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Once you start to hit the $20-$40 and $30-$60 levels then the games can be so aggressive that the players on your table can start to resemble maniacs. I think that there are clear differences between a true maniac and someone who is merely very loose aggressive.

There is often a far more deliberate methodology behind the style of a loose aggressive player than that of a true maniac. However, whether we are looking at a true maniac or merely a very loose aggressive player then one thing is certain, they can be very tough to play against for an awful lot of players.

Maniacs in limit hold ‘em will typically have a VPIP of at least 45% and many maniacs are hitting 50%+. Ideally you want to be sitting to their left so that you can three bet to isolate them. All poker variations demand that you strive to achieve proper frequencies and any player who is playing more than 40% of their hands in six max limit hold’em is playing too loose.

Then if their pre-flop raise percentage isn’t too far behind their VPIP then you can rest assured that you are looking at a player that is too aggressive. These are my favourite opponents to play against but you need to be very careful in six handed games facing aggressive players or maniacs. Hyper aggressive play and even maniac play isn’t too far removed from being optimal strategy in these sorts of games so some of your ultra aggressive opponents may be playing close to optimally.

If your post flop play is a little on the tight side and you don’t reach the river often enough then you may find yourself getting run over and especially if you find a player sitting out or that the game has suddenly become four or five handed. You also need to remember that there are clear differences between how a player can play pre-flop to how they play post flop with regards their levels of aggression.

It is for this reason that you need to classify just what type of “maniac” you are going up against as many players who are perceived as being maniacs are actually world class players. Another important factor to consider is that of bankroll requirements. Limit hold ‘em has become tougher to beat and especially online over the past couple of years.

What this means is that the old yardsticks of 250 big bets as an adequate bankroll no longer applies and hasn’t done for some considerable time. One of the things that started to needle me in limit hold ‘em was the increasing variance and several huge (huge for me) swings of around 300 big bets in a very short space of time really did it for me and was why I switched to playing SNG’s and NLHE.

I know many pro’s at the higher limits who have 1000 big bet bankrolls. It is amazing to think now that a $20-$40 player could need as much as $40,000 to ensure not going broke and that is presuming that they are a winning player to begin with.

The extra aggressive tendencies of players in most levels of limit play mean that you will require a far bigger bankroll even as a winning player than what most players can ever imagine. This is why playing maniacs and ultra aggressive players can be so dangerous especially to inexperienced players or players who are not used to experiencing large negative swings.

Even if you are +EV against these players then it may take a long time before you eventually get their money and if you are prone to tilt then any profit that you may have had theoretically can soon be wiped out. I used to leave the table if I felt that a really tough aggressive player had position over me.

But a true maniac is rather different and will often not just play wild pre-flop but also post flop as well. You are going to have to accept that you are going to have to call down with many losing hands as this is an advantage to their style of play in that they get paid off and raised more often when they are ahead.

One of the key features of limit games is to be able to get the hand heads up with added dead money in the middle. This can make many marginal hands profitable. You already know that a maniac is raising and re-raising on a wide range so in effect they are helping you to generate profit.

Then it comes down to not letting them get the better of you in heads up situations as you cannot afford to pass on too much equity by allowing them to bully you out of too many hands. Knowing when to be aggressive against them post flop and when to control the pot comes with experience and a thorough treatise would be far beyond the scope of this article. But if you can hold your own post flop against maniacs and not be pushed around then they can help you to make a lot of money in limit hold ‘em.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson is sponsored by the online poker site, Cake Poker and can be seen at www.pokersharkpool.com.

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Micro Stakes

I would classify this level at anything starting from $0.01-$0.02 up to and including $0.10-$0.20. You will encounter various definitions of what constitutes “low stakes” and “medium stakes” etc but much of this is dependent on the outlook of certain players. A player who had only ever played $200-$400 may consider $50-$100 to be medium stakes or even $75-$150.

It is not my purpose to debate these interpretations, merely to provide you with firm guidelines. You will not encounter serious players at micro-stakes games. These levels will be full of poker novices and players recently converted from play money games.

You can sometimes use these levels as a training tool to practice things like multi-tabling or trying out a sites software without it costing you too much money. I remember when I first used my Poker Office software, I used it in micro-stakes games until I became versatile with it. So the upshot is that these games are beatable but the rake is very high.

Low Stakes

Here I would classify the games from $0.25-$0.50 up to and including $3-$6. These levels are still very soft and can be beaten by a player with a good solid game who can also play decent poker post flop. These levels are basically populated by many recreational players and players who simply want to play for more meaningful amounts of money without it hurting them too much.

Obviously you are going to encounter differences at either extremes of what I classify as low stakes. For instance an average player at $3-$6 will be better than the average player at $0.25-$0.50 but in my experience the difference is not insurmountable for someone who is just prepared to put a little work and effort into improving their game.

Just like the low stakes games, the rake can be very high here too and it is imperative that you acquire a decent rakeback deal. But decent pre-flop and post flop play should make you a winner in these games.

Middle Stakes

I would classify games at the $5-$10 to $20-$40 levels as middle limit but as I have said, definitions can differ. Now you will be starting to see a big increase in skill and you may now encounter professional players for the first time and serious amateurs. These are the levels that have seriously toughened over the past few years and now you start to encounter important factors like game selection coming to the fore.

You are gong to have to work much harder on your own game to succeed at these levels and you will encounter many types of plays that you didn’t experience at the lower levels. Plays like bluff-raising the river and three betting pre-flop with small suited connectors as a balancing play. With a good game and decent game selection then you can still make money at these levels.

High Stakes

Anything from $30-$60 to $100-$200 is high-stakes action although many players would call $30-$60 as middle limit. Personally having played $150-$300 and $30-$60, I have played in many games where I have not been able to tell the difference.

I seriously do not recommend to anyone to get involved with these games unless you have proven yourself at the higher end of the middle limits over a considerable number of hands (20,000+). The technical level of the average player in these games will be very high and you will have to game select with meticulous care in order to find the value.

In fact you could easily find yourself in situations in which the so called weak players in these games are still very strong. Most of the time you will be better off simply playing more tables at a lower level than moving up into these.

Nosebleed Stakes

Anything $150-$300 level or above is what I call “nosebleed” stakes. This means that a daily loss can be in the region of $15,000 or more. The players in these games will be the very best in the world and finding any kind of value will be a serious test. The variance at this level will also be more severe due to the very aggressive nature of the games and the high average skill level.

It is common for players at these levels to have bankrolls of at least 500 big bets. In fact many professional players have double that figure and swings of 300 big bets are common. Imagine going on a 400 big bet downswing at $300-$600 ($240,000). Stay well clear of these games unless you are either one of the very best in the world or you have beaten the high-stakes games over a highly significant sample size.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson is sponsored by Cake Poker and can be seen at www.cakepoker.com/thedean and at www.pokersharkpool.com

We have all been in these situations at various stages of our poker playing lives and felt at a loss for what to do. Well what can you do? Following is a list of options that are available to any player who is really unsure about what to do if they feel that they are being pushed around by certain players.

1. LEAVE THE TABLE

This option is perhaps one of the least exercised options of all and yet for the life of me I don’t know why. Actually I will contradict myself here because I do know why! After all, you came to play poker and you don’t want to run away with your tail between your legs. But if you don’t feel comfortable in a certain situation then it would seem highly likely that this is because you simply don’t have the knowledge or experience to be able to deal with it.

Poker is played mainly by men and many men have ego problems and this can certainly lead you into losing your money in poker. The problem with loose aggressive players in 6 max games is that their style of play is more accurate than it would be in a full ring simply because you need to be more aggressive in 6 max games anyway.

But the next time that you are seated in a game where aggressive players are either making you feel uncomfortable or preventing you from playing your normal game then leaving the table is a far better option than staying and playing with one hand tied behind your back.

2. CHANGE SEATS

Literally no one but very knowledgeable players exercise this option. Sometimes you may not have the choice of where you are seated in an online 6 max game but that does not mean to say that you should just accept the seat that you are given. We all know about the importance of position in poker! But a good or aggressive player having position on you on every hand is going to blunt your earning potential in that game significantly.

A well known concept in poker is how money flows in a clockwise direction. But a good strong aggressive player sitting on your immediate left is likely to be exposing you to their full arsenal of plays. They will re-raise you far more often than other types of players. They will float you more frequently as well and look to put pressure plays on you.

They will also stop you from making many profitable plays as well like steal raising the blinds or bluffing in three way pots simply because they will also recognise those very same bluffing opportunities themselves.

Changing seats if you have that option is a very strong alternative. Ideally you would like to have position on any player who is loose aggressive or very good or both. At least that way, you can pass all your marginal hands when they open raise and steal far more often on the occasions when they fold. This is before we even discuss the advantages post flop. So always be on the lookout for the most optimum seats in any poker game and do not be afraid to leave the table in order to change your seat so that you can combat the bully in 6 max games.

3. FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE

So what if you don’t want to leave the table and what if you haven’t got the option of changing seats? Well, if you want to stop any bully from picking on you not just in poker but in life and you are not prepared to use evasive tactics in some way then you have to play back at them even if it means increasing your risk of getting seriously injured.

Quite often in poker, putting more money at risk in selected situations not only increases your earn rate but it also deters players from trying to run over you as well. If you want to take advantage of many situations in poker then you have got to place more money on the table most of the time.

For instance, if you want to steal the blinds then the best way to do it is by open raising. You may take the blinds straight away or you may need to continuation bet the flop to get rid of your opponent. Likewise with standing up to the bully, you cannot simply stand up to them by calling their bets and raises all the time. If you want to make a stand against this type of player then re-raising is the best way to do it.

If you are in the big blind for instance and you are getting a little sick and tired of the aggressive button player constantly taking your blinds then look to widen your re-raising range. You can rest assured that the button will have noticed your rate of folding your big blind and their open raising range will be very wide and could possibly be with almost any two cards depending on how often they have been getting a walk. So in this instance, you can re-raise and should be re-raising on a much wider range of hands and this will make your aggressive opponent tighten their range substantially as well when they start getting played back at.

These three ways of dealing with bullies in six max games ought to be adopted into your game as quickly as possible for the simple fact that there are far more bullies around in six max games than there has ever been and you will be encountering them on a daily basis.

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But in this article, we will only be looking at fixed position which obviously cannot change during the course of any one particular hand. But there are numerous reasons for why you must pay very special attention to your position before entering into the pot. Having good fixed position affords you the following advantages.

1. It allows you to raise weak limpers and take control of the pot. This could possibly drive out the blinds and create dead money in the pot.
2. It allows you to assess what has happened in front of you and to adjust your range based on what you have seen.
3. Good position can increase the amount of profit that you extract from your good hands simply because you have more information in which to base your betting decisions.
4. It can also work in reverse as well and save you money on your bad hands.
5. Having good position can help you to win entire pots when you check after your opponents and take free cards.
6. It can also help you bluff better as you will have more information to go on by the time the action reaches you.
7. You also have more information to go on with regards deciding whether or not to fire that all important second barrel.

I could literally go on all day quoting examples of why having good fixed position in NLHE is not only important, it is critical. You have so many advantages when you have good position and many more disadvantages when you don’t. The flip side to point number three is that you will extract less money from your winning hands when you have bad position as well and this is purely and simply because you have less information in which to base your decisions.

Unlike games you might play in an online casino, poker is a game of incomplete information and it is this factor that can make the game very frustrating at times. There is a large amount of information that we either miss during the play of an actual hand or cannot get access to like our opponents actual holding for instance. So it is hardly surprising then that we really can do without making this situation any worse by denying ourselves of even more information by continually playing hands from early position in NLHE.

I would rather play a hand like 8-6 with good position than play something like A-10 from under the gun in a 6 max game. Although the overall range of hands that you can play from late position is affected greatly by the game and player dynamics of your opposition.

But I will attack from late position with a far wider range of hands in lower stakes games at say $1-$2 than I would in higher games at the $25-$50 level for instance. Lower stakes players will commit far more post flop errors than many of their higher stakes counterparts. Errors like calling raises from out of position for instance, and then check folding the flop to a continuation bet when heads up.

Failing to attack weak blinds with the proper frequency is as good as leaving money on the table. Do not let weak small stakes players off the hook by folding hands like J-9 for instance on the button. Out of the 1326 possible two card starting hands in hold’em, I will open raise or raise a limper with a very wide range of those hands in low stakes games when the blinds are either weak or tight or both.

But as you begin to move up through the levels then your extra positional aggression simply will not be tolerated and you will find yourself getting played back at far more often. When it has been folded around to you in late position and you make an opening raise, you have made what I call a “first phase” play.

What this means is that even though you have raised, because of the dynamics of the situation…..number of players…..position….previous action…..your likely range etc then your play is merely standard and that you will be raising with a much wider range of possible hands because of this.

Better players understand this and re-raise more often than weaker players and this is what I call “phase two”. Because “phase one” is a bog standard play then in the bigger games, “phase two” has also become a standard play as well. What this means is that if I open raise from the cut-off in a game like $25-$50 NLHE for instance and get re-raised by a strong big blind player, depending on my data on that player then I will likely raise again and make what I call a “phase three” play.

Either that or I may just call and then look to take the pot away from them from the flop onwards by using my position as a weapon on the subsequent betting streets. This alternative line is what I called a “delayed phase three”. What I suppose that I am trying to say here is that your level of aggression in late position in all NLHE 6 max games must be structured to meet the dynamics and the playing styles of the players who are on your table.

Very strong players will know (especially players who use tracking software) who is stepping out of line and will adjust their play accordingly. But remember that the point of this article was to underline the importance of position. Although most players in poker these days understand position and the importance of it to a certain extent, it is still a problem for many players to put into practice what they know to be correct. But if you become aware of the problems that are created by having bad position and you are determined enough to not fall into those traps then you could easily become a far more successful poker player literally overnight.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson is sponsored by Pokerheaven and can be seen at www.pokerheaven.com/thedean

It’s a spot that comes up often and is almost always tough to deal with. What the best action is will depend on a variety of factors: what your position is, what your opponent’s position is, who your opponent is, how you’ve been playing at the table (and perhaps in the past against this opponent), how your opponent has been playing at the table and how he’s played in the past against you.

So, yes, there are a million factors that come into play and it’s hard to tell my students what to do in every situation. Today, I’ll concentrate on one situation where I do believe you can follow some general rules since you will often play against opponents with many similar styles, specifically, the tight-aggressive (TAG) player. The situation occurs when you open-raise on the button, and either the small blind (SB) or big blind (BB) 3-bets you.

This spot will come up frequently since you should be open-raising the button with a wide range of hands. Being on the button is a very powerful position, and it will add greatly to your win rate if you try to play a wide range of hands in that position.

So how should you generally react to the SB or BB 3-betting you when you open-raise the button? My first word of advice is to play tightly until you’ve established some history against your opponent and you know that he knows you are raising a lot on the button and you know that he is willing to start 3-betting a wider range of hands to protect his blinds.

I have played back lightly against SB and BB 3-bets when I’m on the button when I’m new at the table and lost my stack very easily because of it. An hour later, I’ll realize the player who 3-bet me was actually a very tight player and in no way should I have been calling his 3-bet with hands like KJo or T9s.

Again, it’s better to play tightly and continue with your good to very good hands until you’ve got a better idea of how he plays. I would generally say this would be with 99 or better and AQo or better, but you can certainly add a couple hands. Now, how to play those postflop against an unknown player is a whole other subject that I’ll skip for today.

So let’s say I’ve been at an online NLHE 6-max table for an hour and have some reads to go off of. When it’s been folded to me on the button, I’ve raised with hands as weak as 85s and T8o. Perhaps the SB or BB, who are tight and aggressive players, have noticed this tendency, and they’ve started 3-betting me when I raise the button. They’ve 3-bet me a few times now and I know that they can’t be getting dealt big pocket pairs and AK every hand — they’re obviously 3-betting hands like small pairs, suited connectors or some other kind of marginal holding.

I have to fight fire with fire. I’m going to start using my positional advantage to abuse this tendency of my opponents to 3-bet me with marginal hands when they are out of position.

My main tactic to play back against my opponents in these spots is to call their 3-bet with a wide range of hands – let’s say, most suited connectors (65s and up), any two suited broadway (JTs or better), and some of my good but not great broadway hands (KJo or better).

Now, when I call with these kind of hands, I’m not calling just to hit a big draw or a big hand like two pair. I’m going to be semibluffing often on the flop, with hands such as middle pair or a gutshot.

For example, say I’m playing in a $2/$4 NLHE game on Poker Stars. I raise on the button with 6s5s to $14, and the BB, who is a tight yet fairly aggressive regular who knows that I raise with a wide range on the button, 3-bets me to $52. I have $400 to start the hand, and I call this raise.

The flop comes Jc 4s 6h. My opponents bets $76 into the $106 pot, and I shove in $272 over the top that raise. It’s a big shove, but if you’re raising here, it’s better to just put all the money in.

You might be asking, why not just call the flop and fold to another bet? In this spot, I like to shove because by calling, I usually give off to my opponent that we have a one-pair type of hand, and I can be bluffed off it on the turn. Also, there are many cards that can come that will improve my opponent’s hand to the best hand.

Also, it’s not terrible if we shove and get called, since it’s very likely we have 5 outs to improve to trips or two-pair to beat him, which is a roughly 20% chance to win. Rarely will we be getting out money in with a very small chance to win. And here’s the thing; if my opponent is 3-betting a wide range of hands in this spot, he’s simply going to be missing this flop way too much. If he’s 3-betting hands like 98s, A5s and 22, there’s not going to be many flops he likes and if we are shoving any piece of any flop we get, he’s simply going to have to fold and we’re going to win a nice pot. If he does have something to call us with, we have some kind of draw to back us up to improve to the best hand.

There are other benefits to this play as well. Often times, it will slow down your opponent from 3-betting us as much since he knows you can play back with marginal hands. It will make your life a little easier as you can raise the button without your opponents fighting back as much.

Also, it will make it more likely you will get paid off when you do hit a hand like two-pair, a set, or when you slowplay AA (by just calling your opponent’s 3-bet). If he knows you can go all-in with middle pair, he’s might even start calling with hands like TT in the example above.

The great thing about getting called more when you do actually have a hand, is that you will start getting paid off in spots where you don’t really bluff. What I mean by this is when you are in other positions at the table – like under-the-gun, where you are generally playing strong hands – you will get called by worse hands in other spots by this opponent because he assumes you can make moves in a wide range of spots. When in reality, you are making a very specific move based on the button versus the blind dynamic that happens in aggressive 6-max games.

Just a word of caution; don’t start calling every hand in this spot and shoving every piece from now on. It’s never going to a big mistake to play tightly against 3-bets. You must use it selectively and generally have a good reason for it. Doing this move against tight players who don’t 3-bet very much can be a losing play. Doing this in other spots where your opponent’s 3-bet means a strong hand (such as when you raise under-the-gun and your opponent 3-bets you) can be a very bad play.

As you can see, I just spent quite a bit of time talking about a very specific spot when dealing with 3-bets. There are other ways to play back in this spot, such as 4-bet bluffing, but the move described above is my favorite and most common tactic to fight back.

Start mixing it in at the right spots. You’ll get a better feel for the right time to use it and you’ll become a much tougher opponent to play against.

Bill “billyjex” Vosti is the author of Skilled Online Poker’s “How to Beat No-Limit Hold ‘Em 6-max Cash Games” e-book.

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The reprinted section below deals with playing limped pots in 6 max games. Learn more about Vosti’s book at SkilledOnlinePoker.com

Chapter 15: Limped Pots
Limped pots (when there are no raises preflop but at least one call) are always difficult for a TAG. We’re just not used to limping and dealing with hands like top pair no kicker in a small pot. I believe the solution is very simple: just don’t worry about them very much.

There’s not much value to be made from winning limped pots. You’ll usually be in the SB or BB in these pots and you should only really get involved if you flop a very big hand.

Certainly don’t bluff in these pots, especially if they’re multi-way. A semibluff is ok if you have an 8-out or more draw. Be wary of small flush draws though; a hand like 5♠2♠ on a T♠9♠8♣ board is pretty worthless and should be check/folded. It’s a classic example of reverse implied odds.

A very good player once told me that if you’re getting all-in on the flop in a limped pot without the nuts, you’re probably doing something wrong. And he’s right. While that’s not a rule set in stone, getting all in with bottom two-pair for 100 BBs when you flopped two pair with 64o in the BB is going to be a losing play.

My general guidelines for limped pots are:

•When you flop top pair, no kicker, it’s only worth one bet at most. K3 on a KQ8 flop is a very bad hand. If there are 2 or more players, I often won’t even put a dime in the pot.

• When the SB open completes and you check the BB and he checks to you on the flop, it’s OK to fire out a small bet to take the pot. Otherwise, never bet into a limped pot with nothing.

• If you bet an 8-out draw and get raised, never 3-bet as a semibluff. Just call and try to hit. Only with a huge combo draw like an open-ended straight flush draw would I 3-bet on the flop as a semibluff in a limped pot.

•Be very careful with two pair. If you have two pair and there are possible straights or flushes on board, getting all-in is usually very bad. If you have top two pair on a dry board, then it’s ok to bomb away with bets.

• Be careful with trips, no kicker. A hand like T3 on a TT2 board isn’t going to be very good when you are getting a lot of action. Proceed with caution.

Learn more about Vosti’s book at SkilledOnlinePoker.com

That conversation is what gave me the idea for this article. It struck me that while a high level of preflop aggression is in many ways an optimal strategy for shorthanded no limit, it’s still going to be tough to utilize that (or any) strategy effectively if you’re using it ‘mindlessly.’ To put it another way, it’s not enough to know that raising preflop should result in a winning outcome. You have to be aware of the effects you’re hoping to achieve by raising preflop and the connection between those effects and a profitable outcome, and that’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in this article.

The concepts discussed in this article are rooted in experiences at mid stakes online no limit 6 max games, but should be relatively transferable to a wide variety of limits, formats and games.

You raise preflop to: Gain position for the rest of the hand
Acting last in a hand on all post-flop streets is an advantage that’s worth your investment. Think of how much easier it is to play somewhat marginal hands like straight draws, top pair with medium kicker, and so on when you get to act last on the flop, turn and river. When you’re one or two off the button with a hand that plays better with position, it’s often worth it to raise just to try and ‘steal the button’, as doing so literally increases the value of your hand.

You raise preflop to: Maximize the value of position
In theory, thinking players should see a direct, positive relationship between the amount of information they have in a hand and the quality of the decisions they make. The better your position, the more information you have, and the better your decision making will be. Getting more money in the middle when you have that kind of fundamental edge over your opponents is a tactic that’s going to yield positive results in the long run.

You raise preflop to: Make opponents play more predictably
Poker is all about the deductive process of determining what hand your opponent is most likely to hold. When you just limp, you lower the risk your opponents face by getting involved in the hand. With lower risk, opponents are likely to play a much larger range of hands, making your job of narrowing that range far more difficult. Raising preflop helps you to tighten that range from the word go. Additionally, raising preflop builds the pot which has two effects. One, as pots get larger in 100BB buy in and under games, it becomes more and more difficult for most opponents to disguise their hands. Two, average players just tend to behave more obviously in larger pots as they begin to freeze and act reflexively.

You raise preflop to: Narrow the field
While there are certainly situations where you prefer to play multi-way pots, the general rule of thumb in no limit hold’em is that the fewer opponents you have, the greater the chance that you’re going to win the pot. Narrowing the field also gives you more chances to engage in direct confrontations with opponents, giving you more information about how they play in various situations, and increasing the potential for you to exploit those tendencies.

You raise preflop to: Build pots
The larger pots get, the more likely bad opponents are to make mistakes, especially if they’re already stuck.

You raise preflop to: Take the initiative
In heads up pots, your opponents miss the flop more than they hit. The same is true for you. Whoever takes the lead in the betting preflop is likely to win the (very substantial number of) pots where neither player flops anything. Raising preflop creates the presumption that you have something, and when your opponent misses (or flops weak), it dramatically increases the chance that you’ll be able to win the pot with a bet on the flop.

You raise preflop to: Frustrate opponents
Whether they know it or not, people generally sit down in poker games with some sort of general expectation regarding how much they should ‘get to’ play. When you raise preflop, you force them to fold some hands that they would have played if they were allowed to limp (or see the flop for cheap / free from their blinds). Eventually, most players will get annoyed (again, whether they realize it consciously or not) by the disconnect between how many hands they expected to get to play and how many hands they’re actually playing, and they’ll often start playing hands solely to make up the gap. Whenever you can make people play hands for a reason other than a positive expectation over the long run, you’re probably doing something right.

You raise preflop to: Isolate bad players
It sounds obvious to say that playing hands with bad players is how you make money in texas holdem. But as obvious as it sounds, a lot of players still don’t take the logical next step suggested by the truism – doing everything (within reason) to get into pots against bad players heads up. When a bad player limps and you have position, or a bad player is in the blinds and you’re opening the pot, not raising allows other people to come into the pot against the bad player, decreasing your equity in the pot. Not only that, but bad players are only going to be at the table (and the site) for so long – you can’t afford to just passively sit back and hope for a confrontation to develop. You have to actively take steps to force that confrontation before one of your smarter opponents does.

That’s far from a definitive list of reasons to raise preflop, but it’s a start. Hopefully it’s enough to get you thinking about what you’re trying to accomplish by raising before the flop – because it’s that sort of thinking that stops your aggression from being mindless and instead develops it into a tool for increasing both your control over the game and your win rate.

This article is intended to give a beginning/intermediate player a general idea on how to play a solid pre-flop game at micro NL 6-max. Hopefully someone can build on a few of these ideas and become a winning player.

Position is Everything

I’ll start out talking about position because it is one of the biggest aspects of the game that is frequently overlooked by beginners (and even experienced players). This will probably get a big yawn out of some people but I cannot stress the importance of position enough if you want to play a profitable game.

It is important to understand that the strength of your hand is relative to how many players are still waiting to act behind you and whether you’ll be in or out of position after the flop. I’ll try a general analogy to explain it better. Suppose you are one of 5 people in a line that are given a random number ranging from 1 to 10. You are first in line and you are given the number 7, would you bet me 20$ that your number is highest than all 4 people behind you? What if you were next to last on line, and given the number 7 again? Would you bet that your number is higher than the person behind you? I know I sure would. If you are first in line, the number 7 has around a 13% chance to be the highest number of the 5, if you are next to last it has a 60% of being higher than the number of the person is holding behind you. Not brain surgery here, but it’s this same concept that many people ignore on the poker table. This is why standard opening ranges change with your position relative to the button.

This is only half the story of position. Suppose you open raise with AQ under the gun and the button calls you. After the flop you are going to be ‘out of position’ as the first person to act. The button will be ‘in position’ because he gets to see you act first, and therefore has an advantage over you. The value of your hand decreases when you are OOP (out of position) because of this concept. Strong players like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey both know the value of having position and wield it like a sword to outplay their opponents or make thin value-bets that are much harder to do OOP. You need to make it a habit to be conscience of your position at the table at all times, because it is the rock on which strong hold’em play is built.

Preflop Basics

I always say never open limp. It’s going to allow strong players behind you to raise with position, and most of the time you’ll be out of position with a piece of the flop in a family pot and not knowing where you are at. There are tables where open limping isn’t that bad, like limping with a tiny pair UTG at a very loose-passive table, but the majority of the time you shouldn’t be doing it and is going to cost you money in the long run. Also, get out of the habit of completing in the small blind with trash. Most players think “oh it’s only another half of a blind” but don’t think of the money they could potentially be losing on future streets because they are stuck OOP with a marginal hand in a tough spot. And let me define trash. KT suited is trash. A9 off is trash in the small blind. Avoid them; it’ll save you a lot of money.

A standard raise at the micros is 4 x bb + 1 for every limper already in the pot. Get in the habit of raising like this or else you will be giving odds for people to limp-call your raise and we generally want to isolate and play our hand against a single opponent. Here is a general opening range chart for 6-max beginners. Notice I said general, and notice I said beginners. Nothing in poker is set in stone and you need to eventually be able to change gears in tandem with the table dynamic and adding/removing hands in your range accordingly.

UTG: 22+, AQo+, AJs+,

UTG-1: 22+, AJo+, ATs+, KQ, KJs

MP: 22+, ATo+, A8s+, KJo+, 9Ts+

CO: 22+, A8o+, A6s+, KTo+, K8s+. QJo+, 78s+

BTN: 22+ A6o+, Axs+, K8o+ K6s+, Q8s+, 89o+, 54s+

NEVER limp on the button. Notice how wide this button range might seem. This is a pretty tight range for raising on the button. The button is going to be your most profitable position, you need to abuse it as much as possible, especially if people aren’t adapting to your aggression. If you are going to play recklessly, the button is the place to do it.

If it’s folded to you in the SB and you have any one of these hands you should raise; unless the BB is a very loose passive opponent who lets you limp on his blind for free. If there’re limpers behind and you’re in the blinds with 77+, AJs+, AQo+, depending on how many limpers there are or how loose the table is you should raise. 99+, AK, AQs+ should always be a raise from the blinds no matter how many limped in or what table you are at.

3-Betting Pre-flop

You should generally always be re-raising (3-betting) all premium pairs (QQ+). A standard re-raise is generally 3 times the original opener’s raise + 1bb for every limper in before him if he made a standard raise. The reason you can’t cold call is you are pricing people in behind you; you are also 3-betting for value. If faced with a min-raise and you are holding 99+, AQ+ in any position you should 3B to at least 4 times the min-raise or 8bbs. When facing a frequent positional raiser who likes to abuse his positional advantage, you should generally 3-bet lighter than a UTG raise for instance. When an aggressive player raises from the CO or BTN and you hold AQ+, 99+ in the blinds you should generally 3-bet him because his range is so wide you are likely to be ahead. I’m usually 3-betting AK from any position, except if a nit raises from early position, you’ll have to play it a little more cautiously. As you move up in limits your 3-betting range is going to have to get wider and wider as players get more aggressive and better at hand reading, you’ll have to 3-bet light to keep them guessing. Don’t worry about this now, but keep an open mind to it.

Trouble Hands & Implied Odds

You need to stay away from weak unsuited aces. You should never be limping with them and you should definitely not be calling raises with them. The reason being is you are often not going to extract any value from worse hands, and you’ll wind up stacking off when someone has your ace dominated, or you’ll get in a jam in an ugly family pot. You also want to stay away AJ & AQ OOP when faced with a raise from early position readless; same thing with weak kings and queens. Calling with AQ is ok on the button, but you should play it cautiously after the flop. Either 3-bet them or fold OOP if there is a positional raiser as I said earlier.

You should always be calling raises from any position with any pocket pair from a full stack. Don’t bother calling with 55 and smaller unless he has at least around 60bbs or else you won’t be getting the implied odds (or the odds you need to draw and stack him on future streets) you need to call and hit your set. This is another thing many players over look is stack size. It’s important to realize that as stack sizes go down the value of small pairs and suited connectors also go down. You’ll want to be either raising your suited connectors or calling in position with implied odds, or sometimes limping behind with them on a loose table. Don’t call OOP with 78s if a 40bb stack raised on the button; you won’t be getting enough implied odds. Not only that but he will likely be playing a push-botty style that will make it impossible to draw with correct odds. Also don’t be afraid to raise with suited connectors or small pairs on the button with limpers behind on a tight table. Generally stay away from suited connectors OOP, unless you know the raiser is extremely loose and will stack off when you hit. The value of SC’s also goes down the more aggressive your opponent is. If he is betting big, he isn’t dishing out good odds, and they aren’t going to be profitable to play for monster value; you’ll need to be able to outplay your opponents on top of that.

There was plenty of sticky stuff I didn’t get into here like what to do when you are 3-bet or 4-bet. I mainly wrote this to give a beginning player a good foundation to work from and maybe help someone realize the consequences of bad pre-flop plays that seem like innocent mistakes, but wind up costing you big money down the road. Good luck.

The 6-player max No Limit Hold’em tables have exploded in popularity at the major online poker rooms over the last year. I suspect that the reason is twofold. First and foremost, there is less waiting between playing your hands – and let’s face it, we humans tend to be an impatient lot. Secondly, much looser play is warranted than in the full ring games. Those two aspects of short-handed action add up to playing a whole lot more hands. As poker players, this is really what we want to be doing anyway. So the popularity of these games should be no surprise.

But playing more hands is a sure way to quick losses, even when short-handed, if you don’t go about it properly. Playing like a maniac just isn’t going to get the job done. This is because it’s just too easy (even for fairly weak players) to develop effective counter-strategies against maniacs. They are the easiest types of players to beat in No Limit, regardless of how many people are at the table. Selective aggression is still the winning approach, as with full tables, just with a much wider range of selection. Most important is playing a style that allows you to take many one-try stabs at small to medium-size pots.

By one-try stabs, I mean that you need to know how to let go of a pot that you are trying to win on the flop if you are called. This is critical. If you can’t do it, don’t expect to win much in short-handed No Limit cash games. All your accumulated profits will leave your stack in one fell swoop and go to the shark who smooth-called you on the flop. Your next bet will have to be quite large if you plan on continuing with the aggression, and that’s when you can expect the shark to raise. When you get called on the flop, just let it go.

The style you need to play in these games is a raise or fold philosophy, especially before the flop. If nobody has entered the pot yet I will raise with any two cards 7 or higher most of the time. If somebody else has entered the pot ahead of me, I won’t play anything except super-premium hands, period. You have no business in any pot where you are not the aggressor, barring a rare exception. In fact, I insist on both “power and position” if I am going to see a flop. Power meaning that I am the last pre-flop raiser, and position meaning that I am last to act. On the flop I always bet around 75% of the pot no matter what cards hit the board. Always. If I meet any kind of resistance at all, including a call on the flop, I simply give it up (unless I happen to be holding the World’s Fair, which does happen sometimes).

Here is what is going to happen if you play this way: 1) You will steal a lot of blinds, 2) Almost every flop you see will be heads-up or three-way, 3) You will win the overwhelming majority of pots on the flop, 4) The pots you don’t win on the flop will be way more than made up for by all the ones you do win, and 5) The rare occasions where you flop a monster against a decent hand will get paid off big-time. You will be the dominate force in your game, and your flustered opponents will watch helplessly as their chips continue to desert them into your stack.

You see, they just can’t call that flop bet. Play this way for a while and you’ll start to get it. If you occasionally screw up and find yourself on the flop when you are not the aggressor, you will curse yourself for being there playing like a fish, because you won’t be able to call that flop bet either. It’s like the great San Francisco 49er offense of the late 90’s with Steve Young at quarterback, coming at you with those slant plays. The defense knows exactly what’s coming, but they still can’t stop it.

Andrew Kasch is the author of the popular ebook “How to Shake the Online Poker Money Tree,” which has recently been expanded and now includes 17 chapters. You can sign up for 5 free online poker tips at his website, http://www.onlinepokerincome.com