Pocket money

	ABC players leave themselves wide open for a strong player to take a lot of pots away from them. That kind of play will never return much profit

Tournament poker may have taken the world by storm but cash games are still the lifeblood of poker. And, what’s more, they’re back in vogue thanks to the brilliant TV show High Stakes Poker.

More importantly, if you know what you’re doing, it’s a format in which you can consistently make good money. So if you’re fed up of getting knocked out of tournaments by bad beats from shocking players, it’s time you gave ring games a serious look.

While your local cardroom will probably start the action at an already fairly steep £0.50/£1, due to its overhead costs and rake and/or hourly charge, the internet caters to players at every level. The micro stakes tables on just about every site start at $0.01/$0.02 and rise through dozens of limits until reaching a nosebleed-inducing $300/$600 level. And while that’s fine for Ivey and co, you probably haven’t got hundreds of thousands of dollars to chuck at the game.

So, over the following article, we’ll equip you with some of the skills you need to make consistent profits in low stakes no-limit Hold’em cash games.

Getting started

If you haven’t played cash games before, or are relatively new to them, the first thing to get your head around is the difference between ring games and tournament play.

For starters, every chip on the table is worth real money, so your considerations for playing a hand (in particular, the betting) should be different. For example, despite the fact that each individual chip may be worth more in a cash game than if you had bought into a tournament, they’re not as precious, because in a tournament when you go broke, you’re out and get nothing, while in a cash game you can just reload and win it all back.

The other thing to grasp is that the blinds in a cash game never increase and, assuming that everyone at the table buys in for the table maximum, play will predominantly be based around deep stacks. In other words, if you’re used to short- stacked sit-and-gos or tournaments where pre-flop all-ins are the norm, you’re going to have to rethink the way you play.

Some claim that cash games are like the first level of a tournament and to some extent that’s true. The blinds are tiny compared to the stacks, and even players buying in short aren’t forced to make stack-busting decisions pre-flop.

But that’s where the comparison ends. Standard tournament strategy tends to consist of playing tight early on and loosening up later as the blinds become more important to steal. But in cash games, where the blinds are always small, stealing them for the sake of it shouldn’t be a real consideration. If it is, you’re probably playing at levels too high for your bankroll!

Sitting down

After you’ve checked out the cash game lobby to carefully select a table, we recommend you sit down with the maximum buy-in at your chosen level. We bought in for $50 at a six-handed $0.25/$0.50 table for our session, but you can easily play even lower if you wish. However, at the $0.25/$0.50 level most of the players you face will at least have a certain understanding of the game and, in many ways, will be easier to manipulate than some of the crazy micro stakes players.

At low limits (rather than micro) you’ll find that the average player will bet when they think they’re winning, call when they’ve got a strong drawing hand or a marginal grip on the flop, and fold in the face of aggressive play if they think they’re behind. This ABC poker might sound like a solid way to play, and it’s unlikely anyone would go bust in this fashion, but these players are leaving themselves wide open for a strong player (you) to take a lot of pots away from them.

And just as important, that kind of basic play will never return much profit or enable the player to move up the levels.

Patient preparation

A policy of patience might not sound like the most glamorous way to start a cash game but, unless you pick up some monster hands, it’s definitely the best. Remember, there’s no rush to get involved in the action.

Cash games are available 24/7 all year round, so settle down and get a feel for how the table is playing. Pay attention to the aggressive players who are betting and raising more than others, what hands are shown down (click on the table’s hand history to check), who folds pre-flop to a raise, and who defends their big blind with a marginal hand.

You’ll often come across the same small group of players battling it out at any given level, so it’s vital to take note of the ins and outs of how they’re playing.

Don’t worry about not throwing yourself straight into raises and re-raises. Mucking your rags and marginal hands will build you a solid table image.

After you’ve folded a few blinds away the more observant players will have you pegged as a tight-aggressive player – i.e. not someone that will raise and bet with any old rubbish – and this will give you a lot of power when you do make a move. First impressions count for a lot, so if the first hand you show down is a solid one, your opponents will continue to give your raises due respect.

Hand selection/position

Starting-hand selection is obviously important, but what you do with those that you choose to play is even more so. To begin with you’re best avoiding investing much in hands that will give you tricky decisions after the flop.

For this reason get into the habit of mucking suited gappers like 7♦-10♦, or hands with some high-card value and flush potential like K♣-7♣, as it’s hard to know where you are if you hit middle pair or have top pair with a weak kicker. Instead, look to either build big pots with big pairs and big slick (A-K) or keep the pot small, limping in with baby pairs with the express aim of hitting a set. If you limp with 5-5 and face a raise from a big stack that will cost you a small percentage of your stack it’s usually worth calling for the 7.5/1 shot of flopping a third Five.

If you hit and they’ve got an overpair to the board, there’s a great chance you’ll clean them out. And if you do out-flop your opponent, a standard but effective way to play a set out of position (on innocuous-looking boards) is to check- call the flop and check-raise the turn when your move could be taken as a semi-bluff. Of course, the more players in the hand the faster you should play a set, particularly if the board has straight and flush possibilities.

Reasons to raise

There are plenty of reasons to raise in cash games and, in no-limit, many amounts that you can raise to, but the two key points to consider before you reach for your chips, are whether you’re trying to create value or trying to isolate the opposition. Raising for value simply means getting more money in the pot because you think you’ve got a good hand, are trying to build a juicy pot, or are playing with an edge against a weak player.

Raising can also act to isolate a hand against just one or two players, as is especially effective after a couple of players have limped in, when you have a big hand that doesn’t fare so well against multiple callers. You’ll quite often take down the pot pre-flop but that doesn’t mean you should slow-play big hands. If your opponents fold, they fold, but by failing to raise you’re missing the chance to build a big pot.

Also, a limp or weak raise with Aces or Kings can get you in trouble as you’re making it very cheap for someone to take a flyer at the flop. If you get three or four callers with your big pair it’s quite likely that you’ll either win a very small pot or lose a very big one. If the board comes down 9♦-J♣-Q♦, for example, any number of hands could be beating (or have a strong draw against) your Aces, and it’s easy to end up paying them off.

Remember, at these stakes you don’t need to get crafty to profit – big hands deserve big raises. Limping with hands that can get you paid off, such as small pocket pairs or suited connectors, is a different matter, as you should only invest significant money into the pot if you hit the flop hard.

Position and control

So much of no-limit Hold’em is about position and control. If you’re first into a pot, take control of it with a raise in the range of three to four times the big blind. Despite what the teacher may have told you at school, bullying is fun and it is clever. Not only will it make you chuckle with glee, but you’ll also get the benefit of watching your stack grow like Jack’s beanstalk.

However, it must be controlled, calculated aggression, not just maniacal stuff. Make sure that when you make a re-raise you’re asking a significant enough question, otherwise you’re always pricing the other player in to call. If they come back over the top and you haven’t got a premium hand you can let the hand go and pick a better spot.

There’s no way to guarantee success at the cash tables, but by taking control of pots, limiting any passive play and attacking signs of weakness, you’ll set yourself in good stead to make a regular profit.