for two players at a
time. What if more players are involved in a hand, such as in this situation?
Player A: 2,000 chips
Player B: 4,000 chips
Player C: 1,000 chips
Player D: 500 chips
Here, you can’t just take the smallest stack of player D (500 chips) and say
that’s the effective stack size for all players involved. Effective stack size
only shows how two players stack up in relation to one another.
So in this case, you would say that the effective stack size between player A
and B is 2,000 chips, between B and C 1,000 chips, between C and D 500
chips, and so on. There are multiple effective stack sizes when there are
more than two players in the pot.
The effective stack sizes should influence your strategy and decision-making.
For example:
If effective stack sizes are small, you can’t profitably play
speculative hands such as 6♣-7♣ or 2♥-2♣. With small effective
stacks you can’t win that many chips, so you’re not getting sufficient
implied odds to justify playing these sorts of hands.
With small effective stacks, there is little room for maneuver post-
flop. As a result, you will have less fold equity, making it harder to
pull off bluffs.
When you’re playing poker, always be aware of the effective stack sizes.
Knowing the maximum amount of chips you can win or lose will help you
make much better decisions.
Risk-Reward Ratio
An important concept in tournament play that should have a major influence
on the in-game decisions you make, is the risk-reward ratio. It means that
the smaller the reward, the smaller the risk you want to take, and the bigger
the reward, the bigger the risk you want to take.
The risk-reward ratio manifests itself in a pot odds decision, where you
assess whether the investment (the risk) you make by calling a bet is worth it
in relation to the pot (the reward), compared to how much of a
favorite/underdog you figure to be. The risk-reward ratio, however, goes
further than just pot odds decisions and is relevant for decisions like whether
to make a late position steal raise, a (semi-) bluff bet or raise, or an all-in re-
steal.
The reward should be considered here in an absolute sense (the number of
chips), but even more so in a relative sense compared to the stack you have.
This leads us to the following rule:
Whenever a pot represents around 20-25% of your stack, strongly consider

moving in if you have some kind of a hand, a good draw, or if you believe
you have good fold equity for a bluff.
Stack to Pot Ratio

A concrete expression of the risk-reward ratio in poker is the Stack to Pot
Ratio, or SPR. This concept was first introduced by Ed Miller in the book
Professional No-Limit Hold’em: Volume 1 (Flynn, Mehta, Miller 2007).
SPR is the size of the effective stack divided by the size of the pot.
For example, if you have a stack of 2,000 chips and your opponent has 1,500
chips, the effective stack size is 1,500 chips. If the size of the pot is 750
chips, the SPR is 1,500/750 = 2.
SPR is an expression of the risk-reward ratio in poker, as the effective stack
size is the amount of chips that you risk and the pot is the reward.
How We Can Use SPR
SPR is one of the most important factors to help guide our decisions post-
flop. More specifically, SPR helps us determine the level of commitment to
our hand.
The table below – taken from the excellent book Postflop Volume 1 –
presents an overview of the risk levels for various SPRs.
Stack to Pot Ratio Relative Risk

(SPR)
0-3 Very low
4-6 Low
7-10 Medium
11-14 High
15+ Very high
A low SPR equals low risk, because the pot is big in relation to the effective
stack size. We are not risking much, so we can more easily commit ourselves
with weaker hands.
A high SPR equals high risk, because the pot is small in relation to the
effective stack size. Because we are in high risk territory, we should only
commit our entire stack when we have a very strong hand.
If we have a sense of the level of commitment to our hand, we have a good
idea of how many chips we should be willing to invest. This makes our post-
flop decision-making process much easier. Obviously, there are other factors
to take into account to decide how committed we should be to the hand, such
as: flop texture, perceived hand range of our opponent, odds and outs,
situation in the tournament, etc. However, SPR is one of the most important
factors for gauging our level of commitment to a hand and making post-flop
decisions.
“In very high SPR situations, huge showdowns are rare as players are only
willing to commit huge numbers of chips with premium hands such as full
houses or nut flushes. In medium or low SPR spots, far more hands go to
showdown as players are happy to gamble with much weaker holdings.”
(Hayles 2015 Volume 1)
ICM
Contrary to cash games, the value of your chips in a Sit ’n Go (with the
exception of heads-up SNGs) is non-linear. Suppose you’re playing a 9-man
SNG. At the beginning of the Sit ’n Go every player gets the same starting
stack for his buy-in, so the real money value for every chip is the same. At
the end of the Sit ’n Go, however, the player taking 1st prize has accumulated
all the chips but not all the money: the players finishing 2nd and 3rd will also
cash despite ending the game with 0 chips.
This means that the more chips you have, the less they are worth
individually and that the less chips you have, the more they are worth
individually.
The Independent Chip Model (ICM) is an algorithm that converts a chip

stack into equity (meaning the value of your stack in $).
Because of ICM, you need to have a bigger edge in a tournament than you
would need in a cash game. For example, suppose you go all-in on the first
hand of a 9-man Sit ’n Go on a coin flip. In a cash game this would be a
break-even play in the long run because you would double up 50% of the
time and lose your stack the other 50% of the time (however, you would still
lose the rake you paid of course). In an SNG, however, ICM dictates that
both players have a negative expected value in the long run. Because chips
are worth less the more you have of them, the player winning the coin flip
only doubles his chip count, but not his equity. In essence, both players risk
their entire tournament equity on a 50/50 hand to less-than-double their
equity. Of course, equity cannot just disappear. The remaining equity in this
case goes to all the players not involved in the hand: each of those players
gains equity because their chances of finishing in the money increase now
that a player is eliminated.
ICM applies from the start of the tournament up until the heads-up phase
and the closer you are to the money, the more ICM should dictate how you
play. The influence of ICM is the largest on the bubble, where the
leakage of equity to other players is massive.
After all, the players not involved in the all-in can float into the money and
receive a risk-free equity boost. Being all-in on the bubble thus means that
you need to have a huge edge. This opens up the way for shoving widely, as
ICM dictates that other players can only profitably call with a very small
range of hands. This relates to the general rule that it is always better to
push all-in than to call an all-in. After all, when you push all-in, there are
two ways to win the pot: your opponent(s) can fold or you can win at
showdown when you are called. However, when calling an all-in the only
way you can win the pot is by winning at showdown.
ICM plays a crucial role in Sit ’n Gos and it is very important to

familiarize yourself with it. If you learn ICM back to front and inside out,
it can double your Return On Investment (ROI).
A good way to learn ICM is to use a tool such as SitNGo Wizard (we’ll talk
more about ICM tools in Part 3). With such a tool, you can review and
analyze your endgame and see where you’re making mistakes. Using an ICM
tool to perfect your late game strategy will make a world of difference to
your win rate.
Starting Your Sit ’n Go Career
Before finishing up Part 1, I’d like to talk about a couple more things that you
need to take into consideration when starting your Sit ’n Go career:
How can I measure my success in poker?
What types of games should I be playing?
Should I specialize or not?
What is the minimum bankroll I need for playing?
Measuring Success in Poker

If you are serious about playing poker, it’s important to measure your success
by keeping track of your results. The two metrics expressing profitability in
poker are ROI and hourly rate.
ROI stands for Return On Investment. It’s your average profit per SNG,
expressed as a percentage of your total buy-in (so including the rake you pay
to the poker room!).
ROI = total profit/total buy-ins x 100

Suppose you play $10 non-turbo SNGs and made a profit of $100 after 100
games. Your total buy-ins are 100 x $10 = $1,000. So in this case your ROI
is $100/$1,000 x 100 = 10%. With an ROI of 10% you make $1 profit on
average for every $10 SNG you play.
An even more important metric than ROI is hourly rate. This is simply the
average profit you make per hour.
Hourly rate = total profit/total number of hours played

So, going back to our example, suppose you played for 10 hours to make your
$100 of profit. In that case your hourly rate for the $10 non-turbo SNGs is
$100/10 = $10/hour.
The reason that hourly rate is a more useful metric than ROI, is because ROI
is very much dependent on the type of game you play. Suppose you’re
also playing $10 hyper turbo SNGs. The luck factor in these games is
obviously higher than for non-turbos, so your ROI (profit per game) will
typically be smaller.
Let’s say your ROI for the non-turbos is 10% and your ROI for the hyper
turbos is 5%. This doesn’t necessarily mean that non-turbos will be more
profitable for you! After all, hyper turbos are much faster games, so you play
a lot more games per hour. Whereas your profit per game will be lower for
hyper turbos, your profit per hour could actually be higher because you play
more games.
So, whereas ROI is an important metric you can use to calculate your profit
per game, the most important thing to look at to measure your profitability in
poker is hourly rate.
Also, be aware that because of the variance factor in poker, you need a
sufficiently large sample of games to be able to draw any conclusions on
how profitable you are in them. For single table non-turbo SNGs, you would
need to play at least 1,000 games to have a realistic indication of the profit
you can expect. And for games with higher variance (multi-table SNGs,
turbos and hypers), you’d need an even larger sample before you can draw
any real conclusions.
Keeping Track of Your Results

There are a couple of ways to keep track of your results.
The easiest one is to use poker tracking software, such as Holdem Manager
(we’ll look at poker tracking software more in-depth in the chapter on poker
tools). Programs like this can automatically import all your results and keep
track of ROI and hourly rate for each type of game you play.
You can also use tracking sites like Sharkscope.com to look up your own
ROI. You can’t look up your hourly rate on this site, however.
Finally, you could also keep track of all your results yourself, by using a
spreadsheet in Excel or Google docs. Simply record your profit/loss and
hours played after each session and set up the spreadsheet to automatically
calculate your ROI and hourly rate.
Choosing Your Game

If you’re new to playing Sit ’n Gos, you’ll soon realize that the Sit ’n Go
landscape is incredibly diverse these days.
Poker rooms offer a wide variety of Sit ’n Gos, such as:
Single table SNGs (from 2 to 10 players)
Multi-table SNGs (12 to 180 players or more)
Satellites
Jackpot SNGs
Double or Nothings
Fifty50 SNGs
Knockout SNGs
Etc.
There are a lot of different games, and the games are generally available in
different speeds too: non-turbos, turbos, and hyper turbos.
With plenty of games to choose from, it’s not always easy to pick the ones
that are right for you. I’d recommend to settle with the games that you:
Are most profitable in, and
Enjoy playing the most
You will find out soon enough which games you enjoy playing the most. But it
takes a little longer to find out which games you are most profitable in! As
we saw in the previous section, for single table non-turbos you’d need at
least 1,000 games to have a realistic indication of the profit you can expect
to make. For higher variance games (more players and higher speeds), you’d
need an even larger sample to draw any real conclusions.
So when you’re starting out, I’d recommend to just try out different types of
SNGs and see which one(s) you enjoy playing the most. Then stick with that
game.
Keep track of your results in the way we described in the previous section
and see how profitable you are in the game you picked, once you’ve reached
a representative number of games. Oftentimes, the games that you enjoy
playing the most will also be the ones that you are most profitable in. But this
is not always the case. If your results are not what you’d like them to be,
switch to another game that you like playing and see if that game is more
profitable for you.
Specialize
An important question is whether you should specialize in just one or two
types of games, or play all kinds of different formats. If your objective is to
maximize your profits in poker, I’d say specializing is definitely the way to
go.
As we’ve seen, the Sit ’n Go landscape is incredibly diverse and there can
be huge differences between the formats in terms of strategy. For example,
strategy in a heads-up hyper turbo and a 10-man non-turbo Double or Nothing
can hardly be compared: there’s a world of difference between these two
games.
If you mix different types of games, you will learn a little bit about each of
them, but you will never really become an expert in one of them. In other
words, you’ll become a “Jack of all trades, master of none”.
Additionally, you may also start making more mistakes if you play a bunch of
different formats. If you’re playing different games which require a
completely different strategy, you may (subconsciously) start making moves
that work in one format, but not in the other.
So, if your goal is to maximize your profits in poker, it’s better to concentrate
on one or two formats and try to become an expert in them. Mixing different
formats profitably is only an option if you’re already a good, well-rounded
player with a lot of experience. Top players with a lot of poker experience
are able to switch more easily between formats and still do well in each of
them (although even in that case, they usually have one or two formats that
they are better in than others).
Bankroll Management
Proper bankroll management is key to becoming a successful poker player. It
means that you should play at the appropriate stake level in relation to your
bankroll, so as to minimize the risk of going broke due to variance.
Not applying proper bankroll management has some important drawbacks:
Busting your bankroll and frequently having to reload has a negative
psychological effect. It significantly affects your confidence.
Having a bankroll that is too small in relation to the stakes you play
results in a constant (subconscious) fear of going broke. This, in turn,
leads to making bad decisions at the table by playing too defensively
and by being unwilling to take necessary risks.
It is recommended to have a bankroll of at least 50 buy-ins to the stake level
you play. A bankroll of 100+ buy-ins makes you effectively immune to the
risk of going broke.
Generally speaking, good players with a decent win rate need a smaller
bankroll than marginal winners. Also, playing games that have higher
variance such as (hyper) turbos and multi-table SNGs require a bigger
bankroll than games with lower variance such as non-turbo single-table
SNGs.
Part 2:
Low Stakes Strategy

Introduction to Low Stakes Strategy
In Part 1, we’ve covered the fundamentals of Sit ’n Gos: from the structure
and rules of No Limit Hold’em SNGs to essential poker concepts you need to
know about. Now, in Part 2, we’ll go one step further and discuss the exact
strategy involved in playing low stakes SNGs.
In this first introductory chapter, we’ll discuss a number of general ideas and
strategies for low stakes SNGs. The next chapter will then focus more on
specific elements of low stakes strategy. And finally, in the last chapter of
Part 2, you’ll find the strategies for how to play each stage of a low stakes
SNG: from the beginning of the game all the way to heads-up play.
Low Stakes Strategy: The Foundation

In a low stakes game, the vast majority of your opponents will be
beginning, inexperienced, and poor players who can either be
categorized as loose-passive or loose-aggressive. Especially early on in
the game when the blinds are still low, these opponents will be playing a lot
of hands, calling a lot of pre-flop raises and post-flop bets. Loose-aggressive
opponents will often make (big) bluffs post-flop.
The main weaknesses of the opponents you will typically find in low
stakes games are that they call too much, bluff too much, and play too
many hands.
The strategy put forward in this book is designed to exploit these

weaknesses, so as to maximize your profitability in low stakes games.
Levels of Thinking
In poker, there are a number of different levels on which you can think, each
more involved and complex than the last (Taylor and Hilger, The Poker
Mindset, 2007, p. 206):
Level 0: What hand do you have? A player thinking at level 0 is only
focused on the strength of his hand and doesn’t consider what his
opponent has or what he is thinking.
Level 1: What hand might your opponent have? If you’re thinking at
level 1, you are considering your opponent’s possible holdings and
acting accordingly.
Level 2: What does your opponent think you have? Here, you are
looking at your own betting, style, and image to see what conclusions
your opponent might draw as a result and hence what his betting
might mean.
Level 3: What does your opponent think that you think he has? On
level 3, you are evaluating your opponent’s betting based on how
you think he might be responding to your betting.
Level …: In principle, these levels of thinking are never-ending,
level 4 being: what does your opponent think that you think that he
thinks you have, and so on.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when playing low stakes
SNGs is assigning your opponent a higher level of thinking than he
actually has. A lot of low stakes opponents are only thinking on level 0. This
means that it often is a mistake to represent a particular hand to get your
opponent to fold a better hand than you have or to try and determine your
opponent’s hand range by factoring in how your own table image and betting
patterns influence your opponent’s actions.
Ideally, you want to be thinking at one level, and one level only, above your
opponent. If you are two levels or more ahead of your opponent, you start to
make mistakes which will cost you money.
Table Image
Table image is the impression your opponents have about your playing style.
Because many low stakes players only tend to think on level 0, table
image is not that important a factor in low stakes games.
Opponents are usually not looking at your playing style to try and
characterize you as tight or loose, as they are often not closely observing the
action around them and only consider their own cards. This means that, for a
large part, your strategy is to just play the cards yourself. The strategy
outlined here has many characteristics of an ABC-strategy, which, to a
certain extent, is exploitable when you face skilled opponents. On the low
stakes, however, your opponents are not going to notice that you’re playing
tight and that during the lower blind levels, you’re usually only betting out
with a made hand, so that they are often still going to pay you off when they
hold a marginal hand.
Playing Tight-Cautious Early On

Your general style of playing early on in the game should be tight-cautious.
During low blind levels, you should play very tight as regards your pre-
flop raises and generally play pretty cautiously both in your pre-flop and
post-flop play.
Many low stakes players play exactly opposite to a good SNG strategy.
When the blinds are low, they like to play a lot of hands as they feel their
deep stack gives them the opportunity to see a lot of flops. When the blinds
get higher, they often tighten up and play rather passively, especially when
getting close to the money on the bubble.
During low blinds, many opponents like to limp, raise and call pre-flop
raises with a wide range of hands, and also tend to call down a lot post-flop
with a pretty wide range, be it a weak piece of the board or some kind of a
draw. This means you have to be tight in your pre-flop raises and play
cautiously both pre- and post-flop.
When the blinds are low, only play big pots when you have a big hand.
Observe the following rules when playing a tight-cautious strategy early on
in the game:
If you have a decent hand that you think is likely best, keep the pot
under control by value betting small or calling down.
Make sure not to pot commit yourself early on with a made hand
versus a likely draw.
Do not overplay your made hands and do not make the mistake of
making really big flop bets to try and deny your opponent proper
drawing odds.
Many low stakes players love to chase draws and call a big bet just as
happily as a smaller bet. Because they often have little or no knowledge of
pot odds, they are likely to call you even if they get a bad price for their
draw. So with a made hand on the flop versus a likely draw, don’t bet pot or
overbet the pot, but just make a standard half to 2/3 pot continuation bet (c-
bet). If the draw misses on the turn, throw in a good sized turn bet. With only
one card to come, your opponent is drawing pretty slim, but because he will
likely keep chasing his draw, you can make a bigger bet for value here.
There is no reason to overplay your strong hands early on (especially a
hand like A-K), because the significant skill edge you hold over your
opponents means you can always wait for a better spot to get your chips in.
This leads us to a very important general rule to observe when playing low
stakes games:
Because you have a significant skill edge over your opponents in a low
stakes game, there is no need to get involved when you feel you are only
a slight favorite in the hand, especially early on in the tournament. Avoid
such marginal spots: the skill edge you have means you will get many
better opportunities in future hands.
An example of playing tight-cautious in the early stages of the game is the

following hand I played in a $15 6-max non-turbo Sit ’n Go.
Example Hand 1
Game: $15 6-max non-turbo SNG
Blinds: 10/20
Antes: 3
UTG: 1467 in chips
UTG+1: 1909 in chips
CO: 1401 in chips
BTN: 1323 in chips
SB: Hero 1381 in chips
BB: 1519 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP***
Dealt to Hero [A♠-Q♠]
UTG: folds
UTG+1: raises 40 to 60
CO: folds
BTN: calls 60
Hero: calls 50
BB: folds
*** FLOP *** [3♣-4♦-J♣]
Hero: checks
UTG+1: bets 140
BTN: calls 140
Hero: folds
*** TURN *** [3♣-4♦-J♣] [T♣]
UTG+1: bets 300
BTN: calls 300
*** RIVER *** [3♣-4♦-J♣-T♣] [6♦]
UTG+1: bets 1406 and is all-in
BTN: calls 820 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
UTG+1: shows [8♣-K♣] (a flush, King high)
BTN: shows [9♣-J♥] (a pair of Jacks)
UTG+1 collected 2738 from pot
BTN finished the tournament in 6th place
In this hand I get dealt A♠-Q♠ in the small blind at the 10/20 level. UTG+1
raises to 60 and the button calls.
The first thing I do is look at how my opponents are playing. UTG+1 is
loose-aggressive: he plays a lot of hands, raises a lot pre-flop and is
aggressive post-flop as well. The button who called, is very loose-passive:
he frequently calls raises pre-flop and likes to call down a lot post-flop as
well. The big blind who is yet to act behind me, is a solid and tight-
aggressive player.
A hand like A♠-Q♠ is too good to fold against these loose opponents, so I
have to decide between calling and 3-betting here.
Arguments for 3-betting would be to:
Get value from my hand
Use my fold equity and possibly take the pot down pre-flop, or
narrow the field to 1 opponent
Take the lead in the hand, so that if my 3-bet gets called I can try to
take the pot down on the flop with a c-bet
In this spot, however, the last two reasons probably wouldn’t work out that
well. The two players that are already in the pot are both loose and it’s
highly unlikely I can get both of them to fold pre-flop if I make a 3-bet here.
Especially the loose-passive button will probably call, and he likes to call
down post-flop as well, limiting my chances of taking the pot down with a
continuation bet on the flop.
Also, note that I would have to make a sizeable 3-bet here. Because the
button already called, there are 168 chips in the pot already. A standard 3-bet
to 180 chips (3x the original raise) would give my opponents good pot odds
to call. So if I want to have any chance of getting both or at least one of them
to fold, I would have to make a 3-bet of at least 250 chips. That’s a big
investment and if I do get called, there would be little room for maneuver
post-flop, as the pot would already be half my stack on the flop.
Finally, I’m out of position here, which puts me at a disadvantage for the rest
of the hand if my 3-bet gets called. Considering all of this, a call is the best
option here. I do give the big blind very good pot odds to come along for the
ride as well, but the disadvantages of 3-betting are simply too big here.
The blinds are only 10/20 and I have a healthy stack of 1,381 chips: there’s
no real reason for me to take big risks by making a sizeable 3-bet out of
position against two loose opponents. I just play it safe here and call the
extra 50 chips to see a flop. Note that just calling with A♠-Q♠ here has the
added benefit of deception: my opponents will probably not put me on a hand
as strong as this when I just flat call. So if I do hit an Ace or Queen on the
flop, I can expect to win a big pot, especially considering the very loose-
passive player involved in the hand.
There’s nothing there for me on the 3♣-4♦-J♣ flop so I just check to the pre-
flop raiser who makes a continuation bet of 140 chips, which the button calls.
This is an easy fold for me and I see how the loose-passive button loses his
whole stack with 9♣-J♥ against UTG+1 who makes a King-high flush on the
turn.
In this hand, I play my A♠-Q♠ in the small blind cautiously both pre- and
post-flop. I would have only considered a 3-bet if I were up against
relatively tight and skilled opponents, where I can expect to have a decent
amount of fold equity for my 3-bet as well as my possible follow-up
continuation bet.
Against these opponents, however, a 3-bet would have likely resulted in
playing a bloated pot out of position early on in the game against a loose-
aggressive and loose-passive player who are very unlikely to fold pre- or
post-flop: a disastrous combination of factors that can end up costing you a
big chunk of your stack.
Elements of Low Stakes Strategy
Playing Speculative Hands
Although you should play tight early on in your pre-flop raises, you should
be playing looser with speculative hands when you’re getting good pot
odds.
In low stakes games, you want to get involved early on in cheap pots with
speculative hands. These are hands that don’t have a lot of pre-flop value,
but can turn into monsters after the flop. Think of hands here like
low/medium pocket pairs, suited high cards, and (suited) connectors.
There are two reasons for playing speculative hands during low blind levels,
the second reason being the most important:
The weakest players at the table will often lose their chips the fastest
and you want to be the one taking their chips when they still have
them, before someone else does.
In low stakes games, you have very good implied odds, because
there are more opponents who are prone to pay you off after the flop
once you hit your speculative hand.
To illustrate this point, let’s consider an example where you open limp a
small to medium pocket pair in early position during the first blind level. In a
higher stakes game with more skilled opponents, they are:
Going to realize that you’re often holding a small to medium pocket
pair when you open limp in early position; and
Only going to pay you off when they hit a strong hand post-flop
themselves.
In a low stakes game with less skilled opponents, however, they are:
Often not putting you on the type of hand you have because they
usually only consider their own cards; and
Going to pay you off with a much wider range post-flop, usually
investing a decent percentage of their stack or even their entire stack
with a marginal hand or draw.
Calling Raises Pre-Flop

In many cases, raising before the flop is better than calling. If you raise, you
take control of the hand. This gives you opportunities to take the pot down
after the flop, even when you miss. Conversely, if you just call a raise, you
leave the initiative in the hand to the pre-flop aggressor, limiting your
chances of taking the pot down after the flop when you miss.
That being said, there are still plenty of times when your best option is to just
to call a raise. This is particularly so in the early stages of the game when
stacks are still deep and there is plenty of room to play. As we’ve seen in the
previous section, you should be playing relatively loose early on with your
speculative hands when you’re getting good pot odds. With speculative
hands, you want to get in the pot as cheaply as possible before the flop in the
hopes of hitting a big hand.
A different story, however, are medium strength high card hands that you play
for their top pair value. In these cases, you have to be careful calling raises,
because of the “gap concept” (see Sklansky 2007).
According to the “gap concept” you need to have a better hand to call a
raise than to make a raise from that position.
For example, if it is folded to you on the button where you hold A-Jo, this is
a perfectly fine hand to open raise with, considering that you can expect to be
ahead of most of the blinds’ random holdings. However, if you’re facing a
raise from early position, A-Jo doesn’t look so good anymore and should be
mucked in most cases. Not only do you not have initiative in the hand when
you just call, your opponent has also shown some strength by open raising
and your A-J could easily be dominated by A-Q or A-K. Calling and
flopping an Ace in that situation, is a good recipe for losing all your chips.
The gap concept applies to an even greater extent on the low stakes.
Even though you will encounter many low stakes players who are loose-
aggressive and open raise very frequently with a wide range so that your A-
Jo on the button is probably ahead, you should still typically fold these hands
when it is early in the game. This is because many of those loose-aggressive
opponents are often not going to give up easily after the flop. Even when you
do hit your Ace in the above example, you will often face an opponent who
will put you to the test and make significant (bluff) raises. This will put you
in a lot of difficult spots, which you are better off avoiding.
Do not call raises with mediocre/good high-card hands in the beginning
stages of the tournament. It is much better to use your chips early on to see a
lot of cheap flops with speculative hands, considering the high implied odds
you’re getting in a low stakes game.
Seeing many cheap flops with speculative hands is a much better strategy
to follow in a low stakes game than calling raises with mediocre/good
high-card hands, even when you can expect to be ahead of your opponent’s
raising range.
Continuation Betting
A continuation bet, or c-bet, is a follow-up bet on the flop by the pre-flop
raiser, whether the flop improved his hand or not.
According to standard poker strategy, you should normally make a
continuation bet if you were the pre-flop aggressor. Continuation betting is a
profitable move, because mathematically your opponent will miss the flop 2
out of 3 times. So even if you don’t have a good hand yourself, your opponent
will often have nothing they can continue with, making it hard for them to
call.
That being said, there are also plenty of times when you should not make a
continuation bet on the flop.
For one, the poker landscape has changed in the sense that most players today
are aware of the idea of continuation betting, and expect you to follow up
your pre-flop raise with a bet on the flop. In other words: the continuation bet
doesn’t get the same amount of respect that it once did. This is especially so
in low stakes games where you’ll find a lot of loose players who like to call
continuation bets with a wide range of hands. Against loose-passive players,
you should not make a continuation bet if you don’t have a good hand. Trying
to bluff loose-passive players is never a good idea!
Also, keep in mind that c-bets work well against just one opponent, but are
rarely successful against multiple opponents. The more players there are in
the pot, the higher the chance that someone has some sort of hand that he can
call your c-bet with. If you don’t have a good hand, you should usually not
make a continuation bet into multiple opponents.
Use the following rules for making c-bets during low and high blinds
respectively:
Low Blinds
When you’re out of position:
1. When you completely miss the flop:
Generally, do not make a c-bet out of position when you completely miss the
flop (e.g. holding A-K on a flop of low cards), also when facing just a single
opponent.
Because your opponents are often going to be playing loose, they will call
pre-flop with a wide range of hands and many low stake opponents usually
are not folding to a continuation bet, regardless of what they have. You can
make a c-bet against a tight player, but they might call here with a wide range
as well to try and float you (call in position on the flop with the intention of
trying to steal the pot on the turn once you check). This means that the
informational purpose of a c-bet out of position (i.e. betting out to get
information and to narrow down your opponent’s likely hand range) is often
more or less lost in a low stakes game.
Making a continuation bet out of position in a low stakes game during low
blind levels with a hand that completely missed the flop, often results in
bloating the pot with a marginal hand out of position with no idea where you
stand: really something to avoid.
2. When you hit the flop:
When you hit your hand, make a standard c-bet for value. The more
opponents are in the pot, the stronger your hand needs to be to make a c-bet.
When you’re in position:
1. When you completely miss the flop:
Usually make a continuation bet against a single tight opponent on a
favorable flop, where your c-bet has a high chance of success. Do not make a
continuation bet on draw-heavy flops (e.g. when holding A♠-K♣ on a
J♦-8♦-9♥ board).
Usually do not make a continuation bet against a loose opponent, where your
c-bet is likely to be called. The preferred action here is to check behind for
pot control and give yourself a free turn card to possibly improve.
Certainly do not make a c-bet when facing multiple opponents.
2. When you hit the flop:
Make a standard c-bet for value. Again, the more opponents are in the pot,
the harder you need to have hit your hand to make a c-bet.
Other situations
When holding a made hand such as a medium-high pocket pair on a flop with
one overcard (e.g. J-J on a Q-8-5 flop), usually make a continuation bet to
protect your hand from an Ace or King coming on the turn, unless you’re out
of position against a particularly loose player who is very likely to call or
bluff-raise.
With K-K on a dry Ace-high flop without any draws, however, there is no
reason to protect your hand by making a continuation bet. This is a spot
where you’re either way ahead or way behind. Out of position you can
check-call or check-raise. In position, your best play is to call a bet or to
check behind to try and get some value on future streets.
High Blinds:
Risk-reward ratio dictates that you should be more aggressive during higher
blinds when the pots are really worth winning, so you should now make
continuation bets more frequently. Usually make a standard c-bet unless you
face (a combination of) unfavorable conditions, such as being out of position,
facing multiple opponents, facing a very loose-aggressive opponent, having
completely missed on a draw-heavy flop, etc.
Bet Sizing
If you make a continuation bet on the flop, here are some general rules for bet
sizing:
C-bet between 40-50% of the pot on dry boards (with few or no
draws).
C-bet between 50-75% of the pot on wet boards (containing draws).
C-bet a larger size when you don’t welcome a call (playing out of
position or when bluffing).
Hand Value
Many low stakes players enter the pot with very marginal hands and usually
stick around post-flop with marginal hands as well. Inexperienced players
usually play loose, which is the natural style for beginning players. Their
looseness is also frequently caused by the fact that a lot of low stakes
players often play just 1 single table at a time. In fact, I’ve played many
low stakes Sit ’n Gos, where even all my opponents were playing only at that
one table. This means that these opponents generally have a low level of
patience. Playing at only one table, you simply aren’t dealt that many
premium hands so your opponents will frequently enter the pot with marginal
hands. Also, when they catch a weak piece of the board, they’re usually not
going to fold as they “finally” have some kind of a hand.
Because many of your opponents will be in the pot with marginal hands,
the value of your own hand goes up in a low stakes game.
This means that when you hit top pair with a decent kicker, you should be
willing to play that hand for a decent sized pot (though, as already mentioned,
you should not get pot committed with a decent hand early on and still
exercise pot control, especially on drawy boards).
Value Betting
Because your hand value goes up in a low stakes game, you should be
willing to value bet relatively light.
When you hit a really big hand, value bet hard and keep value betting:
opponents will often pay you off with a marginal hand.
When you have a decent hand, value bet light against a loose and fishy
opponent when your hand is likely best.
Example Hand 2
Blinds: 10/20
UTG: 2910 in chips
CO: Hero 1810 in chips
BTN: 940 in chips
SB: 2010 in chips
BB: 1330 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [J♥-Q♣]
UTG: folds
Hero: raises 40 to 60
BTN: folds
SB: calls 50
BB: folds
*** FLOP *** [5♦-3♦-T♠]
SB: checks
Hero: checks
*** TURN *** [5♦-3♦- T♠] [J♠]
SB: checks
Hero: bets 90
SB: calls 90
*** RIVER *** [5♦-3♦-T♠-J♠] [6♣]
SB: checks
Hero: bets 180
SB: calls 180
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [J♥-Q♣] (a pair of Jacks)
SB: mucks hand
Hero collected 680 from pot
In this hand, I decide to open J♥-Q♣ from the cut-off at a table with 5 players
left. J-Qo is no standard open for me from this position, but I will raise with
it from time to time as it plays well after the flop and I have good position.
The player in the SB who calls is fishy and very loose-passive. When he
checks to me on the flop, there is no reason for me to make a continuation bet
on a 5♦-3♦-T♠ flop. My opponent is loose and passive and will likely call
my c-bet with just about anything and besides, there are two diamonds out
there. Having completely missed the flop, I check behind to take a free card
and keep the pot small.
The turn brings the Jack of spades, giving me top pair with a good kicker. My
opponent checks again and I make a value bet of around 2/3 pot. There is no
reason to bet more, because if he is on a flush draw, he will probably call a
big bet as well and I do not want to create a big pot during low blinds against
a fishy opponent holding just a decent hand but not a monster.
The river brings the 6♣ and my opponent checks again. Because all the
draws missed, I put in another value bet of 180 into a 320 pot. If the Villain
in the small blind was a skilled opponent, his call of my pre-flop raise out of
position, his call of my turn bet and his river check would lead me to believe
that there are very few hands in his range that are worse than mine that are
going to call a value bet here (possibly A-T, K-T). But because my opponent
is a bad low stakes player, I’m happy to make a value bet here, which I’m
pretty sure he will call with a wide range of hands. Villain indeed called and
held the T♦-7♦. Even though he missed his flush draw on the river, he pays
off another 180 chips with second pair and a 7 kicker and I pick up a nice
680 chips pot.
Example Hand 3
Blinds: 15/30
UTG: 1730 in chips
CO: 1220 in chips
BTN: 2070 in chips
SB: 1105 in chips
BB: Hero 1345 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [A♣-J♠]
UTG and UTG+1: fold
CO: calls 30
BTN: calls 30
SB: folds
Hero: checks
*** FLOP *** [4♠-J♣-8♠]
Hero: bets 75
CO: folds
BTN: calls 75
*** TURN *** [4♠-J♣-8♠] [T♠]
Hero: bets 150
BTN: calls 150
*** RIVER *** [4♠-J♣-8♠-T♠] [2♠]
Hero: bets 300
BTN: calls 300
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [A♣-J♠] (a flush, Jack high)
BTN: mucks hand
The player limping on the cutoff is a calling station and the button who limps
behind is a loose fish who plays 50% of his hands. I pick up A-Jo in the BB
and am happy to check behind here. The blinds are low, I’m deep stacked
and there is no reason to raise into two loose opponents who are likely going
to call me with a huge range, making me have to play a raised pot with a
marginal hand out of position.
The flop comes 4♠-J♣-8♠ and with top pair, top kicker, I make a value bet of
75 into 105, fully expecting to be called by (a) worse hand(s). The cutoff
folds, but the button calls.
The turn brings the T♠, which completes a flush draw or a straight draw with
Q-9. However, against this particular opponent, I’m pretty sure my top pair,
top kicker is still best most of the time and I pick up a Jack-high flush draw
as well. So I put in another value bet of 150 into a 255 pot, which my
opponent calls.
The river is the 2♠, giving me a Jack-high flush. At this point, the pot is
already half my stack: there is 555 in the pot and I have 1090 chips behind.
Against this loose opponent, I’m pretty sure my Jack-high flush is good, so I
put in another value bet of 300 chips, again expecting to be called by a worse
hand.
My opponent calls with 7♠-T♣. He made a pretty thin pre-flop call on the
button with a very marginal hand, which you can expect from a very loose
player. All he flops is a gutshot straight draw on a board with two spades,
but still, that’s good enough for him to call my flop bet. He picks up a pair of
Tens on the turn, as well as a 7-high flush draw, calls again and pays off my
river value bet as well with his 7-high flush. By value betting three streets, I
get maximum value against an opponent I can expect to frequently call me
down with worse hands.
When you hit a big hand, value bet it hard. Often enough, many low stakes
players will pay you off with very marginal hands, which makes
straightforward and strong value betting the superior play. Also, loose and
fishy opponents are often more prone to call big bets than small bets,
because they usually perceive big bets as weakness and opponents like this
hate to fold even marginal hands when they strongly feel they are being
bluffed.
Example Hand 4
Blinds: 15/30
UTG: 1535 in chips
CO: 1990 in chips
BTN: Hero 1315 in chips
SB: 1965 in chips
BB: 1130 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [2♥-2♦]
UTG, UTG+1, CO: fold
Hero: calls 30
SB: raises 30 to 60
BB: folds
Hero: calls 30
*** FLOP *** [8♥-Q♠-2♣]
SB: checks
Hero: bets 90
SB: calls 90
*** TURN *** [8♥-Q♠-2♣] [Q♦]
SB: checks
Hero: bets 180
SB: calls 180
*** RIVER *** [8♥-Q♠-2♣-Q♦] [9♦]
SB: checks
Hero: bets 510
SB: calls 510
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [2♥-2♦] (a full house, Deuces full of Queens)
SB: mucks hand
In this hand, I face two very loose players in the blinds (the SB plays more
than 50% of his hands and the BB around 30%) when I pick up 2-2 on the
button. There is no point in raising my 2-2 at the 15/30 level against players
who will often call my raise with any two cards, so I elect to limp. The SB
min-raises, the BB folds and getting 4:1 pot odds, I happily call the extra 30.
The flop comes 8♥-Q♠-2♣ giving me bottom set and Villain checks. Many
players would be tempted to check behind here, because they feel the best
option is to slowplay a monster hand on a dry board that is unlikely to have
hit their opponent. However, against a loose player like this, just betting out
is clearly the superior play, especially because he min-raised pre-flop and
will definitely not fold when he (more or less) took the pre-flop lead in the
hand and feels he could be bluffed.
The turn brings another Queen, giving me a full house. Because there are two
Queens out there already, this makes it less likely my opponent has one. In
essence, the Queen is a bad card for me as my opponent probably doesn’t
have anything here, considering also that there are no immediate straight or
flush draws. So at this point, I think his most likely hand is a weak Ace or
King or possibly a small to medium pocket pair like 3-3 to 7-7. However,
because my opponent is particularly fishy, I just throw in another value bet of
180 into a 330 pot, setting myself up for a bigger river bet if he calls, which
he does.
The river is a meaningless 9 and my opponent checks again. The pot is 690
and I have 985 chips left. I’m pretty sure my opponent doesn’t have anything
here so I doubt he calls when I shove. So I decide to make a significant bet of
510 chips, which he calls with….A♦-9♠. I rake in a nice pot of 1,710 chips
against an opponent calling me down with Ace-high. Fortunately, he hit a pair
of nines on the river, though I’m actually pretty sure this particular opponent
would likely also have called my river bet if he held a hand like A-J or A-T.
Calling Bets Post-Flop

We already observed that the value of your hand goes up in a low stakes
game. This not only means that you can value bet lighter, but it also means
that you can call lighter than you perhaps normally would.
To be sure, value betting is generally to be preferred over calling, because

betting gives you some information about your opponent’s holding and gives
you fold equity as well by being the aggressor in the hand. However, there
are many opportunities in low stakes games where calling clearly is the best
possible option, particularly when facing a loose-aggressive opponent who
is likely bluffing.
Example Hand 5
Blinds: 15/30
UTG: 1790 in chips
BTN: 1530 in chips
SB: 840 in chips
BB: 1890 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [8♥-8♣]
UTG and UTG+1: fold
Hero: calls 30
BTN: folds
SB: calls 15
BB: checks
*** FLOP *** [A♦-3♦-4♥]
SB: checks
BB: checks
Hero: bets 60
SB: calls 60
BB: folds
*** TURN *** [A♦-3♦-4♥] [A♥]
SB: checks
Hero: checks
*** RIVER *** [A♦-3♦-4♥-A♥] [J♥]
SB: bets 180
Hero: calls 180
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SB: shows [T♥-K♦] (a pair of Aces)
Hero: shows [8♥-8♣] (two pair, Aces and Eights)
A pair of 8’s is a nice hand to try and see a cheap flop with at the 15/30
level, so I decide to limp in on the cutoff. My hand is actually strong enough
to raise, but in this case I’m facing two very loose-aggressive players in the
blinds. If I raise, I most likely will be called by one or perhaps two of them,
making me have to play a sizable pot against 1 or 2 loose-aggressive
opponents when it’s still early on in the tournament. The button folds, the
small blind completes, and the big blind checks.
When the flop comes A♦-3♦-4♥ and both the small and big blind check, I
make a value bet of 60 chips into a 90 chips pot. The flop looks really good
for me and I probably have the best hand right now. In a limped pot, the
chances of someone holding an Ace are pretty slim: my loose-aggressive
opponents most likely would have raised pre-flop with an Ace. Not only do I
need to bet for value here, but I also need to bet to protect my hand. Even
though my hand is probably best now, there are a lot of turn cards that I need
to protect my hand against: the two diamonds out there make for a possible
flush draw and I need to protect my 8’s against overcards as well. Another
reason to bet here is for information: if I get called, I can try to put my
opponents on some kind of a hand range, even though that will not be easy
against these loose opponents. The Villain in the small blind calls and the big
blind folds.
The turn brings the A♥ and my opponent checks. At this point, I still think my
hand is best. Villain most likely doesn’t have an Ace because he didn’t raise
pre-flop and the fact that there are two Aces on the board now, makes it even
less likely that he has one. My opponent might have a flush draw but
considering how loose he is, I certainly do not exclude the possibility that he
called with random high cards either. Still, there is no reason to bet again
here: I’m facing a very loose opponent who may well call my bet with a
wide range of hands, thus not necessarily giving me enough information on
his possible holdings. The second reason not to bet here is my opponent’s
stack size: he now has 750 chips left and the pot is 210. If I bet here, a
loose-aggressive player like that may well be tempted to bluff-raise all-in
because the pot is pretty significant in relation to his stack. And if he calls
my, say, 100 chips value bet, the pot will be 410 and he will have a stack of
650 left. This may well encourage him to shove the river no matter what he
has, putting me to a tough decision. So the best play in this situation is to just
check behind for pot control and take a free card.
The river brings the J♥ and all of a sudden, my opponent fires out 180 chips.
I still don’t think he has an Ace here and it would be very unlikely that he
called my flop bet with two hearts and has now hit a backdoor flush. Really,
the only card that I’m worried about, is the Jack. This opponent is certainly
capable of making a completely random call on the flop with a couple of high
cards, so there is a chance he paired his Jack. However, because:
1. the Jack is the only card I worry about;
2. my opponent is very loose and aggressive; and
3. the pot is really worth winning for him, given his relatively small stack,
I think the chances of him bluffing here are very high.
My pot odds are better than 2:1 so I only need to pick up the pot 1 in 3 times
for my call to be profitable in the long run. Given that I think my chances of
having the best hand are significantly higher than 33%, this is an easy call for
me. As it turned out, Villain indeed made a completely random call of my
flop bet with T♥-K♦ and tried to bluff the river to pick up a much needed pot.
Playing Your Hand Fast

When you have a big hand, the best way to play it in a low stakes game
against a bad opponent, is just to play it fast and straightforward.
Slowplaying is something you almost never want to do in a low stakes

game.
Only slowplay:
- when the blinds are higher and you face a very aggressive opponent who
will most likely bluff (and keep bluffing) at the pot; or
- when you have the stone cold nuts on a board that makes it very unlikely
your opponents have a piece of it, so that the only chance of getting some
action is to give them a free card.
Example Hand 6
Blinds: 15/30
UTG: 1040 in chips
BTN: 1370 in chips
SB: 2160 in chips
BB: 1350 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [4♠-4♦]
UTG: calls 30
Hero: calls 30
BTN: folds
SB: raises 30 to 60
BB: folds
UTG: calls 30
Hero: calls 30
*** FLOP *** [4♥-8♣-2♦]
SB: bets 90
UTG: calls 90
SB: calls 120
UTG: folds
*** TURN *** [4♥-8♣-2♦] [6♠]
SB: checks
Hero: bets 720
SB: calls 720
*** RIVER *** [4♥-8♣- 2♦-6♠] [Q♥]
SB: checks
Hero: bets 2090 and is all-in
SB: calls 1170 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [4♠-4♦] (three of a kind, Fours)
SB: shows [A♥-9♠] (high card Ace)
SB finished the tournament in 5th place
This hand is a very good example of playing your hand fast to get maximum
value against an enormous fish. At the 15/30 level, I limp behind in the cutoff
with my 4-4 and the small blind min-raises to 60, UTG calls and getting 6:1
pot odds, this is the perfect situation to see a cheap flop in a 3-way pot with
a small pocket pair.
The flop comes 4♥-8♣-2♦, Villain bets 90 and UTG calls. The pot is now
390 and with middle set on a very dry flop, I need to think how I can extract
most value. The argument for flat calling would be to keep the player in UTG
involved. However, his flat call on this dry board probably means he only
has overcards and if he doesn’t hit on the turn, it’s not so likely I will get any
more chips off him.
But then I look at the HUD stats of the small blind and see that he’s an
extremely loose-passive fish, who plays around 80% of his hands. He is
exactly the type of player who feels that because he min-raised pre-flop, he
really took the lead in the hand and he probably will not fold if I raise here,
thinking that I’m trying to bluff him on a flop of only low cards. His
aggression factor is very low making it very likely he will call my raise so
hopefully, I can build a nice pot here. Because there aren’t any real draws out
there, I make a smallish raise to 210, which he calls. UTG has seen enough
and folds.
The turn brings the 6♠, which could potentially make a straight for 5-7, but I
doubt he min-raised with a hand like that pre-flop. When he checks, the pot is
720 and he has 1,890 behind. At this point, I resist the temptation of
slowplaying: this opponent is bad enough that he will believe a strong pot
sized bet is a total bluff, so I take this good opportunity against a very
passive player and bet pot. He check-calls my 720 bet, making the pot 2,160.
When he checks the river Queen to me, the only thing I can do here is shove
the rest of my chips in to try and convince him I’m still on a total bluff. After
his snap call, I was a little surprised to see him turn over just Ace-high. By
playing my hand very fast, I got maximum value against a very loose-passive
opponent who felt I was trying to bluff him off his Ace-high.
Example Hand 7
Blinds: 15/30
UTG: 805 in chips
CO: 1375 in chips
BTN: 2750 in chips
SB: 2705 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [Q♠-Q♦]
UTG, CO, BTN: fold
SB: raises 60 to 90
SB: calls 180
*** FLOP *** [J♥-J♣-5♦]
SB: bets 330
Hero: raises 765 to 1095 and is all-in
SB: calls 765
*** TURN *** [J♥-J♣-5♦] [4♦]
*** RIVER *** [J♥-J♣-5♦-4♦] [A♣]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SB: shows [8♣-8♦] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
Hero: shows [Q♠-Q♦] (two pair, Queens and Jacks)
In this hand, I pick up Q-Q in the big blind. It folds around to the small blind
who makes a standard 3x raise. I make my default 3-bet of 3x the original
raise to 270. There is no reason to try and slowplay my big pocket pair here
and get fancy with a smaller raise to 180-220. Because Villain is a bad
player who is rather loose and fairly aggressive, I’m pretty confident he will
flat my 3-bet with a wide range.
The flop comes J-J-5 and my opponent leads out with a strong bet of 330 into
a 540 pot. I immediately discard the possibility of him having a Jack here.
Not only is it less likely that he has a Jack because there are two of them
already out there, but also, he certainly wouldn’t lead out here with a Jack
into the pre-flop raiser, as the most obvious line for him in that case would
be to check-call or check-raise my likely c-bet. So at this point, I think his
most likely hands are A-K, A-Q, or a pocket pair 6-6 to T-T.
This opponent is bad enough that I’m quite confident he will pay me off most
of the times with his likely hand range when I simply re-shove all-in on the
flop. Not only do I need to protect my Q-Q in the case he has A-K, but there
are also a lot of turn cards that can kill the action. If he holds A-K and he
doesn’t hit a pair on the turn or if he holds a pocket pair 6-6 to T-T and an
Ace or King hits the turn, I’m probably not getting any more chips off him.
What’s more, by betting out so strongly here my opponent is basically telling
me that he would prefer me to go all-in here so he can call, because he has
a pretty weak hand that he is not sure how to play on subsequent streets. So
the best play for my Q-Q here is to just play my hand fast and re-shove the
flop, after which Villain snaps me off with 8-8.
Example Hand 8
Blinds: 10/20
UTG: Hero 1500 in chips
CO: 1220 in chips
BTN: 1620 in chips
SB: 3160 in chips
BB: 1500 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [8♠-8♣]
Hero: calls 20
CO, BTN, SB: fold
BB: checks
*** FLOP *** [9♣-9♥-T♠]
BB: checks
Hero: bets 30
BB: calls 30
*** TURN *** [9♣-9♥-T♠] [7♠]
BB: bets 60
Hero: calls 60
*** RIVER *** [9♣-9♥-T♠-7♠] [J♥]
BB: bets 140
BB: calls 1250 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [8♠-8♣] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
BB: shows [9♠-5♥] (three of a kind, Nines)
BB finished the tournament in 5th place
In the third hand of this Sit ’n Go, I limp 8♠-8♣ UTG at the 10/20 level,
hoping to see a cheap flop with my medium pocket pair. It folds around to the
big blind, who checks. My information on the big blind is that he is a small
winning player. He is a bit loose and aggressive but seems to know what he’s
doing.
The flop comes 9♣-9♥-T♠ and Villain checks to me. The flop looks pretty
decent for a pair of 8’s, so I decide to take a small stab by betting 30 into a
50 chips pot. My opponent decides to check-call.
The turn brings the 7♠ and my opponent suddenly leads out for 60. At this
point, alarm bells start to ring: his line has all the characteristics of a
slowplay. His check-call out of position on the flop already is a bit
suspicious, as is his lead-out on the turn. Right now, I wouldn’t at all be
surprised if he was sitting on a 9. The size of his bet (60 into a 110 pot)
looks like he’d like me to call here. His turn bet also makes sense when he
indeed has a 9, because he might be worried about a straight coming in. His
small bet gives me a decent close to 3:1 pot odds and because I picked up an
open ended straight draw to go along with my pair of 8’s, I decide to call.
The river brings the J♥ giving me a straight and Villain fires 140 into a 230
pot. Right now, I’m pretty convinced that my opponent has a 9. This opponent
is loose but plays fairly decent and given how he played this particular hand,
I eliminate the possibility of him holding a pair of Tens or Jacks for a full
house. He would have definitely raised pre-flop with those hands. He might
have pocket 7’s but it’s not very likely. I can also exclude the possibility of
him holding K-Q because he is not the kind of player who would check-call
the flop and then lead out on the turn with just a gutshot straight draw.
So, putting my opponent on a 9, I have to figure out how I can get most value
for my straight. The line he took in this hand has all the characteristics of a
slowplay and many players simply cannot fold if they feel they are
slowplaying something big. A skilled player definitely would be able to lay
down trips here if I shove, but I think this player simply can’t resist calling.
So I ship it all-in and he indeed calls with trip nines.
It may seem a bit silly to over-shove 1,390 chips into a 370 chips pot, but
when you’re convinced your opponent is not capable of folding trips when he
thinks he is slowplaying a monster, you just have to go for it: play the hand
fast and ship it in.
A Promise to Call
In low stakes games, you will often see opponents making a “promise to
call”. This happens when a weak player bets or raises an unusually large
amount, which often indicates he has a marginal hand he doesn’t know how
to play. The reason for the larger than usual bet/raise is to make it clear to
both themselves and their opponent that they are not going to fold. If you see
an opponent making such a “promise to call”, be prepared to push all-in
when you have a strong hand. Widen your re-shove range against players
making this move frequently.
A post-flop example of a “promise to call” is Example Hand 7. The
following hand is a good pre-flop example.
Example Hand 9
Blinds: 50/100
CO: 1480 in chips
BTN: 3480 in chips
SB: 2725 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [A♦-K♠]
CO: folds
BTN: raises 250 to 350
SB: folds
BTN: calls 965
*** FLOP *** [7♦-7♣-9♠]
*** TURN *** [7♦-7♣-9♠] [K♣]
*** RIVER *** [7♦-7♣-9♠-K♣] [4♥]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [A♦-K♠] (two pair, Kings and Sevens)
BTN: shows [8♣-8♠] (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
Villain is a pretty poor, loose, and very aggressive opponent, who makes a
larger than usual 3.5x raise on the button. This is a clear “promise to call”,
especially considering he is also the chip leader at the table. By making his
3.5x raise, he shows that he is definitely not going to fold if I re-shove. His
raise indicates a hand that he is unsure how to play post-flop, most likely a
pocket pair 5-5 to T-T or a hand my A-K dominates such as A-Q, A-J, A-T,
K-Q, K-J. Because there are a lot of hands in his range that I dominate and I
will be flipping against low/medium pairs, I re-shove my A-K knowing he
will definitely call.
Note also that a re-shove was the only viable option to me here. Calling is
not a good idea, because this would create a pot of 750 chips with me having
965 behind, committing me to the pot. A-K is too good of a hand to fold and a
smaller raise also doesn’t make sense considering I have only 12 BB behind.
So, by process of elimination, a re-ship is the best option and because I know
he will call, I am guaranteed to see 5 cards to hit my Ace or King.
Observing Stack Sizes

A player’s stack size usually has (and should have) a significant influence on
the way he plays. For example, a tight-aggressive regular will adjust when he
has a stack of around 10-20 BB and will start to play loose-aggressive.
It is important to note that stack sizes often have an even greater impact on
the average low stakes player and you should closely observe if any of your
opponents show exploitable changes in their game that are related to their
changed stack size.
One of the things you will see very often in low stakes games is that players
who lost a big pot early on in the game and have a stack of between 10-20
BB left, simply give up. They are of the impression that the only way they are
going to have a chance to get back in the game, is to just shove a lot with all
kinds of hands and hope for a double-up. Whenever a player like this is
sitting at your table, be prepared to iso-raise his shoves with a pretty wide
range. Usually a range like 9-9+/A-Js+ is good enough to call/iso his all-in,
if he has shown that he is shoving frequently with a very wide range.
Another thing you will regularly see in a low stakes game, is players with a
very big stack over-adjusting their style of play. Many low stakes players
who get a big stack feel that they need to completely run the table over and so
you will often see them raising almost any hand and also betting/bluffing at
almost any pot post-flop. Try to stay away from these kinds of players as
much as possible: certainly do not expect them to fold when you make a
standard pre-flop raise followed by a flop continuation bet, as you will often
be facing big overbets and large re-raises from players like this. Only enter
pots with these opponents when you have a very solid hand.
A lot of low stakes players will over-adjust to a small or a big stack.

Observe any changes in a player’s style closely and adjust accordingly.
Against short stacked players who have given up and start shoving very
frequently, be prepared to call or iso-raise their all-in with a wider range
than you normally would.
Stay away as much as possible from players with a big stack who are
trying to run the table over and win every single pot.
Exploiting Static Strategies

Many low stakes opponents play a static strategy. What that means, is that
they make the same plays over and over again, rarely mix things up, and don’t
easily adjust. For example, think of a loose-aggressive player who raises 90-
100% of buttons. Or a loose-passive player who calls continuation bets 80-
100% of the time.
Pay attention to the players at your table who are playing a static strategy.
Then exploit those players by making use of their repetitive tendencies. Your
opponent’s static strategies can either be in your favor or work against you.
Let’s look at both scenarios.
Favorable Static Strategies

Static strategies that work in your favor are the ones that you can easily
exploit to make extra chips. A good example of that is a weak-passive
opponent who plays a static “fit-fold” strategy: they always fold on the flop
when they miss, and call when they hit.
Opponents like these are easy to play against. Because a hand in Hold’em
misses the flop 2 out of 3 times, you can bet on every flop that looks
favorable and take down the pot, whether you have a hand or not. Because
these opponents never bluff, you can just give up if you have a weak hand and
they show interest in the pot.
One thing to bear in mind is that you should never overdo it when
exploiting your opponent’s static strategies. For example, if you always
make a bet on every single flop against your fit-fold opponent, even a very
inexperienced player will at some point realize that you’re getting out of line
and start to adjust. This is exactly what you don’t want to happen. You want
your opponent to keep playing a fit-fold strategy for you to exploit. If you
overdo it and he adjusts his strategy by starting to bluff-raise your flop bets,
you’re losing a lot of value in future hands.
Obviously, it’s hard to say exactly when your opponent is going to adjust and
how far you can go in exploiting his strategy. This is something you have to
guess based on your reads. Try to take maximum advantage of your
opponent’s static strategies, while making sure to not overdo it so as to
prevent your opponent from adjusting.
Unfavorable Static Strategies

A different scenario is where an opponent is playing a static strategy that can
cost you chips. For example, this could be an opponent to your direct right
who constantly raises your big blind when he is in the small blind. Contrary
to the previous example where we didn’t want our opponent to change his
tendencies, in this case we want our opponent to adjust his static strategy.
Here, we should exploit our opponent’s loose-aggressive tendencies by
playing back at him more often in position. Because he is frequently raising
us from the small blind, he is doing so with a wide range of hands. We can
take advantage of his weak hand range by 3-betting more often or defending
our blind by calling in position and taking a flop.
Note that even if we don’t pick up good hands in the big blind for some time,
we simply have to start playing back at our opponent. When he keeps raising
our big blind, it will cost us too many chips if we keep folding to him. Also,
our opponent is raising with a lot of weak hands himself, which means that
we should widen our own hand range to defend our big blind.
As mentioned, opponents who play a static strategy are reluctant to adjust.
This means we will probably have to defend our big blind multiple times to
try and modify our opponent’s strategy. It will take some time before he will
start to fold or limp more often from the small blind, realizing that you don’t
give up your big blind easily.
Also, don’t get discouraged when you 3-bet your opponent and you happen to
run into the top of his range. If he’s raising you frequently, he’s doing so with
a lot of weak hands. But he could still wake up with a big hand once you
decide to play back at him. Many players get discouraged when this happens
and will start folding their big blind in future hands. Don’t fall into this trap
and keep defending your big blind if necessary. If you don’t, you will lose a
lot of chips in future hands, now that your loose-aggressive opponent thinks
he can run you over.
Summary
We’ve covered a lot of ground so far in Part 2. Before we continue with the
next chapter on how to play all the stages of a low stakes SNG, let’s recap
the most important points:
The main weaknesses of low stakes opponents are that they call too
much, bluff too much, and play too many hands.
Do not assign your opponents a higher level of thinking than they
actually have.
Table image is not that important a factor in low stakes games.
Play tight-cautious: be tight in your pre-flop raises early on in the
game and proceed cautiously both pre- and post-flop.
Play looser early on in playing speculative hands when it’s cheap
and with good pot odds.
Respect the gap concept. Seeing many cheap flops with speculative
hands is a much better strategy to follow in a low stakes game than
calling raises with good hands, even when you can expect to be
ahead of your opponent’s raising range.
Do not always make a c-bet when you completely miss the flop.
The value of your hand goes up in a low stakes game.
Value bet relatively light. Value bet hard when you hit a big hand.
Call lighter than you perhaps normally would.
Play your hand fast and straightforward: slowplaying is something
you almost never want to do in a low stakes game.
Observe when opponents make a “promise to call”.
Adjust to and exploit opponents who over-adjust to a small or big
stack.
Take note of the players at your table who are playing a static
strategy and exploit their repetitive tendencies.
How to Play All the Stages of a Low Stakes
SNG
Low Blinds (10/20, 15/30)
The raising ranges described below are based on 6-max SnGs, but they can
also be used for 9-mans, because they are pretty tight. It’s important to note
that these ranges are not set in stone and serve only as a guideline. Specific
in-game circumstances can require a different approach.
Raising ranges
If no one has entered the pot before you, raise:
UTG and UTG+1: A-K, A-Qs, J-J+.
Cutoff: A-Js+, K-Qs+, 7-7+.
Button: A-8s+, A-To+, K-Jo+, 5-5+.
If there are limpers ahead of you, only raise with premium hands (A-K and J-
J+ when facing 1 limper. Q-Q+ when facing 2 limpers or more).
Facing a raise ahead of you, re-raise with Q-Q+. Depending on the pre-flop
raiser, call or re-raise with A-K, T-T, J-J.
In a low stakes game, you should generally be willing to get it all-in pre-flop
with A-K, Q-Q+ (and J-J against loose opponents) during low blinds, because
many low stakes opponents have a pre-flop all-in range that includes A-T, A-
J, A-Q, 7-7 to J-J.
As you’ve noticed, these raising ranges are quite tight. Playing tight during the
early blind levels by only raising your stronger hands pre-flop, is the right
strategy to take maximum advantage of the loose opponents you are generally
going to find in low stakes games. Obviously, you have to adjust and play
looser if there are weak-tight players at your table who fold a lot, but in
general playing tight is the way to go.
There is another important reason why you should be playing tight with regard
to your pre-flop raises and that is to keep yourself out of trouble.
If you decide to raise with marginal hands during the early stages of the game,
it can be difficult to get away from the hand once you flop something. This is
exactly how many low stakes players lose a lot of their chips early on in the
game.
For example, suppose you find yourself on the cutoff position with Q♦-T♦
during the 10/20 level with a stack of 1,500 chips. You decide to open for 60
chips, and the button and the big blind call (pot: 190 chips). The flop comes
down Q♠-9♣-5♦ and the big blind checks. With top pair, this is a pretty good
flop, so you decide to make a continuation bet of 100 chips. Both the button
and the big blind call (pot: 490 chips).
The turn brings the K♦. It’s an overcard to your pair of Queens, but you do
pick up a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. The big blind checks and you
decide to check as well. The button bets 300 chips and the big blind folds.
The button is pretty aggressive and you think that there is a good chance he
may be bluffing here. And even if he has you beat, you still have a pair as
well as a flush and straight draw. You decide to call 300 chips, making the pot
1,090 chips.
The river is the 3♠, making the board Q♠-9♣-5♦-K♦-3♠. You check and the
button makes a small bet of 300 chips into a pot of 1,090. The river card
doesn’t change much and you feel that there’s still a good chance your
opponent may be bluffing. The small bet looks a bit suspicious, but you’re
getting excellent pot odds of around 4.5-to-1. Besides, you’ve invested quite a
lot of chips already, so you feel you can’t fold to this small bet now. After
some deliberation you decide to call and your opponent tables K♠-Q♣ for top
two pair. You lose 760 chips, around half your stack.
You see this happening all the time in low stakes games. Players who raise
marginal hands like A-9o during the early stages of the game, flop an Ace and
then lose their entire stack to someone holding A-K or A-Q. Many players
simply can’t fold hands like this once they hit the flop.
Good players with a lot of experience and good post-flop skills, can get away
with playing looser during low blind levels. They are good hand readers and
are capable of sensing when they’re beat and when they should fold. Players
with less experience, however, are better off raising only their stronger hands
to keep themselves out of trouble. If you’re not capable of folding A-9o on an
Ace-high flop, you shouldn’t be playing those sorts of hands.
During low blind levels, only raise with your stronger hands. This will take
maximum advantage of your loose opponents who play with weak hand
ranges. Playing tight also keeps you out of trouble and prevents you from
losing a lot of chips with marginal hands.
Only play looser during the early stages if you can take advantage of weak-
tight players at your table, or if you have good post-flop skills that allow
you to get away from marginal made hands or draws.
Playing speculative hands

As we’ve seen in the previous chapter, you want to get involved with
speculative hands early on in the game when it’s cheap to play. Here are some
guidelines for playing speculative hands during low blind levels.
Play any pocket pair from any position. Only fold your small to
medium pocket pairs when table conditions are unfavorable (lots of
raises and re-raises pre-flop).
Limp behind with any pocket pair, any suited Ace, and most suited
Broadway cards.
If there are two or more limpers ahead of you, limp behind with any
pocket pair, suited Aces, K-8s+, good suited connectors (6-7s+), and
good Broadway cards (Q-J+).
If there is at least one limper ahead of you and because you get a
discounted price, complete the small blind liberally with around the
top 70% of hands. Only fold garbage hands that have no post-flop
potential, such as T-2o or 7-4o.
When facing a standard 3x raise with at least one caller ahead of you,
call with small to medium pocket pairs to try and flop a set now that
you get good pot odds.
Example Hand 10
Blinds: 15/30
CO: 3195 in chips
BTN: 1060 in chips
BB: 715 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***

Dealt to Hero [K♠-8♦]
CO: calls 30
BTN: folds
Hero: calls 15
BB: checks
*** FLOP *** [J♦-8♥-8♣]
Hero: bets 60
BB: folds
CO: folds
This seems like a pretty insignificant hand to include in this book. However, I
think it’s worthwhile to use this example, because many players automatically
fold a hand like K-8o in the small blind, thinking there’s not much point in
playing a marginal hand out of position during low blinds. However, getting
nice pot odds of 5:1, you should call very wide here. It’s not very likely that
you hit a hand like two pair or trips, but it doesn’t need to be likely either
when you’re risking such a small amount for such a large possible win. At the
low stakes, your implied odds are huge, so you need to get involved with
decent hands when it’s cheap to play.
In this hand, the unlikely event happens that I flop trips. As described in the
previous chapter, you should generally play your hands fast and
straightforward so I decide to lead out with a bet. Betting out is also the better
option than check-calling out of position, which is a really suspicious line.
The player in the cutoff is very loose-passive and I expect to get action from
him in many cases. By leading the flop, I hope to start building a pot against a
loose-passive opponent likely to call me with a wide range. In this hand,
however, he unfortunately folds to my flop bet.
Medium Blinds (25/50, 50/100)

25/50
At 25/50 play starts to change. It is, perhaps, the toughest blind level to play
because the blinds aren’t really small, but they aren’t really big either. So at
this level, pots are worth winning but, at the same time, they are not big
enough that you should take a lot of risk. This means you should start to get a
little more aggressive and open up your hand range, but still play pretty
tight and cautious.
At the 25/50 level, you should start stealing more in late position and reduce
the number of limping hands.
Make more steal raises versus players who have shown that they give up their
blinds easily. It’s important to tighten your steal range versus loose and
passive opponents who are likely to flat call often: you don’t want to build a
pot with a marginal hand against a loose-passive opponent. Good stealing
hands are J-Ts+, Q-J+, A-T+, 6-6+.
Open limping generally is not going to be all that profitable anymore.
However, with a decent stack, you can still open limp at a passive and fishy
table and you can limp behind with speculative hands. The smaller your
stack, however, the less often you should limp speculative hands as it
becomes too costly. After all, because ICM tells us that chips decline in
value the more you have of them, limping with a small stack means a much
greater equity investment than limping with a bigger stack. You have to be
more selective of the hands you’re limping with and generally refrain from
playing weaker speculative hands, such as small suited high cards and
(suited) connectors.
Be particularly aware that pot commitment can become an issue now. At the
25/50 level, the Stack to Pot Ratio is going to change, as pots are going to
be much larger in relation to stacks. You have to think ahead and consider the
size of the pot if you decide to call. For example, if you face a flop bet, you
have to think about the size of the pot on the turn and in what measure this will
commit you or your opponent to the pot. You can’t try and float the flop
anymore or call with some kind of a draw, because you might well face a
bigger turn bet that you can’t call from an opponent who is getting pot
committed.
At 25/50:
Become a little more aggressive and open your hand range.
Still play tight and proceed cautiously post-flop.
Make more steal raises in late position, especially against players
who often give up their blind.
Scale back limping.
Consider pot commitment and Stack to Pot Ratio.
The following hand is a good example of increased aggression, whilst still
playing cautiously post-flop.
Example Hand 11
Blinds: 25/50
UTG: Hero 1170 in chips
CO: 2052 in chips
BTN: 2450 in chips
SB: 1586 in chips
BB: 1742 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [9♦-9♠]
CO and BTN: fold
SB: calls 125
BB: folds
*** FLOP *** [A♥-8♥-A♣]
SB: bets 50
Hero: calls 50
*** TURN *** [A♥-8♥-A♣] [3♠]
SB: checks
Hero: checks
*** RIVER *** [A♥-8♥-A♣-3♠] [8♠]
SB: checks
Hero: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SB: shows [9♥-A♠] (a full house, Aces full of Eights)
Hero: mucks hand
SB collected 450 from pot
In this hand, I pick up 9-9 UTG. It’s not a hand that I want to limp here, as the
blinds are worth winning and there are also only 5 players left, which
increases the value of my 9-9. So I make a standard 3x raise to 150 and get
called by the small blind.
The flop of A-A-8 looks pretty decent for my 9-9, but then my opponent makes
a weird minbet of 50 into a 350 pot. I look at villain’s HUD stats and see that
he is very loose passive: he plays almost 50% of his hands, raises only 4% of
the time pre-flop, and has a very low aggression factor post-flop. His low
aggression factor is especially worrisome: when someone who usually only
checks and calls suddenly bets out, this represents some strength, even when it
is only a min-bet.
If I would have faced an aggressive opponent in this spot, I would definitely
consider a raise here: a player making a donk bet into the pre-flop raiser on a
board with two Aces just screams weakness. However, against this very
passive player, I think it’s actually quite likely he has an Ace so I have to play
my 9-9 very cautiously here. Getting pot odds of 8:1, I obviously can’t fold
my 9-9 straight away, so I call. Fortunately, my opponent checks both turn and
river and I happily check behind to find out my opponent indeed had the Ace.
50/100
With every blind increase, you should tweak your strategy and your ranges. At
each new level, become a bit more aggressive, loosen up your stealing
ranges and pre-flop hand requirements, and increase the amount of risk
you take because of the changing risk-reward ratio. In low stakes games, you
still have to play relatively tight and cautious if you’re under no pressure to
make moves yet.
At 50/100, you should not be open limping anymore: if your hand is worth
playing it is worth raising because the blinds are getting substantial now. With
a very big stack, it can still be acceptable to occasionally limp behind,
especially when you can get in a pot against weak players you can outplay
post-flop.
At 50/100 you should start making 2-2.5x raises. At this point opponents are
more likely to either raise or fold so making smaller raises will achieve the
same effect as a standard 3x raise but will be less costly in the long run. Still
be very careful in raising into loose-passive opponents and try to target your
steal raises as much as possible toward weak-tight opponents.
At 50/100 and higher, always decide how you’re going to respond to what
other players might do before you make your raise. Look at the stack sizes
behind you and size your raise accordingly: if you want to get off the hand if a
shorter stack behind you moves all-in, raise a little bit less pre-flop so as not
to pot commit yourself.
In low stakes games, you will frequently see players who are still limping at
50/100 and higher. If you see a player limping repeatedly during higher
blinds, you should attack this passivity relentlessly. If you have a stack of 10
BB or less, you should be willing to move all-in with any decent hand when
there is a limp by a “High-Blind Limper” ahead of you.
With every blind increase, tweak your strategy and ranges.
Do not open limp anymore as from 50/100.
Start making 2-2.5x raises.
Pay attention to effective stack sizes.
Decide how you’re going to respond to possible opponent moves
before you make your raise.
Attack the passivity of High-Blind Limpers.
High Blinds (75/150, 100/200 and higher)

When the blinds get this big, there will generally be less players at the table,
most with short stacks. Remember that with less players at the table, your
hand value goes up because the chances of someone being dealt a premium
hand will be smaller. If your stack is short and you are under pressure to make
a move, you have to take most opportunities where you can push as first
in. If you are deep stacked, target your steal raises at the weak-tight players
and play relatively tight-cautious when facing bad and loose opponents.
With 12 BB or more, you can re-steal all-in against an opponent’s steal
raise if he still has enough chips to fold. Do not make this play if you don’t
have any fold equity versus that player. Target your re-steals against players
who frequently make steal raises from late position. Against players stealing
frequently, you can re-steal with decent hands like 6-6+, A-Ts+, A-J+, K-Qs.
During high blinds, you should never allow yourself to blind out. You can’t
let your stack fall below the threshold where you don’t have any fold equity
anymore. This threshold varies according to game circumstances, i.e.
opponents’ stack sizes and playing styles. If you are at a table with big
stacked loose-passive players your fold equity threshold will be higher than at
a table with short stacked tight players.
Because you will usually be in a push/fold stage at these high blinds, it’s a
good idea to review these phases in the game with a program like SitNGo
Wizard to improve your end game.
With less players at the table, your hand value goes up.
If you are under pressure to make a move, take most opportunities you
get where you can push as first in.
With 12 BB or more, you can re-steal all-in against an opponent’s
steal raise.
Never allow yourself to get blinded out.
Push/Fold
When effective stack sizes are around 10 big blinds or less, you have
entered the push/fold stage of the tournament. This will usually happen
somewhere during medium and high blinds, but will sometimes also occur
already in the early stages of the game. With this stack size, there is no room
to play normal poker anymore and your options are either to push or fold.
Limping or making a smaller raise with an effective stack of 10 BB or less is
generally not going to be optimal.
As we have seen, the effective stack size is the maximum amount of chips you
can win or lose. So, to decide whether you’re in push/fold territory, take note
of not only your own stack size, but also that of your opponents. For example,
if you are sat on the button with 16 big blinds, the SB has 4 big blinds and the
BB has 7 big blinds, you are still in push/fold territory because the effective
stack sizes between you and your opponents are 4 and 7 big blinds
respectively. You should either push or fold in this spot and if you decide to
make a smaller raise, you should be committed for the rest of your opponent’s
chips.
Note that the “push at 10 BB rule” is a general one and can be stretched
in the right circumstances. For example, it’s perfectly fine to shove a pair of
9-9 on the button for 13 BBs when there are two loose players in the blinds
likely to flat call a smaller raise. Or, when you know your opponent in the big
blind is very aggressive and raises almost any limp from the small blind, then
limping K-K from the SB with a stack of around 10 BB is going to be more
optimal than pushing.
Averaging Stack Sizes

Effective stack sizes indicate whether you’re in push/fold territory, but they
aren’t the most useful when it comes to determining how many big blinds you
are shoving. Suppose you are on the button with 18 big blinds, the SB has 4
big blinds and the BB has 10 big blinds. Based on effective stack sizes, you
would treat this as a 10 BB shove. However, the presence of the short stack in
the SB isn’t properly accounted for now. If the SB calls, this does not hurt you
as much, which means you should be able to push with a wider range than you
would normally push for 10 BB.
To properly account for the presence of the short stacked SB, you have to
average the stack sizes of the opponents you are shoving into. In this spot, the
average stack size of your opponents is 4 + 10 / 2 = 7 BB. You can thus treat
this spot as a 7 BB shove rather than a 10 BB shove. Averaging stack sizes
allows you to make better and more accurate push/fold decisions.
When faced with a decision to push or fold, average the stack sizes of the
opponents you are shoving into, to determine how many big blinds you are
effectively shoving.
Accounting for the Ante: True Big Blinds

Many players underestimate, or even ignore, the effect antes have on their
push/fold decisions. The effect of antes is very significant, however, so make
sure you understand their impact. Antes require you to push wider. This is
because they not only sweeten the pre-flop pot but they also make your stack
dwindle faster.
A good concept to use that takes account of the effect of the ante is that of true
big blinds. You can calculate the true big blind by adding 2/3rd of the total
amount of antes to the big blind. Suppose you find yourself in a Sit ’n Go
with 6 players left, a stack of 2,000 chips, blinds at 100/200, and an ante of
25. The total amount of antes in the pot is 6 x 25 = 150. Taking 2/3rd of 150 =
100. So the true big blind in this situation is 200 + 100 = 300.
Your stack size in true big blinds now is 2,000 / 300 = 6.66 BB and you
should base your push/fold decision on that number. This is quite a bit less
than the 10 BB you may have thought you had, without looking at the antes. Do
you see how big the influence of antes can be?
To properly account for the antes, use true big blinds to determine how
many big blinds you and your opponents have left. Calculate the true big
blind by adding 2/3rd of the total amount of antes to the big blind.
Bubble
As we have seen, the influence of ICM is largest on the bubble. Because of
ICM, you should shy away from all-in confrontations when you are only a
marginal favorite. You need a very big edge to call an all-in on the bubble,
unless you are short-stacked with a strong hand, in which case you need to
call to avoid getting blinded out. Because ICM dictates that opponents can
only profitably call with very few hands, you can aggress with a wider range
of hands. During bubble play, you should often play the situation, stack sizes,
and opponents rather than your cards.
Your stack size should determine your bubble strategy:
Big stack: if you have a big stack, you should play very aggressively. If there
is a short stack at the table, you can put a lot of pressure on the medium
stack(s), using the short stack as leverage.
Medium stack: stay away from the big stacks as much as possible. If you do
play a hand with a big stack, try to keep the pot small and only play for a big
pot when you have a huge edge. Play aggressively toward the shorter stacks.
Short stack: Avoid getting blinded out and look for good spots to shove all-
in. Try to target the players who are closest to you in chips as much as
possible as they are your closest competitors. ICM dictates that the more
chips you have, the less they are worth individually, which means the chips
you can win in an all-in confrontation against the big stack are not worth
nearly as much as the chips you can win from a medium or short stack. If you
win an all-in against another short stack, you will bust or severely cripple
him, whereas a big stack will still be comfortably in the game once you
double up through him.
When compared to standard bubble strategy, your bubble play on the low
stakes should be on the cautious/conservative side. This is for the following
reasons:
Your opponents have little or no knowledge of ICM.
Opponents will frequently make significant mistakes on the bubble,
such as the big stacks butting heads against each other when there are
short stack(s) at the table.
Because you have a big skill edge over your opponents, you do not
need to take every small edge ICM suggests you take.
This means that if you are the:
Big stack: you should still be aggressive, but you should not try to constantly
bully the table and “own the bubble” as you would do in a higher stakes game.
Pay particular attention to game flow: if you have been shoving frequently,
you can expect to get called very light. Many low stakes opponents hate to be
pushed around and don’t realize that ICM means that they should let
themselves be pushed around by the big stack. If you push too frequently,
opponents will make calls that are very bad ICM-wise (for example, the
medium stack calling your shove with a marginal hand when the short stack(s)
already folded). This will not only hurt his equity but also your own. This
leads us to a crucial observation on low stakes bubble play:
Do not (frequently) make ICM-based plays versus opponents who do not

understand ICM.
Medium stack: you have to be slightly more conservative in picking a lot on

the smaller stacks, especially when they are loose-passive. Be very
aggressive if you are up against shorter stacks who are weak-tight and risk-
averse.
Small stack: still look for good spots to shove your chips in. You should be a
little more conservative than usual because opponents’ calling ranges on the
low stakes are often wider than average and because bigger stacked
opponents may make mistakes. However, this should not let you break the
cardinal rule of high blind/bubble play: never allow yourself to get blinded
out.
Low stakes bubble strategy involves pushing a little tighter than normal,
because calling ranges of opponents tend to be wider than average. You also
should not shove too frequently, as opponents are likely to make bad ICM-
calls just to make a stand when they feel they are being bullied. Another
reason to not shove too wide and too frequently, is that many low stakes
players actually prefer to call an all-in rather than to play the hand post-
flop. They are often very unsure about post-flop play, which means they’d
rather call an all-in and gamble for all their chips than having to make difficult
post-flop decisions. This means that you should mix up your shoves with
smaller raises, stabs and limp-leads (limping pre-flop and betting the flop),
which appear much more threatening to the average low stakes player.
Given your skill edge, you should not take every +EV spot you can get
your hands on. If you have a significant skill edge over your opponents, you
can gain a lot of equity in future hands, which means you should stay away
from marginal spots and wait for better ones. On the other hand, if you are in a
very tough game with highly skilled players, you want to take every possible
+EV spot, because there aren’t going to be many good spots in future hands. In
a low stakes game, however, you should be looking to maximize your overall
equity rather than your equity in every hand.
Let’s consider the following example hand from SitNGo Wizard on the bubble
of a 6-max SNG. Wizard suggests to shove here with 100% of hands for
obvious reasons: the big blind can only profitably call with a very tight range
now that the shorter stacked player on the button folded so it’s a good spot to
do some serious bubble owning. However, as you can see from the
screenshot, the difference between your equity when you push all-in and your
equity when you fold is only 0.21%. In a low stakes game, you should not take
these small edges as you can expect better spots to come up in future hands. In
this spot, you would either fold or go for a limp-lead in a low stakes game.
On the bubble:
When compared to standard bubble strategy, your bubble play on the
low stakes should be on the cautious/conservative side.
Do not (frequently) make ICM-based plays versus opponents who do
not understand ICM.
Shove a little tighter than you normally would.
Do not shove too frequently.
Mix up your shoves with smaller raises, stabs and limp-leads.
Stay away from marginal +EV spots, when your skill edge will let
you gain a lot of equity in future hands.
The following two hands are good examples of some of the bubble mistakes
that are frequently made in low stakes games. It is mistakes like these that
mean your bubble strategy should be on the cautious/conservative side.
However, it’s important to state once again that you should never play so
cautiously/conservatively that you allow yourself to get blinded out.
Example Hand 12
Blinds: 25/50
BTN: 818 in chips
BB: 2102 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [6♣-5♠]
BTN: folds
Hero: calls 25
BB: checks
*** FLOP *** [8♣-7♦-A♠]
Hero: bets 75
BB: calls 75
*** TURN *** [8♣-7♦-A♠] [9♠]
Hero: bets 200
BB: raises 1777 to 1977 and is all-in
Hero: calls 1777
*** RIVER *** [8♣-7♦-A♠-9♠] [4♥]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [6♣-5♠] (a straight, Five to Nine)
BB: shows [7♠-9♦] (two pair, Nines and Sevens)
BB finished the tournament in 3rd place
Hero finds himself as chip leader on the bubble of a 6-max SNG against two
enormous fish. The big blind is loose-passive and the button is loose-
aggressive: both players play around 50% of their hands.
When the shortest stack folds on the button, I’m happy to limp my 5-6o blind
vs. blind. It is a nice connected hand and I will be able to take the pot down
frequently post-flop anyway, because according to ICM the medium stack
should not be looking to get involved with the big stack now that the short
stack folded. This is especially so considering the fact that the big blind
(2,102 chips) has a much bigger stack than the button (818 chips). This means
Villain should stay away from me as much as possible and proceed very
cautiously and conservatively when he is in a pot with me.
When he checks behind pre-flop, I lead out for 75 chips on an 8-7-A flop. It’s
a perfect flop to go for the limp-lead: he’s unlikely to have an Ace as he
checked behind pre-flop, so my bet will frequently pick up the pot right away.
If he does decide to call my flop bet, the semi-bluff I make with my open
ended straight draw serves to build the pot in case I hit my well-disguised
straight. Villain elects to call.
The turn brings a 9, completing my straight. I only lose to T-J at this point, so I
lead out with 200 into a 250 pot with the second nuts, after which Villain re-
shoves 1,977 chips. I call and eliminate Villain, who holds two pair.
From an ICM perspective, Villain made a huge error in this hand. Before this
hand, Villain had a significant lead on the short stack of 2,102 vs. 818 chips.
According to ICM, he should be extremely careful when playing a pot against
chip leader Hero. However, he decides to stack off with two pair versus a
straight and lets the short stack float in the money.
His re-shove on the turn is pretty terrible; he is risking 1,977 chips to possibly
gain only 450 chips (quite a bad risk-reward ratio) and when he re-shoves
I’m only going to call with a better hand. He can only hope that I call with an
Ace, but because I didn’t raise pre-flop it’s not too likely that I have one. So
the only hands I’m going to call with here have his hand completely crushed
and I will fold all the hands he is beating. It’s also not very likely I would
hold two spades and just turned a flush draw, so he also shouldn’t be shoving
to protect his hand. In other words, his re-shove doesn’t serve any purpose as
it can’t be for protection or value and it’s not a bluff either.
The biggest error Villain made here, however, was that he disregarded ICM
and mistakenly got involved in a huge pot for all his chips against the big
stack when the shortest stack he had covered almost 3 times already folded
pre-flop.
Example hand 13
Blinds: 50/100
BTN: 6205 in chips
BB: 1790 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***

Dealt to Hero [8♥-2♠]
BTN: calls 100
Hero: folds
BB: checks
*** FLOP *** [5♣-2♥-3♣]
BB: bets 200
BB: calls 400
*** TURN *** [5♣-2♥-3♣] [T♣]
BB: bets 1090 and is all-in
BTN: calls 1090
*** RIVER *** [5♣-2♥-3♣-T♣] [J♥]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB: shows [K♣-6♠] (high card King)
BTN: shows [9♠-9♥] (a pair of Nines)
BTN collected 3630 from pot
BB finished the tournament in 3rd place
On the bubble of this SNG, the loose-passive button limps in for 100 chips.
Hero folds his 8-2o on the SB, leaving himself with 955 chips. The big blind
(a poor and loose-aggressive opponent) has 1,690 chips left after posting and
should proceed very cautiously in this hand, considering his chip lead over
Hero.
However, for some reason, BB decides to lead out with a strong bet of 200
into a 250 chips pot when he flops a gutshot straight draw with his K-6, after
which the button raises to 600. At this point, the BB should be done with the
hand. His strong flop bet was already debatable but now that his passive
opponent raises, he should definitely know he is beat and get away from the
hand. The BB decides to call with his draw, which effectively pot commits
him at this point. When he picks up a flush draw to boot on the turn, he ships it
in and gets snap called by the button’s pocket 9’s.
Before the hand started, the BB had 1,690 chips or 16.9 BB’s left, whereas
Hero had only 955 or 9.55 BB’s left. The player in the big blind disregards
ICM and commits all his chips on a draw versus a loose-passive big stack,
letting Hero float in the money.
Heads-Up
Because of the significant prize jump from 2nd to 1st place, it is essential to
have good heads-up skills. This section will address some key elements of
good heads-up strategy and will outline how to play against different types of
opponents. If you want to learn more about heads-up, then check out Crushing
Low Stakes Poker Volume 2, which focuses entirely on heads-up play.
First of all, it should be noted that ICM doesn’t play a role anymore in
heads-up play. This is because both players are guaranteed 2nd place and are
only playing for the extra prize money for getting 1st. This means that you can
approach heads-up play as a cash game, so you should seize any edge:
positive expectation in chips is now also positive expectation in $.
The two key components of good heads-up play are aggression and
position.
You should always play aggressively heads-up. You only hit the flop 1 in 3
times with an unpaired hand, so most flops miss most hands. In most cases,
no one has a real hand, so the player taking aggressive action will usually win
the pot. Also, hitting the flop usually gives you the best hand heads-up,
which means you should play hands like middle pair aggressively. Strong
combo-draws (such as a straight + flush draw and 1 overcard) should also be
played very aggressively.
Position is crucial heads-up. In fact, position is more important in heads-up
play than in any other situation in Hold’em. First of all, when you play heads-
up, you know for sure you will always be in position on the button and out of
position on the big blind. At a full table, however, most pre-flop raises are
made in a situation where you don’t have certainty about your position post-
flop. For example, if you raise with 5 players left to act behind you, you will
have great position post-flop if only the blinds call but if you get called by the
cutoff and the button, you will have pretty bad position. Secondly, in heads-up
play, both players usually have random hands that are close together in value,
which gives the player last to act a huge edge in the hand.
Consequently, in heads-up play you should be looking to play as many hands
as you can when you’re in position and as few hands as possible when
you’re out of position. On the button, you get 3:1 pot odds to call and
considering that even 3-2o is only a little worse than a 2.1:1 underdog against
a random hand, you can actually profitably call with any two cards on the
button. So when you’re on the button heads-up, you should raise and at least
call with any two cards, unless, of course, your opponent frequently raises
your button limps or 3-bets your button raises, in which case you need to
adjust.
It’s also important to note that any pair is a big hand heads-up. There are
1,326 possible starting hands in Hold’em, of which there are 78 pairs. This
means that the chance of being dealt a pocket pair is only 78/1,326 = 5.9% or
once in every 17 hands. When you are dealt a pocket pair, the odds of your
opponent having a higher pocket pair are slim. When you hold 2-2, for
example, the odds of your opponent having a higher pair are 6% or once every
17 hands. And with a pair of 8-8, the odds of your opponent having a higher
pair are down to only 2.9% or once every 34 hands. This means that you
should play your pocket pairs strongly heads-up, as you are usually a favorite
against your opponent’s most likely unpaired hand. When you’re in the big
blind, you can re-steal all-in pre-flop with all pocket pairs when the effective
stack size is 20 BB or less.
Finally, you should adjust your heads-up strategy to the type of opponent
you’re playing against:
Weak tight-passive: raise your stronger hands and limp your marginal hands
from the button. Fold to most raises and bets when you don’t have a good hand
or a strong draw; coming from a weak tight-passive player, any aggressive
action indicates great strength. Make frequent stabs, even when you
completely missed the flop, as these opponents will often fold when they
missed. Against an opponent like this, your goal is to see many flops and
slowly grind him down.
Loose-passive: Bet for value relentlessly if you hit the flop and raise pre-flop
for value with your good hands. Against calling stations like this, simply
check-fold when you completely miss. Aggressive action on the part of a
loose-passive player signals strength.
Tight-aggressive: Play aggressively and raise frequently from the button,
because your TAG opponent doesn’t like playing out of position. Try to find
any possible tells and leaks in his game and exploit those.
Loose-aggressive: Against hyper-aggressive opponents, a heads-up usually
results in a pushing war. Wait for a good spot to get your chips in. If your
opponent is pushing very often, widen your calling range.
Example hand 14
Game: $7 HU hyper turbo
Blinds: 20/40
BTN: 400 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [8♣-5♣]
BTN: calls 20
Hero: checks
*** FLOP *** [8♠-4♠-J♥]
Hero: checks
BTN: checks
*** TURN *** [8♠-4♠-J♥] [T♥]
Hero: bets 50
BTN: calls 50
*** RIVER *** [8♠-4♠-J♥-T♥] [3♦]
Hero: checks
BTN: bets 120
Hero: calls 120
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BTN: shows [5♥-7♠] (high card Jack)
Hero: shows [8♣-5♣] (a pair of Eights)
In this heads-up hyper turbo, I face an opponent I haven’t played before.
Against unknown opponents, it’s a matter of trying to discover some possible
tendencies and characteristics as quickly as you can (especially in a hyper
turbo). Any information that you do get is, of course, not completely accurate
because it is based on only a small sample of hands. However, you have to go
with what you know; little information is better than no information at all.
What I have picked up from my opponent so far is that is he displays
controlled aggression. He mixes up his play from the button with limps and
minraises, appearing to limp his weaker hands and minraise his stronger
hands. Post-flop, he seems to call down with draws and weak pairs, whereas
he seems to play his stronger hands more aggressively by betting and raising.
When he limps pre-flop, I perceive his range to be weak, as he tends to
minraise his stronger hands. My 8♣-5♣, however, is too weak to throw in a
raise for value. I could consider a bluff raise to attack his likely weak range
but I believe my pre-flop fold equity is slim. I raised one of his button limps a
couple hands earlier, after which he flatted in position. Playing it safe, I elect
to check behind.
The flop comes down 8♠-4♠-J♥. With second pair, I flop a decently strong
hand but my kicker isn’t great. My hand may be best here but I decide to check
and see what he does first. If he bets this flop, I could be beat by a better 8 or
a Jack. In that case, I can call once depending on his sizing and then evaluate
the turn. If he checks behind here, I am quite sure that my hand is good as this
opponent likes to play his weak pairs and draws passively and bet his
stronger hands.
Villain checks behind on the flop and the turn brings the T♥. Given pre-flop
and flop action I believe my hand is good here. The Ten is a bit of a scare
card as it is definitely included in his range. However, pre-flop, I expect him
to raise T-J+ so that narrows his T-x range a bit. Also, the odds of pairing up
by hitting a 3-outer on the turn are 6% so I shouldn’t be too concerned yet. I
should bet the turn here for both value and protection: there are two hearts and
two spades out now as well as multiple straight draws. This opponent likes to
call his draws so I get value from any heart or spade draw as well as from the
possible straight draws in his hand range, like 5-6, 5-7, 6-7, and 9-x. Villain
likes to call down weak pairs so I get value from his 4-x hands too. I bet 50
chips and he calls.
The river 3♦ is a harmless card: all the straight and flush draws missed. My
best play here is to check with the intention of inducing a bluff. This is
because there are a lot more hands in his range that he will bet with himself
rather than call a bet with. If I bet here, he will most often call with a hand
that beats me. I can really only get value from his 4-x hands but he probably
won’t call two streets with such a weak hand anyway. He will fold out all his
busted draws when I bet, so the best option for me is to check and induce a
bluff. At this point, the scenario is pretty much perfect for a bluff. The pot is
180 chips and he has 310 chips behind: a great spot for him to try and bluff to
pick up a much needed pot. He bets 120 chips on the river and my pair of
eights beat his busted gutshot straight draw.
Example hand 15
Blinds: 10/20
BB: 520 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [K♥-4♠]
BB: calls 20
*** FLOP *** [J♥-K♦-5♥]
BB: checks
Hero: bets 40
BB: calls 40
*** TURN *** [J♥-K♦-5♥] [K♣]
BB: checks
Hero: bets 90
BB: calls 90
*** RIVER *** [J♥-K♦-5♥-K♣] [3♣]
BB: checks
Hero: bets 120
BB: calls 120
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [K♥-4♠] (three of a kind, Kings)
BB: mucks hand
In this HU hyper turbo match I face a loose-passive opponent. Villain likes to
limp from the button and from the big blind he flat calls raises close to 70% of
the time and doesn’t 3-bet. Post-flop he doesn’t bet or raise much and usually
just calls down a lot.
You have to be more picky of the hands you open from the button against a
loose-passive opponent. Absolute rags aren’t worth opening against an
opponent who calls often pre-flop and is used to calling down post-flop too.
K-4o, however, is more than good enough to open here. A King-high hand HU
is usually best and against a passive opponent this is a standard raise for
value.
I hit the flop hard with top pair. The flop is relatively wet though with two
hearts and a possible straight draw out there. Against a passive opponent like
this, it’s time to start building a pot. He will likely call down with any pair,
flush draw, or straight draw. I fire a standard 50% flop c-bet and Villain calls.
When I hit trips on the turn, I hit the board so hard that my opponent’s hand
must have very little equity now. Given there are three Kings out of the deck
already, the odds of him holding the last one are very slim. As far as made
hands go, the best he may have here is a pair of Jacks, fives, or a low pocket
pair. Considering his passive tendencies, it’s not at all unlikely that he holds a
hand like A-x and flush and straight draws are in his range as well. Because
he probably doesn’t have much of anything here I can’t bet too much as even a
passive opponent will fold if the price is too high. After all, stacks in a hyper
turbo are very shallow to begin with so even relatively small bets are costly. I
bet 90 chips into a pot of 160 and he calls.
The river is the 3♣ and the straight and flush draws miss. When he checks,
I’m faced with a difficult decision how much to bet. My job here is to target
my bet sizing as accurately as possible to his potential calling range. His
missed draws can be discarded; he will fold those no matter what I bet. If he
has a pair of Jacks, I’m pretty sure he will call off if I shove my last 310 chips
in this 340 pot. However, if he has an Ace-high hand or a pair of fives, I don’t
think Villain will call a shove. With such a weak hand, even a passive
opponent can find a fold when he has to call off his last chips. Therefore, I
decide to make a smaller bet of 120 chips as a middle ground, thereby
targeting his overall calling range of a pair of Jacks, a pair of fives, and Ace-
high. I will lose value when he has a Jack but I increase my overall odds of
getting called in this spot. And if I do get a call here, these 120 chips will
give me a dominating lead and cripple my opponent. Villain calls my river bet
holding 8♠-5♠ for a pair of 5’s, a hand he likely would have folded had I
shoved the river.
Example hand 16
Game: $7 HU non-turbo
Blinds: 10/20
BB: 1490 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [5♠-6♠]
Hero: calls 10
BB: checks
*** FLOP *** [5♣-5♦-9♦]
BB: checks
Hero: bets 30
BB: raises 30 to 60
BB: raises 140 to 340
BB: calls 1130 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [5♣-5♦-9♦] [8♥]
*** RIVER *** [5♣-5♦-9♦-8♥] [7♥]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB: shows [Q♣-9♣] (two pair, Nines and Fives)
Hero: shows [5♠-6♠] (a straight, Five to Nine)
BB finished the tournament in 2nd place
Even though this match is only a few hands old, I can already conclude that my
opponent is very loose-passive. He has limped all his buttons so far, doesn’t
take any aggressive action post-flop, and just sticks to checking and calling.
A hand like 5-6s is a perfectly fine hand to raise from the button against many
other types of opponents. A hand like this benefits from its pre-flop fold
equity against opponents who realize that they shouldn’t call too loosely out of
position. And if your opponent does call, you have initiative in the hand and
can often take down the pot with a continuation bet. A hand like 5-6s has a
nice double value; you can represent high card flops such as A-x-x and K-x-x
and follow up with a continuation bet. And if you hit a low card flop or pick
up a straight or flush draw, your opponent often won’t believe you’ve hit that
flop as he may put you on a stronger hand range. Against a loose-passive
opponent, however, this logic fails. These opponents will usually call your
pre-flop raise with just about any two cards. Because 5-6s doesn’t beat a
whole lot, you are often building a pot with the weakest hand and post-flop,
you will rarely be able to take down the pot with a continuation bet. Loose-
passive opponents will often simply call off bets post-flop, even when they
have a very weak hand.
So given that you have very little pre-flop or post-flop fold equity against a
loose-passive opponent, you only want to raise hands that are well ahead of
your opponent’s calling range. A hand like 5-6s is too weak to raise for value
but it’s a perfect hand to open limp with. After all, implied odds are huge
against a loose-passive opponent and you can expect to often win a good
amount of chips when your speculative hand connects with a flop. Moreover,
you don’t really have to worry about getting raised off your hand because a
loose-passive opponent will check behind almost by default. A very loose-
passive opponent will even check behind strong hands like J-J+ and A-K.
The flop is as good as it can get for my hand; I hit trips and the only draws out
there are a gutshot and a flush draw. My opponent can’t have a lot here. My 6
blocks some of his gutshots and the three 5’s that are already out significantly
reduce the number of 5-x combinations he can have. Even though Villain
probably doesn’t have much here, I still need to bet this flop. The pot is only
40 chips and if I want to build a bit of a pot, I need to start building it right
now. Moreover, a very loose-passive opponent like this simply doesn’t like to
fold and will frequently call you down with just about anything.
I bet 30 chips and to my surprise, Villain min check-raises me to 60 chips.
Coming from a loose-passive opponent like this, who normally just checks
and calls, a check-raise indicates great strength. I feel he will never take such
a strong line with a draw so I’m almost positive he has top pair here. He
could potentially have T-T+ as well because he is the type of player that is
capable of checking behind pre-flop with big pairs.
My only concern here is how to extract most value. If he has a hand like 9-T
or J-9, any overcards hitting the turn could kill the action, so I want to get as
many chips in the pot as possible. Shoving is an option, but the pot is only 130
chips and Villain still has 1,410 chips behind. Even though he is loose-
passive, I feel a shove for his whole stack will probably make him fold weak
top pairs 9-2 to 9-8. I want to keep those weaker top pairs in his range so I
decide to make a sizeable re-raise to 200. When my opponent raises me again,
I know he isn’t going to fold and I go all-in to see my hand hold versus his Q-
9. He would have called with this hand had I shoved over his min check-
raise, but by making a smaller re-raise, I kept his weaker top pairs in to get
maximum value against his entire range.
Example hand 17
Blinds: 10/20
BTN: 560 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [J♥-J♠]
BTN: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [5♦-2♣-K♥]
Hero: bets 120
BTN: calls 120
*** TURN *** [5♦-2♣-K♥] [5♠]
Hero: bets 70
Hero: calls 150 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [5♦-2♣-K♥-5♠] [3♣]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [J♥ J♠] (two pair, Jacks and Fives)
BTN: shows [Q♦ 3♦] (two pair, Fives and Threes)
In this match I’m playing a loose-aggressive opponent. He is betting and
raising frequently and appears to be tilting a bit too. You have to be patient
and wait for your chances to get it in with a quality hand against this type of
opponent.
In this interesting hand, game flow plays a crucial role. In the previous hand I
minraised from the button, after which he 3-bet and I folded. In the very next
hand, I pick up a pair of Jacks in the big blind, a perfect spot to 3-bet against
this type of opponent. He will likely perceive my 3-bet as a frustration raise
trying “to get even” for the previous hand. By 3-betting here, I thus send a
clear signal of weakness to my opponent. I know that a loose-aggressive
player like this will take any opportunity he can to bluff me off the pot if he
thinks I’m weak. Villain calls and we go the flop.
The flop is a good one for my hand. It’s relatively dry with no immediate flush
or straight draw possibilities and there’s only one overcard to my pair of
Jacks. I decide to make a decently sized continuation bet of 120 chips into
200, for two reasons. First of all, I need to protect my hand versus an
overcard Queen or Ace. Secondly, by betting over half pot here, I continue my
story of weakness. My 3-bet pre-flop was a frustration raise and now I’m
making a relatively strong bet, hoping to take the pot down on the flop with a
weak hand. I expect my opponent to often make a play here by raising or
shoving. In that sense, his flat call on the flop is slightly worrying as a King is
definitely in his range. However, given how loose-aggressive he is, his
opening range from the button is very wide and close to any two cards. His
pre-flop call didn’t really reduce his hand range all that much given how he
likely perceived my 3-bet as weakness. That means that, all in all, a King still
makes up only a small part of his wide hand range.
The turn is a harmless 5. The odds of him turning trips here are slim now that
only two fives remain in the deck. The turn also doesn’t bring any flush or
straight draws. The only hand I should be worried about now is K-x. If he’s
holding a Queen or Ace, he is drawing slim with only one card to come. I
continue my story on the turn by betting small: only 70 chips into a pot of 440
chips. In my opponent’s perception, my pre-flop 3-bet was weak and so was
my relatively strong c-bet on the flop, where I was hoping to just take the pot
down. Now that my opponent called two times, I’m basically done with my
weak hand and I make a small bet on the turn hoping to take it down and ready
to fold if my opponent raises. The story I’m telling is a convincing one. My
opponent bluff-shoves with Queen-high and I pick up a huge pot.
Example hand 18
Game: €7 HU non-turbo
Blinds: 10/20
BB: Villain 1820 in chips
*** PRE-FLOP ***
Dealt to Hero [3♣-A♠]
BB: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [K♦-3♠-8♠]
BB: checks
Hero: bets 60
BB: raises 120 to 180
Hero: calls 120
*** TURN *** [K♦-3♠-8♠] [A♥]
BB: bets 264
Hero: calls 264
*** RIVER *** [K♦-3♠-8♠-A♥] [4♠]
BB: bets 937
Hero: calls 676 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB: shows [T♦-Q♣] (high card Ace)
Hero: shows [3♣-A♠] (two pair, Aces and Threes)
In this €7 HU non-turbo SNG, I’m up against a loose and ultra-aggressive
opponent. I have never played this opponent before so I start the match
readless. This is a non-turbo SNG, however, meaning I have enough time to
figure out how Villain plays.
My HUD tells me Villain’s open raise percentage from the button is 95%, so
he is opening close to any two cards. Out of position, he is very active too; he
calls 23% of hands and 3-bets 39% of hands. Post-flop, he displays extreme
aggression; his post-flop aggression factor is a whopping 12 and what’s
interesting is that his check-raise% is 100%. Obviously, this is only over a
small sample of hands but it’s telling that of the 3 opportunities he had to
check-raise me, he took all of them.
Against an ultra-aggressive opponent like this, you have to be patient. Wait for
a good spot to get your chips in and let your opponent hang himself by betting
and bluffing his weak hands. You also have to be selective of the hands you
open on the button. If you open very marginal hands, this opponent will
frequently put you to the test post-flop with check-raises and bluffs. Opening
subpar hands from the button will put you in a lot of difficult spots post-flop
and you will quickly bleed chips this way. Suited and connected hands go up
in value considerably against an opponent such as this one because your
implied odds are tremendous. If you connect strongly post-flop, this opponent
will pay you off by bluffing his air or by investing a lot of chips with a
marginal hand.
The A♠-3♣ I’m dealt on the button isn’t the greatest hand to open because it
doesn’t really play well after the flop. However, an Ace heads-up is usually
the best hand and you want to raise your stronger hands for value against this
type of opponent. Villain flats my pre-flop raise and checks to me on a flop of
K♦-3♠-8♠. I have bottom pair with an Ace kicker as well as a backdoor Ace-
high flush draw, so I feel my hand is strong enough to continuation bet half pot.
Villain now check-raises my 60 chips c-bet to 180 chips. This is the third time
in a row he check-raises me, so I give very little credit to his check-raise.
When I flat here, I know that I will be in a difficult spot on the turn and river
as this opponent is likely to keep firing at the pot. However, given his likely
weak hand range and the equity of my hand, I have to call here. I also think a
King makes up only a very small part of his range because I feel he will 3-bet
most Kings pre-flop, based on his high 3-bet%.
The turn brings the A♥, giving me two pair and Villain bets 264 into 480.
With two pair, I basically have this hand locked up. I put my opponent on a
very weak range so my best play is to just flat call and let him continue
bluffing. I do give him a free river card, in case he has a flush draw or a
gutshot straight draw but those hands have little drawing equity with one card
to come and are only a small part of his wide hand range anyway.
The river brings the 4♠ and he quickly puts me all-in. The river does bring the
third spade on board but I have the Ace of spades, making it a little less likely
he has a flush. Moreover, his almost instant bet on the river leads me to
believe he has total air. If he actually had a flush, he would probably take his
time on the river, trying to figure out how he could extract most value. Now
that he very quickly bets this river without thinking, I know he probably made
up his mind on the turn to shove any river card. By betting so quickly, my
opponent wants me to think that he’s really strong because he doesn’t have to
think about his decision. This timing tell, however, is a strong indication he is
actually very weak. So I call off his river bet and he tables total air with Q-
To. Villain actually did pick up a gutshot on the turn but with only 8% to hit on
the river, he was drawing very slim.
Part 3:
Increasing Your Profits

Introduction
In Part 1 and 2, we’ve discussed the fundamentals of Sit ’n Gos and the
various aspects of low stakes strategy. What we’ve covered so far, provides
a solid basis to do well in low stakes Sit ’n Gos.
In Part 3, we will take it one step further. This Part is all about increasing
your profits. We will look at various ideas and tools that will help you go the
extra mile and level up your game as well as your results. In particular, we’ll
cover:
Table selection
Dealing with tilt
Poker tools and sites
You will also find training videos in Part 3, as well as a link to sign up to
KickstartPoker.com’s free Sit ’n Go course. Lots of interesting stuff, so let’s
get started!
Table Selection
To maximize long-term expectation and profit, it is very important to table
select and play games that have as many bad players (over whom you have a
significant skill edge) in them as possible.
Even though the majority of opponents in low stakes games will be weak and
inexperienced, I would still advise to also practice good table selection on
the low stakes. Table selection will always have a positive effect on your
win rate and it will also reduce variance. The higher the stakes you play,
the better the average opponent will be and the more important table
selection becomes.
On a table with 9 players of exactly equal skill, everyone will have
a negative expected value equal to the rake. So when those equally
skilled players would play a $10+$1 Sit ’n Go, every player would
have an expectation of -$1. To beat the rake, you need a bigger
skill edge than you might think for a game to be profitable.
The less players are at your table, the more important table
selection becomes. When you play a heads-up match against an
excellent player, this will be disastrous for your expected value in
that game. When that same excellent player is at your 9-handed table,
however, he won’t have the same dramatic impact on your expected
value.
Your table selection standards should be stricter in speed games.
In faster game formats, the luck factor increases and the skill factor
decreases. This means that you should practice stricter table
selection for speed games to maximize win rate and reduce variance.
So, ideally, you’re looking to play softer games when you play hyper
turbos or turbos than when you play regular speed games.
Break-even players are not as good for your win rate as a lot of
people think they are. Break-even players, are in fact, winning
players because of the rake: on average they win a percentage from
the prize pool that is about equal to the rake. Many players think that
games with a lot of break-even players in them are very juicy, but
those break-even players hurt your Return On Investment (ROI) more
than you might think.
Practice active table selection: registering first is not enough
and you have to be prepared to unregister again when a bunch of
good players join behind you. Some regulars believe that all good
players have a responsibility in table selecting and that they should
not have to monitor the lobby anymore when they register first. Don’t
count on other regulars exercising the same standards of table
selection though. When you register first, still keep an eye on the
lobby and if a bunch of good players join behind you, don’t hesitate
to hit that unregister button. It will only hurt your ROI if you are not
prepared to unregister from tough games.
Judging Other Players’ Skill Levels

When table selecting, you need to judge the skill levels of your opponents by
using a tracking website to check their past results. The best tracking website
with the most complete database of poker tournament results is
SharkScope.com. On SharkScope, you get 5 free searches a day. If you would
like to perform more searches or use advanced search filters, you can take
out a monthly subscription. You can also buy extra searches on a pay-as-you-
go basis.
Here are a couple of tips on how to use SharkScope and properly judge
another player’s skill level:
You can customize the player statistics according to your own
preferences. If you are not happy with the default stats SharkScope
shows, you can remove or add stats yourself. To do this, simply
click on “Add other statistics” when viewing a player’s results and
select all the stats you would like to display.
Always look at the complete picture of a player’s stats. Don’t label a
player on the basis of just one particular statistic, such as total ROI,
without viewing that stat in the light of other stats. For example, a
player with a 1% ROI on an average stake level of $100 is a much
better player than someone who also has a 1% ROI, but on an
average stake level of $5. Similarly, a player who is down $500
over 400 games is not necessarily a bad player if he only plays big
field MTTs that have relatively high variance. Some important stats
to look at when judging a player’s skill level are: count (i.e. number
of games played), profit, ROI, average stake, and ability. Also take a
look at someone’s profit graph before labeling him. For example, a
player’s ROI and overall profit may be impressive, but perhaps his
profit graph shows that he is actually a consistent loser in the games
he normally plays and that he just happened to win one major
tournament for a huge payday.
If you are a SharkScope subscriber, use the advanced search filters
when necessary to get a clear idea of someone’s skill level. A
player’s overall stats aren’t always as useful. For example, you
could play a heads-up Sit ’n Go against a player who primarily plays
MTTs. In this case, his overall stats don’t say much about his ability
in heads-up, which is quite a different type of game. Using the
advanced search filters, you can look up this player’s results
specifically for HU SNGs to get a clear idea of his skill level in this
format.
Don’t label a player on the basis of just a small number of games.
The more variance attached to the game format a player usually
plays (determined by number of entrants and speed), the bigger the
sample size needs to be to draw any conclusions on a player’s skill
level. For HU non-turbos, you can already get a pretty clear picture
of someone’s playing ability when he has played only 100 games.
For someone who plays 180 mans or 6-max hyper turbos, on the
other hand, you would need a much bigger sample size. As a general
rule, if a player’s sample size is too small, label him as “too early to
tell” (see the section on color coding below). There is one exception
to this rule: if a player has played only a small number of games with
a low average stake, you can label him as a fish until proven
otherwise. This is because you can safely assume that a player who
has only played a small number of low stakes games usually doesn’t
have a lot of playing experience you can’t know about (playing under
different screen names on different poker rooms). In almost all
cases, this is a player who is just starting out playing SNGs and has
very little experience, so you can label him as a fish until he proves
you otherwise.
Revise and update your player labels periodically. A player’s skill
level develops over time. If you’ve labeled a player as a fish in the
past and you haven’t played against him for months, he could very
well have improved in the meantime. Playing against someone in the
false assumption that he is a fish, can prove very costly. If you think
a player label doesn’t correspond to his skill level any longer, look
up his recent results and revise his player label when necessary. If
you make a note on a player, include the date, so you can always see
when it was that you last played him.
Use “count”, “average stake”, and “ability” for players who are not
opted in. Players who play on PokerStars need to opt in to
SharkScope and when they haven’t done so, you can’t see their profit
and ROI. However, other stats such as count, average stake, and
ability, are still displayed for these players and can be used to
determine their skill level. As far as count and average stake go, you
can label a player as a fish until proven otherwise if he has only
played a small number of games on low stakes. The ability stat will
give you a general impression of a player’s skill level. Bear in mind,
however, that the ability stat isn’t always the most accurate. For one
thing, the ability rating overvalues stake level. You will see players
who have lost a lot of money on higher stakes games with a higher
ability rating than players who have won a lot of money on low
stakes games. Also note that although SharkScope refers to the
ability/100 statistic, the ability rating actually runs on a range from
50 to 100. 50 is thus the lowest ability that a player can have. With
the caveat about the accuracy of this statistic in mind, here are some
very general guidelines for labeling a player based on his ability
rating:
SharkScope Skill
ability
50-55 Fishbowl
55-60 Big fish to mild
fish
60-65 Weak to decent
65-70 Decent to good
70-80 Good to very
good
80-100 Top player
Color Coding
On most major poker sites, you can make use of a color coding system. You
can label opponents by giving them a certain color that corresponds to their
playing ability. Color coding is an essential tool for table selection: the
colors you assigned to players show up in the lobby, so you can quickly see
whether a game is worth registering for. If you have color coded a lot of
players, you can even table select automatically by using multi-tabling
software such as Tableninja or Sharkystrator (see the section on “multi-
tabling tools” below). Based on the color coding system that you use, you can
let the software automatically register you for games that have at least X
number of fish and/or at most X amount of regs in them. This way, you can
concentrate on playing and have the software automatically table select the
juiciest games for you in the background.
Color coding is also very useful for making better and quicker in-game
decisions, especially when you are multi-tabling. When you’re playing
multiple tables at a time, the color labels allow you to quickly spot the regs
and the fish at each of your tables.
A popular method of color coding is the traffic light system. Red is a
warning color and used for excellent players you should stay away from as
much as possible. Orange means “proceed with caution” and is reserved for
good players. Green signals “go” and is the color label for fish.
Using the traffic light system as your basis, you can add more colors for other
player types if you like. Create a system that works best for you and use
colors you can quickly associate with certain player types. The color coding
system below, is the one I use for labeling players on PokerStars:
Yellow = too early to tell. Too small sample of games or specific player note.
Red= shark. Good high stakes player.
Orange = good. Good low/medium stakes player.
Pink= decent.
Purple = break-even.
Light blue = mild fish.
Blue = big fish.
Green = complete fishbowl.
Controlling Tilt
Controlling tilt is of crucial importance in maximizing your profits from
poker. Tilt is commonly understood as a frustrated or angry emotional state of
a player, usually after taking a bad beat or losing a big pot. It typically results
in steaming off a large amount of chips by becoming overly aggressive and
making bad plays.
In this chapter, however, we will refer to tilt in a broader sense, as defined
by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger:
“Tilt is simply the act of playing worse than you are capable of playing. To
go on tilt means that your play has deteriorated in some way.” (Taylor and
Hilger 2007, p. 137)
If you look at tilt as any deviation from your best game, every poker player
experiences it at some point. In fact, in many cases it can even go unnoticed
and you could be on tilt without even realizing it.
Playing worse than you are capable of playing, obviously has a negative
effect on your results. The most dangerous form of tilt – losing emotional
control and spewing off chips – is particularly devastating and can really put
a big dent in your bankroll.
Tilt Triggers
There are many things that can cause a poker player to go on tilt, and some
players will be more sensitive to certain tilt triggers than others. Recognizing
the reasons why players go on tilt, is the first step towards controlling it.
The “classic” triggers that typically result in losing control and steaming off
chips, are:
Taking bad beats
Losing a big pot
Losing a lot of money
As we have seen, however, tilt is a broader concept and occurs when you are
playing worse than you are capable of. This can have many other reasons, of
which some of the most important ones are:
A particular emotional state (stressed, upset, angry etc.)
Being bored
Being impatient
Fatigue
Alcohol
Now we know what tilt is and how it is triggered, we can continue with the
most important questions: how can we avoid tilt, and how should we deal
with it if it does happen?
Avoiding Tilt
The best way to really control tilt, is to try and avoid it from happening in the
first place. Let’s take a look at a couple of things you can do to minimize the
risk of going on tilt.
Be Sufficiently Bankrolled
In Part 1, we already discussed the importance of proper bankroll
management. Not only is it important for poker success, a sufficient bankroll
will also reduce the risk of going on tilt.
With enough money in your bankroll, you won’t feel any fear or stress of
going broke. Knowing that you have a sufficiently large bankroll helps to
prevent tilt, by reducing the chance of strong emotional responses towards
bad luck/downswings.
Only Play Poker in the Right State of Mind

Playing poker in the right state of mind is absolutely critical if you want to
avoid tilt. Only play poker when you feel relaxed, positive and optimistic,
focused, and well-rested.
Imagine you had a bad night’s sleep, a lousy day at work and then a big
argument with your girlfriend when you came home. In these circumstances, I
can pretty much guarantee that you’re not going to play your best poker.
You’re already frustrated and tired and definitely not in the right mood to
play some poker.
Before you even sit down to play, always ask yourself if you’re in the right
state of mind. Do you feel upset, tired, frustrated, emotionally unbalanced in
any way? Then just forget about playing poker. You will never play your A-
game and it won’t take much before you go on tilt.
Stay Disciplined and Avoid Distractions

Playing poker requires discipline: you have to always stay focused and try to
make the best decision every single hand. It also means folding a lot of hands
pre-flop, especially in the early stages of a tournament. Many beginning
players find this difficult and tend to lose their discipline quickly. They get
bored halfway through their session, especially if they’re “card dead” (not
getting dealt good hands for an extended period of time). They want to be
involved in the action, so they start playing bad starting hands and making
calls they know they really shouldn’t make.
If you feel that you’re getting bored after a while, try focusing on the action in
the hands that you’re not involved in. Observe what the other players at the
table are doing, and make notes on how they play certain hands. This will
give you something to do and keep you actively focused on the game. It will
also give you a lot of information about your opponents that you can use to
your advantage.
Another way to keep focused on playing poker, is to add more tables. If you
quickly get bored playing just 1 or 2 tables, try adding some more. Be careful
though, that you don’t play more tables than you can handle.
Finally, it’s important to avoid all distractions while you’re playing. If you’re
distracted and doing other things while you’re playing poker, you will never
be able to play your best. Resist the temptation to browse the internet to
watch that fun video or chat with a friend on Facebook. Before you start your
session, turn off your phone, the TV, and close all the applications on the
computer that you don’t need. Ask your family or housemates to not interrupt
you while you’re playing poker. If you avoid all distractions, you can focus
100% on your games and play the best poker that you are capable of.
Don’t Check Your Results While Playing

Suppose you’re having a really bad session with a couple of bad beats,
busting out of most of your tournaments. You still have a couple of tables
open, but then you lose an all-in with K-K vs A-J on one table and bust out of
another tournament with J-J vs 7-7. That’s hard enough to deal with as it is,
but then you decide to check your results. Seeing how much money you
actually lost during the session really puts you on tilt.
You already knew you had an unlucky session. But seeing all that bad luck
translated into X amount of money lost, makes it all the more frustrating.
Checking your results during a bad session is the perfect trigger to go on tilt
and lose even more money.
Note that keeping track of results during a profitable session can also be
counterproductive for many players. Seeing how much money they won, they
fall in the trap of “tight tilt”. To protect their winnings, they will fold too
many hands and turn down risky plays with positive expectation. Tight tilt is
not as dangerous as “steaming tilt”, but it still harms your win rate because
you’re not playing your best game.
If you have a sufficiently large bankroll, you can’t go broke so there is no
need to check your results during a session. Resist the temptation to check
how much you’re up or down. Simply focus on playing the best poker you are
capable of: that’s all you need to do.
How to Deal with Tilt

Doing all the things we talked about in the previous section, will minimize
the risk of going on tilt. But it’s not an absolute guarantee: there will be times
when you’re not playing your best poker. So what should you do if you notice
that you’re tilting?
The answer is simple: stop playing! If you notice that you’re on tilt, it’s
almost impossible to turn that round during your session. You simply need
some time away from the tables to regain your focus.
If you continue playing while on tilt, it will only cost you money. Stepping
away from the tables, however, is easier said than done for most players.
Often enough, you will feel the urge to do the exact opposite. If you lost
money during your session, it’s so easy to think: “I need to win my money
back. If I just keep playing I can still turn things around.”
If you’re on steaming tilt, this can be particularly disastrous, because you
could enter a vicious cycle that goes something like this. You’ve taken some
bad beats and lost some money, causing you to go on tilt. You start steaming,
playing far too loose-aggressive, causing you to lose even more money. This
aggravates your tilt, making you play even worse, etc. If you continue down
this path, you could end up losing a lot of money, perhaps even your entire
bankroll.
If you’re playing cash games you can end your session right away if you
notice that you’re on tilt. When playing tournaments, this is obviously not
possible. In that case, you have to stop loading new games and just finish the
tournaments you’re in. If you’re in the early stages of the game, you could sit
out for one or two hands to calm down a bit. Get up from your chair, do some
stretching and try to relax a little. Another option is simply to tighten up and
play ABC poker. This will prevent you from making any big mistakes and by
playing tight you get the chance to cool down and regain your focus.
Useful Poker Tools and Sites
Poker tools and sites can help you analyze and improve your game as well as
gain an edge over your opponents. There are literally tons of poker tools and
sites out there. This chapter presents an overview of the best and most
popular/useful tools and sites, so you can pick the ones that are right for you.
We will also take a look at how to best configure your HUD when you are
using poker tracking software.
Note that poker sites have different rules about which tools you are allowed
to use. Always check first if the tool that you’d like to use is allowed by your
poker room.
Poker Tracking and Analysis Software

Poker tracking and analysis tools are the most comprehensive kind of poker
tools you can use. These tools track all the hands you play and store them in a
database, giving you a wide variety of statistics on your own game and that
of your opponents. If you are looking to make huge improvements to your
game and get a substantial edge over your opponents, then this is the type of
software you’re looking for.
PokerTracker and Holdem Manager

The two industry leading tracking and analysis tools are PokerTracker and
Holdem Manager. With these tools you can:
Replay hands with historical stats;
Review and analyze your game by running all kinds of reports;
Keep track of your results;
Quickly see your opponents’ mucked cards with the mucked cards
display.
Probably the best feature of this type of software, however, is that you can
use a Heads Up Display or HUD. A HUD is an overlay of on-screen
statistics, providing you with a detailed insight into the playing style and
tendencies of your opponents while you play. This makes it a lot easier to
pinpoint and exploit the leaks in your opponents’ game. A HUD is especially
useful if you’re multi-tabling, in which case you don’t have the opportunity to
get a lot of reads on the other players. Some important stats you could
include in your HUD are:
Number of hands: the amount of hands you tracked on your
opponent. The more hands that were tracked, the more accurate and
reliable the HUD stats on your opponent are.
Number of big blinds or Tourney “M”: the amount of big blinds
your opponent has left or his tourney “M” (calculated by dividing a
player’s stack by the current total of blinds and antes).
VPIP or Voluntarily Put money In Pot. This tells you how loose/tight
your opponents are.
PFR or Pre-flop Raise %. This stat tells you how often someone
raises pre-flop.
3-bet %: how often a player makes a three-bet.
Fold to 3-bet %: how often a player folds when he is three-bet.
Steal %: how often a player makes a raise in late position to steal
the blinds.
Fold to steal %: how often a player folds to a steal raise when
sitting in the small or big blind.
AF or Aggression Factor. This is a ratio of aggressive action
(betting/raising) to passive action (checking/calling).
Continuation betting (c-bet) %: how often a player bets the flop
after having raised pre-flop.
Tournament Indicator
Tournament Indicator is not as comprehensive a tool as PokerTracker or
Holdem Manager, but it does have a lot of cool features, some of which
especially beginning players will appreciate.
Tournament Indicator:
Instantly calculates pot odds and win odds while you play.
Shows the number of outs for your hand.
Shows the Expected Value and strength of your hole cards.
Alerts you when you have the nuts.
Has a “match cards” feature to see how your hand matches up
against potential hands opponents may have.
Displays the tourney “M” for all players’ stacks.
Tracks your opponents and displays their playing statistics.
Can be displayed either as a HUD or as a separate window attached
to your table.
Setting Up Your HUD

Configure your HUD in such a way that you can make the most effective use
of it. When first setting up their HUD, a lot of players are excited about their
new software and fall in the trap of including too many stats. This has some
important drawbacks:
With a lot of stats in your HUD, there is often no room to display the
name or abbreviation of each stat. This leaves you with a lot of
numbers and having to memorize what statistic each number stands
for. This is quite hard, especially in the beginning, so you’ll
probably wind up disregarding most stats and only really using a
small part of your HUD anyway.
The more information you have at your fingertips, the easier it is
to start making mistakes because of overthinking and
overanalyzing certain situations. Having too many stats in your
HUD can be overwhelming. Before you know it, you start making
mistakes by second-guessing yourself and trying to take every single
stat into account when making your decision.
A large HUD can be distracting by cluttering up your tables.
If you’re installing a HUD for the first time, keep it simple and start with only
a few basic stats, such as number of hands, VPIP and PFR. Once you’re used
to playing with a HUD, you can gradually add more stats. Always keep your
HUD as compact as possible. If you notice that there are stats in your HUD
that you rarely ever look at, remove them from the display. Remember that
you always have access to more detailed statistics in a pop-up window that
appears once you click on your HUD.
Another useful feature you can implement is assigning color ranges to your
HUD stats. Estimate the average HUD stats for regs and fish on the type of
game and stake level you usually play. Then create your own color ranges
based on the traffic light system discussed above. For example, you can give
the VPIP of tight players a red color and make the VPIP of loose players
green. This way, you’ll be able to quickly spot any specific playing
tendencies by looking at the colors of the displayed stats.
Below, you will find the HUD setups I use myself for 6-max and heads-
up. You will see that I have included more stats in my heads-up HUD than in
my 6-max HUD. This is because heads-up is a more complex and less
straightforward type of game, requiring a deeper insight in your opponent’s
playing tendencies. Also, I have more room for a bigger heads-up HUD
because I usually play between 2 to 4 tables of heads-up, whereas I play 9 to
12 tables of 6-max.
6-max HUD
Abbreviation of player name
Number of hands
--- New line ---
VPIP
Pre-flop raise
Steal
Fold BB to steal
--- New line ---
Aggression factor
Flop c-bet
Fold to flop c-bet
Heads-up HUD
Abbreviation of player name
Number of hands
--- New line ---
Raise first
Limp
Fold to a 3-bet in the small blind
--- New line ---
Call open raise
3-bet from BB vs. steal
--- New line ---
Aggression factor
Donk bet flop
Flop c-bet
Fold to flop c-bet
Check-raise
Note that I use the “raise first” stat in my heads-up HUD, instead of the more
common pre-flop raise or PFR. This is because PFR also includes 3-bets out
of position, meaning it would overlap with my “3-bet from BB vs. steal” stat.
The “raise first” statistic on the other hand, tells me exactly how many times
my opponent open raises from the button.
Multi-tabling Tools
If you’re playing multiple tables at a time, multi-tabling software is a
worthwhile investment. It will allow you to increase your hourly rate, as it
makes multi-tabling easier by automating repetitive actions.
Tableninja
The best and most comprehensive software for multi-tabling is Tableninja.
This program:
Speeds up your play with hotkeys to bet/call/fold/raise;
Automatically clicks the time-bank;
Automatically sits you back in when you time out;
Highlights tables that require action;
Shows your stack size in big blinds with a customizable on-screen
display;
Optimally sizes your bets to tournament blind levels;
Automatically registers you for games using the settings you specify;
and
Automatically table selects the softest games using the color labels
you assigned to your opponents.
ICM Tools
ICM tools are a great way to learn more about ICM and to review and
analyze your endgame. They will point to you the mistakes you’re making so
you can correct them and plug any leaks you may have. ICM tools will teach
you how to make better push/fold decisions by giving you a better
understanding of the relevant factors influencing your decision, such as
number of opponents, stack sizes, and opponent hand ranges. Because most of
the money is made in the late stages of the game, it won’t take long before
you will see the positive effects on your bankroll of using an ICM tool.
ICM Trainer
If you are a beginning player and don’t know much about ICM yet, ICM
Trainer is a nice tool to start with. You can download it for free on
PokerStrategy.com. Use the tool to do “training sessions”, where the
software will present you with different endgame scenarios, asking you
whether you should push or fold. After giving an answer, the tool will tell
you if your decision was correct or incorrect. These training sessions are a
nice way to test your ICM knowledge and improve your push/fold decisions.
One drawback of this tool is that you can’t load and review your own hand
histories. If you are looking for a tool with more options, then try the
following paid tool.
SitNGo Wizard
With SitNGo Wizard you can import hand histories from games you played to
see where you made any errors in the late game push/fold stages. You can
modify any game parameter, such as stack sizes or calling ranges, and
instantly see how this affects the analysis. Modifying the parameters is a
great way of learning ICM and seeing the impact of all different factors on
your decision. SitNGo Wizard also has a quiz mode, which generates random
hands and asks you to choose the correct play in each spot.
Limitations of ICM and ICM Tools

It is important to keep in mind that there are certain limitations to using ICM
and ICM tools such as SitNGo Wizard:
ICM does not take player skill into account. If you have a substantial
skill edge over your opponents, your equity is higher than ICM
suggests.
ICM does not take relative position into account. Suppose you have
a couple of weak-passive opponents to your left who don’t defend
their blinds and a couple of loose-aggressive, reckless opponents to
your right. In this situation, it’s better to fold some hands that ICM
suggests are +EV to push, because you will get many blind-stealing
opportunities in future hands and you can let the reckless opponents
to your right knock each other out.
The estimated opponent hand ranges have a huge influence on the
correct action suggested by an ICM tool. If opponent hand ranges are
wrong, the software’s advice is likely to be wrong. ICM tools use
opponent modeling to estimate opponent hand ranges, which is a
good starting point. A user can then easily change those ranges to
ranges he thinks are more accurate for those players. Don’t blindly
trust the ranges an ICM tool automatically assigns to opponents, but
modify them where necessary to generate the most accurate advice.
SitNGo Wizard does not consider future hands. For example, if you
know the blinds are going up the very next hand, you might want to
go all-in in a spot where your ICM tool suggests a fold.
ICM tools look at hands in isolation and do not consider game
flow. For example, if you just shoved 5 hands in a row blind vs.
blind, it’s very likely that the big blind will significantly widen his
calling range against you, which means you need to push tighter than
the ICM tool suggests.
Note that in SitNGo Wizard, you can work around these limitations a bit
by modifying the Hero’s “edge”. The “edge” is the minimum EV difference
% (EVPush - EVFold) that you need to play a hand. For example, when you
set the edge to 1%, the tool will only suggest to push hands where you get at
least 1% more equity from pushing than from folding.
Modifying the edge allows you to factor in some of the things an ICM tool
can’t take into account. For example, if you know the blinds are going up the
next hand, you can decrease the Hero’s edge a bit to widen the suggested
pushing range. Or when you have a substantial skill edge over your
opponents, meaning you don’t want to take any marginal spots, you can
increase the Hero’s edge to tighten the suggested pushing range. Of course,
it’s impossible to quantify the exact edge that you need in a certain spot, but
we can at least partly fix the limitations of an ICM tool by manipulating the
minimum edge. By experience and trial and error, you will start to get a
better feel for these types of situations, allowing you to better estimate
Hero’s required edge and generate a more accurate push/fold range.
Equity Calculators
By using an equity calculator, you can get a better insight into the
mathematics involved in poker. A good grasp of odds, equity and range
matchups will deepen your understanding of the game and improve the
decisions you make at the table.
Ever wondered how much equity your A-Ts has versus the top 25% of
hands? Or curious whether calling that half pot turn bet with middle pair and
a flush draw was mathematically correct, given your opponent’s perceived
hand range? Just open your equity calculator, punch in the numbers, and
there’s your answer. Two good and free poker equity calculators are
PokerStrategy.com’s Equilab and HoldemViewer.
If you are really into poker math and would like to get a quick answer to a lot
of complex poker probability questions, then try out a paid tool that can make
more advanced equity calculations, such as Flopzilla.
Hand Replayers
One of the best ways to learn and improve is to review games you played
and analyze important hands. If you own Poker Tracker or Holdem Manager,
you can use the built-in replayer. These replayers also show the HUD stats
on your opponents, so you can make an in-depth analysis of your hands. If
you’re looking for a free and easy to use stand-alone replayer, then check out
the Universal Replayer.
Poker Forums, Sites and Blogs

There are a lot of good poker sites and forums out there that can help to
improve your game. Explore the many useful forum threads at the Two Plus
Two Poker Forums. Go to poker school and learn some new tips and tricks
on PokerStrategy.com. Learn more about low stakes poker strategy at
KickstartPoker.com. Or dive into some more Sit ’n Go theory and strategy at
SitandGoPlanet.com.
Would you like to check players’ past results to assess the ability of your
opponents and exercise better table selection? Then check out tracking sites
such as SharkScope and Top Shark.
Poker blogs are also very useful as well as entertaining to read. Personal
favorites include the poker blogs of James Atkin, Aaron Barone, and Dale
Philip.
Poker Training Sites

Be the best by learning from the best! Signing up to a poker training site
allows you to get inside the head of top professional poker players and see
how they think and play. You can watch videos from the pros and interact
with trainers and other players on the forums.
The two poker training sites that focus exclusively on Sit ’n Gos are:
SitnGoGrinders.com, which offers training videos on a wide variety
of Sit ’n Gos, ranging from HU to 180-mans and from non-turbos to
hyper turbos; and
HUSNG.com, which focuses entirely on heads-up Sit ’n Gos.
Some other popular training sites that feature SNG videos include Bluefire
Poker, Deuces Cracked, Drag The Bar, and Float The Turn.
Training and Coaching
Sit ’n Go Training Course
As a bonus, I’ve put together a free Sit ’n Go Training Course exclusively for
my book and blog readers. It contains the 5 secrets of Sit ’n Go success as
well as the best tools and training resources to level up your game.
You’ll also get access to a three-part video series, which builds on the low
stakes strategy laid out in this book. Using slide presentations and detailed
analyses of example hands, this video series illustrates important low stakes
strategy concepts and explains optimal play for every stage of an SNG.
You can sign up at www.kickstartpoker.com/free.
Coaching and Training Videos

If you feel like you’re stuck in your development as a player or if you simply
want to improve your results, a coach may be just what you need to start
making real progress in your game.
It’s very hard to figure out on your own what the leaks in your game are. This
becomes much easier with the help of an accomplished player and coach
who can analyze your game and point you to the areas that you need to work
on. And thanks to the internet, working 1-on-1 with a coach is possible from
anywhere in the world, using instant messaging and screen sharing.
Beginning and low stakes players are often hesitant to get poker coaching,
because of the high rates many coaches charge. This is why we’ve put
together a page with poker coaches that offer affordable rates for beginning
players. On this page, you will also find free training videos from each
coach. Check out our coaching page here: www.kickstartpoker.com/online-
poker-coaching/.
Practice and Play
With the strategy and theory outlined in this book, you’ve learned just about
everything you need to know to become a successful low stakes Sit ’n Go
player. The next step? Play! Excellence comes with practice and the more
games you play, the better you become. Make sure to also take a look at the
push/fold charts in Appendix I and II of this book. Use them while you play
to perfect your push/fold game and maximize your winnings.
Before you’re off to the poker tables, I would love to hear what you think of
this book so I hope you can take a minute to leave a review on Amazon. Your
feedback can help others learn how they can benefit from this book, and it
will also help me learn how I can better serve my readers.
Thank you and good luck at the tables!
Mike Turner
Other Books in the Series
Volume 2: Heads-Up
Heads-up skills are essential to achieve good tournament results. There is a
significant pay jump in tournaments from second to first prize so mastering
heads-up play will make a big difference to your win rate.
Volume 2 in the series deals with heads-up play and covers heads-up
fundamentals, theory and strategy. It discusses important topics such as:
Hand reading
Manipulating ranges
Post-flop play on different board textures
Common playing tendencies of low stakes opponents and how to
take advantage of them
Heads-up is not the easiest form of poker. It requires you to play a lot of
hands and you will often face difficult post-flop decisions. This book
explains heads-up strategy in a practical and easy to follow manner,
providing you with the tools you need to master those tough one-on-one
poker battles. Whether you play heads-up Sit ’n Gos or multi-player
SNGs/tournaments, Crushing Low Stakes Poker Volume 2 will be of value to
you.
Bibliography and Further Reading
- Flynn, Matt; Mehta, Sunny; and Miller, Ed (2007), Professional No-Limit
Hold’em: Volume 1, Two Plus Two Publishing.
- Hayles, Ben (2015), Postflop Volume 1.
- Hayles, Ben (2015), Postflop Volume 2.
- Moshman, Collin (2007), Sit ’n Go Strategy: Expert Advice for Beating
One-Table Poker Tournaments, Two Plus Two Publishing.
- Sklansky, David and Malmuth, Mason (1999), Hold’Em Poker for
Advanced Players, Two Plus Two Publishing.
- Sklansky, David (2007), Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, Two
Plus Two Publishing.
- Taylor, Ian and Hilger, Matthew (2007), The Poker Mindset: Essential
Attitudes for Poker Success, Dimat Enterprises.
- Turner, Mike (2014), Crushing Low Stakes Poker Volume 2: Heads-Up,
published by KickstartPoker.com.
Appendix I: Push/Fold Charts
To improve your push/fold ranges, you can use an ICM program, such as
SitNGo Wizard. However, this program can only be used for post-game
analysis and this is where charts come in. Push/fold charts are not only
very helpful for beginning players but they are also used by many
professional poker players to make better in-game push/fold decisions.
Whereas beginning players are best off just sticking to the ranges in the
charts, professional players are used to tweaking and adjusting the ranges in
their charts based on in-game circumstances. Poker is a game that requires
flexibility and the better you get, the more you learn to adjust your chart’s
ranges in specific spots. Charts are static and can never fully take into
account all the variables that apply in a particular spot in-game. To give
just one example: a chart can only give you one single range but the ranges
you use on the bubble are obviously quite a bit different than the ranges you
use when it’s still 6-handed.
The push/fold charts below display ranges for effective stack sizes of 2-10
BB in 6-handed SNGs. Push ranges were generated using SitNGo
Wizard, using the default edge percentage, giving opponents equal stack
sizes and setting the opponent model to “loose”. The “loose” opponent
model was used to simulate a typical low stakes game, where opponents’
call ranges are looser than average. It appeared that setting Wiz’s opponent
model to “average”, resulted in pushing ranges that are significantly too wide
for low stakes games.
Notice how SNG Wizard suggests to always shove any two cards from the
small blind. This generally is a good and unexploitable strategy. There is
only one opponent left and the big blind is on a random hand, so he won’t
pick up a decent calling hand often enough to effectively counter your
strategy. In low stakes games, however, you still have to be careful. Some
opponents will make bad and very loose calls from the big blind and even
tighter opponents will widen their call ranges more quickly and easily once
you shove on them too often.
To properly use the push/fold charts, remember to average the stack
sizes when shoving into two or more players and to use “true big blinds”
when antes are in play (see chapter 3).
2 Big Blinds
UTG
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J2s+, T2s+, 95s+, 85s+, 75s+, 64s+, 54s
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q2o+, J5o+, T6o+, 97o+, 87o
UTG+1
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J2s+, T2s+, 93s+, 84s+, 74s+, 64s+, 53s+
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q2o+, J3o+, T6o+, 96o+, 86o+, 76o
Cutoff
Pairs:22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J2s+, T2s+, 92s+, 84s+, 74s+, 63s+, 53s+, 43s
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q2o+, J2o+, T5o+, 96o+, 86o+, 76o, 65o
Button
Pairs: 22+
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q2o+, J2o+, T3o+, 95o+, 85o+, 75o+, 65o
SB
Any two cards
3 Big Blinds
UTG
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J4s+, T6s+, 95s+, 85s+, 75s+, 65s, 54s, 43s
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q6o+, J8o+, T8o+, 98o
UTG+1
Pairs: 22+
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q3o+, J7o+, T7o+, 97o+, 86o+, 76o
Cutoff
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J2s+, T2s+, 92s+, 82s+, 73s+, 62s+, 52s+, 42s+
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q2o+, J4o+, T6o+, 95o+, 85o+, 75o+, 64o+, 54o
Button
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J2s+, T2s+, 92s+, 82s+, 72s+, 62s+, 52s+, 42s+,
32s
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q2o+, J2o+, T2o+, 93o+, 84o+, 73o+, 63o+, 52o+,
43o
SB
Any two cards
4 Big Blinds
UTG
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 97s+, 87s
Offsuit: A2o+, K7o+, Q9o+, JTo
UTG+1
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q4s+, J7s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 75s+, 65s
Offsuit: A2o+, K4o+, Q8o+, J9o+, T9o
Cutoff
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J3s+, T4s+, 95s+, 84s+, 74s+, 64s+, 53s+
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q6o+, J8o+, T7o+, 97o+, 87o, 76o
Button
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J2s+, T2s+, 92s+, 82s+, 72s+, 62s+, 52s+,
42s+, 32s
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q2o+, J3o+, T4o+, 95o+, 85o+, 74o+, 64o+, 53o+
SB
Any two cards
5 Big Blinds
UTG
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K7s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s
Offsuit: A5o+, KTo+, QJo
UTG+1
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K4s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T7s+, 97s+, 87s, 76s
Offsuit: A2o+, K8o+, QTo+, JTo
Cutoff
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q4s+, J5s+, T6s+, 96s+, 85s+, 75s+, 65s, 54s
Offsuit: A2o+, K5o+, Q9o+, J8o+, T8o+, 98o, 87o
Button
Pairs: 22+
42s+, 32s
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q3o+, J4o+, T6o+, 95o+, 85o+, 75o+, 64o+, 54o
SB
Any two cards
6 Big Blinds
UTG
Pairs: 33+
Suited: A4s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs
Offsuit: A9o+, KQo
UTG+1
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K8s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s, 87s
Offsuit: A5o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo
Cutoff
Pairs: 22+
Button
Pair: 22+
42s+, 32s
Offsuit: A2o+, K2o+, Q2o+, J3o+, T4o+, 95o+, 84o+, 74o+, 64o+, 53o+
SB
Any two cards
7 Big Blinds
UTG
Pairs: 55+
Suited: A8s+, KJs+
Offsuit: ATo+
UTG+1
Pairs: 33+
Suited: A4s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s
Offsuit: A8o+, KQo
Cutoff
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K6s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T7s+, 97s+, 87s, 76s
Offsuit: A4o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo
Button
Pairs: 22+
Offsuit: A2o+, K4o+, Q5o+, J6o+, T6o+, 96o+, 85o+, 75o+, 65o, 54o
SB
Any two cards
8 Big Blinds
UTG
Pairs: 66+
Suited: ATs+
Offsuit: ATo+
UTG+1
Pairs: 44+
Suited: A8s+, KJs+
Offsuit: ATo+
Cutoff
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s
Offsuit: A7o+, KJo+
Button
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J3s+, T4s+, 95s+, 85s+, 74s+, 64s+, 54s
Offsuit: A2o+, K7o+, Q8o+, J8o+, T7o+, 97o+, 87o, 76o
SB
Any two cards
9 Big Blinds
UTG
Pairs: 77+
Suited: ATs+
Offsuit: AJo+
UTG+1
Pairs: 55+
Suited: A9s+, KQs
Offsuit: ATo+
Cutoff
Pairs: 44+
Suited: A7s+, A5s, KTs+, QTs+, JTs
Offsuit: A9o+, KQo
Button
Pairs: 22+
SB
Any two cards
10 Big Blinds
UTG
Pairs: 77+
Suited: AJs+
Offsuit: AJo+
UTG+1
Pairs: 66+
Suited: ATs+
Offsuit: AJo+
Cutoff
Pairs: 44+
Suited: A8s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs
Offsuit: ATo+
Button
Pairs: 22+
Suited: A2s+, K4s+, Q5s+, J7s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s
Offsuit: A4o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o
SB
Any two cards
Appendix II: Heads-Up Push/Fold Charts
When you play heads-up, ICM does not play a role anymore. After all, both
players are now guaranteed 2nd place and are contending only for the extra
prize money for getting 1st.
If you or your opponent are around the 10 BB mark, you should start
push/folding. Two useful charts that you can use for push/folding during
heads-up are the Nash equilibrium push/fold charts and the Sit And Go
Endgame system or SAGE.
Nash Equilibrium Push/Fold Charts
The Nash equilibrium is a solution concept in game theory for a non-
cooperative game that involves two or more players. A Nash equilibrium is
reached when no player has anything to gain by unilaterally changing his
strategy. The heads-up push/fold charts presented below are based on Nash’s
assumptions and calculations.
The use of the charts is pretty straightforward. Look up your hand in the chart
and the corresponding number indicates how many effective big blinds you
can profitably push or call with that hand. The suited hands are on the upper
right part of the table marked in green, and the offsuit hands are on the bottom
left marked in orange. Pocket pairs are on the diagonal, marked in blue. The
first chart is for pushing from the button, the second chart is for calling
shoves in the big blind.
Only use these charts once you are in push/fold territory and continue to
make normal raises when you still have enough big blinds left. For example,
whereas the Nash push chart tells us it’s unexploitable to shove AA for 20+
big blinds, this is definitely not an optimal strategy.
* 63s: 7.1-5.1, 2.3
** 53s: 12.9-3.8, 2.4
*** 43s: 10.0-4.9, 2.2
Sit And Go Endgame System
R JAM CALL Points
(SB) (BB)
1 17 Any Ace = 15
2 21 17 King = 13
3 22 24 Queen = 12
4 23 26 Jack = 11
5 24 28 Ten = 10
6 25 29 Nine = 9
7 26 30 Eight = 8
8 27 31 Seven = 7
9 28 32 Etc…
Pair add 22
Suited add 2
To attain your point value, double the highest ranked card and add the
lower ranked card. For example: AKo is 15 x 2 + 13 = 43 points.
The number in the R column represents the number of big blinds you or your
opponent has left after posting a big blind (so when you’re on the SB you
have to subtract one additional SB after posting to calculate your R). The
point value you see for Jam (SB) represents the point value you need to
move all-in from the SB/Button. For example, if you or your opponent have
6 big blinds left after posting a big blind, you would need to have a value of
25 or more to push all-in. The Call (BB) column represents the point value
you need to call your opponent’s shove when you are in the big blind. For
example, if you or your opponent have an R of 5 (i.e. 5 big blinds left after
posting) you would need 28 points or more to call your opponent’s all-in.
You can calculate the point value of your hand by doubling the value of the
higher card and adding the value of your lower card. If they are suited, you
should add 2 to your point total and if you have a pocket pair, you should add
22 more to get your point total (a nice illustration of the strength of pocket
pairs heads-up).
SAGE, which was developed by Lee Jones and James Kittock, is a good
system to make yourself acquainted with push/fold ranges heads-up.
Obviously, you need to adjust this system when facing either a particularly
loose opponent (shove tighter and call wider) or a particularly tight opponent
(shove wider and call tighter).
Appendix III: Poker Hand Rankings
There are 52 cards in the deck: 13 playing cards (2-10, Jack, Queen, King,
and Ace) in 4 different suits (clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts). In Texas
Hold’em the Ace can be used as either the lowest card (one) or the highest
card. You can thus make two straights with an Ace:
Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5 (5-high straight, also called a “wheel”).
Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace (Ace-high straight).
In Texas Hold’em, two hole cards are dealt face down to each player. Then,
five community cards are dealt face up – three cards on the flop, one on the
turn, and one on the river. Each player plays the best 5-card hand they can
make using their 2 hole cards and the 5 community cards.
The hand rankings are as follows, ranked from the strongest to the weakest
hand:
Royal flush
T♥ J♥ Q♥ K♥ A♥
A royal flush consists of a straight from Ten to Ace with all five cards of the
same suit.
Straight flush
6♦ 7♦ 8♦ 9♦ T♦
A straight flush consists of five consecutive cards of the same suit. If two
players have a straight flush, then the player with the highest straight flush
wins.
Four of a kind
7♠ 7♥ 7♣ 7♦ 3♥
Four of a kind, also known as quads, consists of four cards of the same rank
and one card of another rank. If two players have four of a kind, then the four
of a kind with the highest card rank wins. If two players have the same four
of a kind, then the kicker card is decisive.
Full house
A♠ A♥ A♣ 7♣ 7♦
A full house, also called a “boat”, consists of three of a kind plus a pair. The
hand above is called “aces full of sevens” because the player has three aces
and two sevens. When two players have a full house, the player with the
highest rank in the three of a kind wins: AAA77 beats 777AA.
Flush
A♠ Q♠ 9♠ 7♠ 2♠
A flush consists of five non-consecutive cards of the same suit. The highest
possible flush, or “nut flush”, is the Ace high flush. If two players have a
flush, the player with the highest flush wins.
Straight
9♠ T♠ J♥ Q♣ K♦
A straight consists of five consecutive cards that are not all in the same suit.
The hand above is a “King high straight”, as the highest card is a king. If two
players have a straight, then the highest straight wins.
Three of a kind
9♠ 9♥ 9♣ K♣ A♦
A three of a kind consists of three cards of the same rank. This hand is also
called “trips” or “set”. You have trips when there is a pair on the board and
one of your hole cards is of the same rank. You have a set when you hold a
pocket pair in your hand and one of the community cards is of the same rank.
If two players have three of a kind, the highest ranking three of a kind wins.
When players have the same three of a kind, the player with the highest side
card, and if necessary, the second highest side card, wins.
Two pair
K♠ K♥ Q♦ Q♠ T♦
Two different pairs in your hand give you “two pair”. In the hand above, you
have two pair, Kings and Queens.
If two players have two pair, the biggest pair is decisive. For example, two
pair Aces and fives beats two pair Kings and Jacks. If two players have the
same two pairs, then the fifth card in their hand is decisive.
One pair
A♠ A♣ K♠ Q♣ 7♥
One pair consists of two cards of the same rank. The hand above contains a
pair of Aces, with a King kicker. A pair of Aces is the highest pair in
Hold’em. If two players have the same pair, the player with the highest
kicker wins. If necessary, the second highest and third highest kickers are
used to break a tie.
High card
A♥ K♣ 8♦ 6♦ 4♠
If you have don’t have a pair or better, then the highest card in your hand is
decisive. The hand above is known as “Ace high”. If two players have the
same high card, the second-highest card becomes decisive. If these cards are
also the same, the third-highest card plays and so on.
Appendix IV: Glossary of Poker Terms
A
ABC poker: playing in a basic style.
Active player:
1. A player who is still involved in the pot.
2. A player who plays a lot of hands.
Aggression factor: statistic used in most HUDs that gives a ratio of
aggressive action (betting/raising) to passive action (checking/calling).
Air: nothing. He made a bluff with total air.
All-in: having all your chips at risk in a single hand.
Ante: a forced bet that all players must make before the hand begins.
B
Backdoor: catching two consecutive cards on turn and river to make your
hand. For example, when the flop contains two diamonds and you hold one
diamond in your hand, a diamond on both the turn and the river makes you a
backdoor flush.
Bankroll: the total amount of money a player can spend to play poker.
Bankroll management: playing the correct stakes and game types to avoid
busting your bankroll during downswings.
Big blind: forced bet, twice the size of the small blind.
Bleed: when a player is consistently losing chips, they are “bleeding chips.”
Bluff: to make a bet with a weak hand to represent strength and make a better
hand fold.
Board: the community cards used to make a player’s final poker hand. The
board is made up of the flop, turn, and river.
Bottom pair: bottom pair is when the lowest valued card on the board
matches one of a player’s hole cards. This is opposed to top pair or middle
pair.
Broadway: the nut straight from Ten to Ace. Can also mean any cards from
10 to Ace. I was on the button with two broadway cards (King-Queen).
Bubble: the last finishing position in a poker tournament before entering the
payout structure. He was very frustrated after getting eliminated on the
bubble.
Bust: busting a player in poker involves eliminating them from a tournament.
Busted: busted either refers to a draw that failed to hit or when a player
loses all his or her chips in a tournament.
C
Calling station: a player who frequently calls bets or raises but rarely bets
or raises himself. A calling station is usually a loose-passive player.
Chase: staying in a hand against a bet with a draw with the hope of hitting.
Check-raise: deceptive play whereby a player initially checks with the
intention of raising should another player bet.
Connectors: two cards of consecutive or close to consecutive rank.
Continuation bet: a continuation bet is when a player bets out at the flop
who was the raiser during the previous round of betting.
Cutoff: the seat immediately to the right of the dealer button.
D
Dominated hand: when two hands are compared to each other and one holds
a significant edge to win. A hand like A-Q, for example, is dominated by A-
K.
Donk bet: a bet made in early position by a player who didn’t take initiative
in the previous betting round.
Double barrel: the act of following up a continuation bet with another bet on
the turn, typically to make a bluff seem more believable.
Downswing: a series of negative long term results.
Draw: a card combination that requires other cards to become strong.
Dry board: an uncoordinated board that is unlikely to make any player a
strong hand. The flop of J♦2♠2♣ was very dry.
E
Early position: when a player is one of the first players to act in a hand.
Equity: the expected value a player has in a poker hand. With two overcards
and the nut flush draw, my hand had good equity versus my opponent’s
range.
Expected value, EV: the expected and appropriate return on a wager in
poker. Also known in poker circles as “EV” and referenced as “+EV”
meaning a positive expected value.
F
Fish: a weak and inexperienced player.
Flat, flat call: to “flat” or to “flat call” means to “just call” a bet. Normally I
raise with Jacks, but with three limpers ahead of me I decided to flat call.
Also called a smooth call.
Float: call a bet in position with a weak hand to try and take the pot down on
a later street using the positional advantage. Floating is typically done when
the player believes his opponent is c-betting light.
Flop: the first three face-up cards on the board.
Fold equity: the portion of the pot one expects to win, on average, by a bet
that induces your opponents to fold. I thought I had good fold equity so I
double barreled the turn.
Free card: a card dealt to the board after a betting round in which no player
made a bet. I decided to bet for protection so my opponent wouldn’t get a
free card to his flush draw.
Full ring: a poker game played with nine or ten players at the table.
G
Gutshot straight: straight draw in which an inside card is needed to
complete it. Synonymous with an inside or belly buster straight draw. I
held AK and on a flop of TJ5 I had a gutshot straight draw.
H
Heads-up: playing against a single opponent. After Larry folded, I played a
heads-up pot with Mike.
Hole cards: cards dealt to a player at the beginning of a hand that can only be
used by them. Hole cards are known to only one player.
HUD: short for Heads-Up Display, which shows player stats at an online
poker table.
I
ICM: Independent Chip Model. ICM is an algorithm that converts a chip
stack into equity, meaning the value of your stack in $. ICM is a way of
analyzing expected value in poker tournaments and is applied primarily in
single table tournaments.
Implied odds, implied pot odds: the extra chips that will be gained by a
player later in a hand by calling a bet early on. The term “implied odds”
often refers to a situation where a player is on a draw against an opponent
with a made hand.
In position, IP: a player is in position when he is last to act on the flop, turn,
and river betting rounds.
In the money or ITM: when a poker player has lasted long enough to be
guaranteed a payout in a poker tournament.
J
Jam: going all-in.
Juicy: a game scenario that has an exceedingly high positive expected value.
The game was very juicy: there were a lot of fish at my table.
K
Kicker: the card used to break ties in poker. For example, if one player held
AK and another player held AJ, the King and Jack are “kickers,” which may
be used to determine a winner.
L
Lead: initiating the betting action in a hand, as in “lead at the pot”.
Leak: a weakness or flaw in someone’s poker game.
Level: the size of the blinds that are periodically increased. For example, in
the first level, the small blind/big blind may be 10/20, and in the second
level the blinds may be 15/30.
Light: a hand that is not likely to be best. Usually used as an action
descriptor; “call light”, “3-bet light”.
Limp: to enter a pot by simply paying the big blind.
Limp-lead: limping pre-flop with the intention of leading the flop out of
position.
Loose: a player who plays a lot of hands.
M
Made hand: a made hand is one that does not require a draw.
Maniac: a very loose and aggressive player, who bets and raises frequently,
and often in situations where it is not good strategy to do so.
Minraise: a bet that is the minimum allowable amount.
MTT: Multi Table Tournament.
Muck: to fold without showing your cards.
Multi-table: playing more than one game of poker on an online poker site.
N
Nash equilibrium: a game theory concept explaining that when each player
knows the equilibrium strategies of the other player(s), no player has
anything to gain by changing their strategy.
Nit: a poker player who is perceived to play with a style that is overly tight
and too risk-averse.
Nut hand, the nuts: the best possible hand in a given situation.
O
OESD: abbreviation for “open-ended straight draw”. A straight draw (or
four-card straight) that can be completed with eight cards from the deck.
Also known as “up and down straight draw”. With QJ on a 59T flop, I had
an open-ended straight draw.
Offsuit: cards that are not of the same suit. The Ace of clubs and the King of
spades are called Ace-King offsuit.
OOP: short for “out of position”, a situation where a player is not last to act
on a betting round.
Open: to bet first.
Open limp: a player who is first to act into the pot and just makes a call.
Open shove: a player who acts first in a hand and shoves all of his chips in.
Open-ended straight draw, open-ended: a straight draw (or four-card
straight) that can be completed with eight cards from the deck. Also known
as “up and down straight draw”. With Q-J on a 9T5 flop, I had an open-
ended straight draw.
Orbit: a full rotation of the button around a poker table.
Outs: cards a player can catch to make a winning hand.
Overbet: to make a bet that is more than the size of the pot.
Overcard, over: an overcard, or over, is a card that is higher in rank to those
on the board. With AK on a flop of 279, all I had was two overcards.
Overpair: a pocket pair with a higher rank than any community card.
P
Pair: two cards of the same rank.
PFR: abbreviation for pre-flop raise.
Pocket pair: when two of a player’s cards make a pair.
Position: a player’s location at a poker table.
Post: posting a blind in poker means that a player pays the blind. Players can
also post antes and other bets at a poker table which vary based on the game.
Pot-committed: when a player is priced in mathematically in a poker hand.
His equity in the pot is often very large and he is unable to fold due to the
odds.
Pot odds: the comparison of the amount of money in the pot to the amount
needed to call a bet.
Pre-flop: the action that occurs in a poker hand before a flop is laid out,
when players are in possession of only their hole cards.
Push: to bet all-in.
R
Rag, raggy: a low-valued (and presumably worthless) card. I don’t like
playing Ace-rag from that position.
Rainbow: board in which each card is of a different suit. We saw a rainbow
flop of A♣Q♦3♥.
Range: the group of likely holdings for a poker player. His pre-flop raise
percentage was 90% so he was playing with a very wide range.
Regular(s), reg(s): a regular, or reg, is a person who plays in a certain
poker game on a frequent basis. They have a lot of playing experience and
are often good players. When I table select, I try to find tables without regs.
Represent: to represent a hand is to play as if you hold it (whether you
actually hold it or are bluffing).
Return On Investment, ROI: used to measure a player’s profitability in
poker tournaments. ROI is calculated as total profit/total buy-ins x 100.
River: the last community card dealt in Hold’em. It’s also referred to as fifth
street and it is where hands are won or lost.
S
Scare card: a card that makes players involved in a hand feel as if they may
no longer hold the best hand. Overcards and flush cards are typical scare
cards.
Second pair: a pair of cards of the second-top rank on the board. On the flop
also called “middle pair”.
Semi-bluff: when a player bluffs on one round of betting with an inferior or
drawing hand that might improve in a later round.
Set: three of a kind, especially the situation where two of the cards are
concealed in the player’s hole cards. I had 2-2 and hit a set on a flop of 2-
A-J.
Set mine: the act of playing a pocket pair with the single intention of
flopping a set or else planning to ditch the hand in most other instances.
Shark: an expert poker player.
Showdown: when players remaining in a hand turn over their cards to see
who won.
Sit and go, Sit ’n Go, SNG: a poker tournament with no scheduled starting
time that starts whenever the necessary players have put up their money.
Slow-play: when a player acts weak when they actually hold a strong hand.
Small blind: the smaller of two forced bets meant to ensure action in every
hand.
Smooth call: to call a bet when one would normally raise, to play the hand
deceptively.
Snap call, snap: to call very quickly.
Stab: trying to win the pot with a bet. Although I had a weak hand, I
decided to take a stab by leading out.
Stack: the total chips and currency a player has in play at a given moment.
Also, as a verb, going all-in or taking all of an opponent’s chips.
Stack off: going all-in on a poker hand. It may indicate that the player going
all-in does not have a quality hand.
Stakes: the definition of the amount one buys in for.
Steal: the action of a player raising with position for the sole purpose of
winning the blinds and/or antes.
Street: a dealt card or betting round, e.g. as in first street, second street,
third street (flop), fourth street (turn), and fifth street (river).
Suited: having the same suit.
Suited connectors: hole cards that are suited and consecutive in rank, for
example Q♠J♠.
Suited gappers: two cards that share the same suit but have a gap between
them. For example, 7♠9♠ is a “suited one gapper” and 7♠T♠ is a “suited two
gapper”.
T
TAG: short for tight aggressive, a player who plays a small number of strong
starting hands, but, when in pots, plays aggressively.
Tainted outs: cards that improve a hand, but simultaneously improve other
hands even more.
Tell: an indication of hand strength unintentionally given off by an opponent.
Texture: the composition of a board in Hold’em. Terms like “dry”, “wet”, or
“coordinated” refer to board textures.
Three bet, three betting, 3-bet, 3bet: to re-raise by putting in a 3rd unit of
betting. Before the flop, 3-betting means re-raising the first raiser, because
the big blind is considered the first bet. In post-flop play, the 3-bet consists
of an initial bet, a raise, and then a re-raise.
Tight: a style of play that is the opposite of “loose”. Tight play usually
entails selective standards for betting and raising.
Tilt: in a broad sense, tilt is the act of playing worse than you are capable of
playing. A narrow definition of tilt is a frustrated or angry emotional state of
a player, typically after taking a bad beat or losing a big pot.
Top pair: when one of a player’s hole cards matches the highest card on the
board.
Trips: when one of a player’s hole cards connects with two cards on the
board to make three of a kind. This differs from a “set”, where three of a kind
is made when a pocket pair connects with one card on the flop.
Turn: the turn or “turn card” or “fourth street” is the fourth of five cards dealt
to a community card board.
U
Under the gun or UTG: the playing position to the direct left of the blinds.
The player who is under the gun must act first on the first round of betting.
Underdog: an underdog or dog is a player with a smaller chance to win than
another specified player.
Upswing: a period during which a player wins more than expected.
V
Value bet: a bet made by a player who wants it to be called (as opposed to a
bluff or protection bet).
Variance: variance is a mathematical term used to describe the distribution
of results around an expected value. In poker, it also refers to fluctuations in
bankroll.
VPIP: a statistic that stands for Voluntary Put Money In Pot. It represents the
percentage of hands with which a player puts money into the pot pre-flop,
without counting any blind postings. Also called VP$IP. VPIP is an excellent
measure of how tight or loose a player is.
W
Weak player: a player who is easily bullied out of a hand post-flop by any
sort of action (betting, raising), whether he has the best hand or not.
Wet board: when the cards on the table make it possible for players to have
hit strong hands like straights, flushes, or draws. The opposite is a dry
board.

Crushing Low Stakes Poker - How To Make $1, - Mike Turner

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How to Make $1,000s Playing Low Stakes

Part 2: Low Stakes Strategy

Part 3: Increasing Your Profits

About the Author

“This is a comprehensive guide for both newbies and intermediate players.

“I was shocked how valuable this book was.”

Structure and Rules of Sit ’n Gos

Betting Rounds and Betting Action

Flop, Turn and River

Pre-flop Hand Strength

Pre-flop Match- Examples Win

Expressed and Implied Pot Odds

To have a good understanding of the strength of your draw, it’s important to

Effective Stack Size

Whenever a pot represents around 20-25% of your stack, strongly consider

Stack to Pot Ratio

Stack to Pot Ratio Relative Risk

The Independent Chip Model (ICM) is an algorithm that converts a chip

ICM plays a crucial role in Sit ’n Gos and it is very important to

Measuring Success in Poker

ROI = total profit/total buy-ins x 100

Hourly rate = total profit/total number of hours played

Keeping Track of Your Results

Choosing Your Game

Low Stakes Strategy

Low Stakes Strategy: The Foundation

The strategy put forward in this book is designed to exploit these

Playing Tight-Cautious Early On

An example of playing tight-cautious in the early stages of the game is the

Calling Raises Pre-Flop

Calling Bets Post-Flop

To be sure, value betting is generally to be preferred over calling, because

Playing Your Hand Fast

Slowplaying is something you almost never want to do in a low stakes

Observing Stack Sizes

A lot of low stakes players will over-adjust to a small or a big stack.

Exploiting Static Strategies

Favorable Static Strategies

Unfavorable Static Strategies

Playing speculative hands

*** PRE-FLOP ***

Medium Blinds (25/50, 50/100)

High Blinds (75/150, 100/200 and higher)

Averaging Stack Sizes

Accounting for the Ante: True Big Blinds

Do not (frequently) make ICM-based plays versus opponents who do not

Medium stack: you have to be slightly more conservative in picking a lot on

*** PRE-FLOP ***

Increasing Your Profits

Judging Other Players’ Skill Levels

Only Play Poker in the Right State of Mind

Stay Disciplined and Avoid Distractions

Don’t Check Your Results While Playing

How to Deal with Tilt

Poker Tracking and Analysis Software

PokerTracker and Holdem Manager

Setting Up Your HUD

Limitations of ICM and ICM Tools

Poker Forums, Sites and Blogs

Poker Training Sites

Coaching and Training Videos

You might also like

* PRE-FLOP *

* PRE-FLOP *