How to beat 50NL 6Max Part 3

continues from previous post.



Neutral EV/Marginal Situations

These situations occur when you are making a tough decision that is not clear cut and could go either way. Calling a river bet that would lead to an EV of around zero. The outcome is the same as folding. The difference in your winrate over time will be negligable. By calling these marginal situations will only increase your volatility and maybe change your percieved table image at the time. Dont chase small ev situations at this level, keep the volatility low and get our money in when you are in a clearly +ev situation. Concentrate more on how to extract the most money with your +ev situations not the tough decision hands. My game is about easy decisions.


Avoiding the Regulars for now

Now I am not saying run for the hills if you see a regular player at your table. They are just human and just because they are a reg that doesnt mean they are better than you. The fact is though at 50nl there are so many fish that you dont need to battle it out with a reg for 2bb/100 when you have players that you can extract 10+bb/100. It makes no sens at 50nl to be sitting at a table with 4 regs +1 fish. Unless the fish is deepstacked and to your immediate right, then up and leave. There will be 20+ other tables with which to feed on.

I think the next evolution of poker will be to learn how to play back at the regs. Learning how to add on another 2bb/100 by including the regs that you feed on. But this is not needed at 50nl to make money.

If you are to play against any regs just know they are not calling stations and will let you know when you are beat. Regulars are normally sold multitablers and will not bluff often. Steal from them with half pot bets and fold to any aggro. Pick on the weak, table select well and dont sit and lose value with a table full of regs.


Stealing Blinds

There are a lot of players unaware of the blind steal and also a lot of regulars that will automatically fold to a blind steal. This provides a lot of inocme over the course of thousands of hands. If you are sitting on the button and the blinds are tight players then bet. On the next orbit, if you are folded to, bet again. Keep doing this until they play back at you. Put them off their game and become a thorn in their side. This will make them frustrated and they will start to play pots with you when they are out of position. This also can achieve great pay offs when you hit a large hand on the button.

Even if called a continuation bet (cbet) will normally take the pot down. Just be aware of coordinated boards and players calling range. You can always wait until next orbit if its marginal.

Obviously the worst type of player to steal from is the Loose Aggressive player (LAG). Keep this one low on the steal frequency and maybe move table if LAGs on the left and no LAG's on your right.

Blind stealing is essential for a decent winrate.


Session Review

At the end of each session, spare yourself around 10 mins to go over some highlights of your play. Use PT to find the top 3-5 hands of both wins and losses. Replay them and see if you could have done anything different. Were you ahead when the money went in ? Did you apply the right pressure and could you have found out you were beat earlier in the hand.

The winning hands are just as important here as you may have left money on the table. Ask yourself was the bet sizing correct. Could you have extracted more $?

Give yourself some time to go over these hands and anything you are unsure of ask someone. Use forums like twoplustwo, ask some poker buddies or even send an email to me and Ill give you my opinion. There is no downside to asking someone if you could have played it differently.


As i said earlier, this is pretty much how I have beat 50nl over this year. Its not about playing fancy. Its about playing solid poker and creating situations with easy decisions. 50nl is not aggressive and has a lot of dead money floating around. Play more hands in position, control the bet sizing and stay away from marginal decisions and you should be making some relatively easy money.

Hope that helps someone.

Feel free to donate :)

Ryverrat.