Small Stake cash games advice

[NorthernRed2]

I've been playing for awhile now. I started off playing the MTT doing ok, but never made any money. Now playing on cash tables, am i right to be playing super tight, i just try and build my bank up very slowing, no risk. Is this similar to how you started Jez??

[Jezza]

Re: Small Stake cash games advice Hi Northen, Good to hear you are moving onto cash games...the money there is slower and more boring, but a bit steadier I find (tourneys are still great fun tho). What you are describing is indeed exactly how I started out, on low stakes cash games grinding out some wins for my small bankroll. I would suggest you pick a stake that you easily feel comfortable buying in for the max at and the prospect of winning/losing an all in doesn't shake you up too much. If you feel 50$ for example is about right then you must play at NL tables where 50 is the MAX buy in and do that, dont go to 200 max buy in tables and play with 50. This is an awfully common mistake a lot of people seem to make, sure if you are just looking to gamble/have some fun then doing that is fine but if you are taking it a bit more serious then learning to play deep stacked low blind games is a must. In the long run if you are a good player you will benifit hugely from taking the max to the table, other players will not be able to bully you, YOU can bully the short stacks and you will get maximum paydays when you are offered the chance. Of course the downside is when you lose/get rivered against a big stack you lose a bit more but as I said before - choose a stake you are comfortable with. Playing tight at these stakes is almost certainly the best way to go to start with (like I think you are doing) - people wont take notice of how you play and you will still find you are paid off by a lot of people even tho you only play 1 hand in 10. A couple of points to note. First of all DONT slowplay very often - we are talking a flopped ace flush minimum/full house before you should consider it. Believe me you are quite likely to be called if you bet anyway and if you slowplay what you think is a good hand (but even good ones are vulnerable believe me) then you could well end up on your arse as someone rivers you for free and you then call an all in. Like I said before tight is good but you must be AGGRESSIVE to go with it. Too many players fall into the tight + weak category. These are the low risk takers who end up never losing much and never winning much - but in the long run they lose as they dont get paid off on their good hands/people drawing against them and they do occasionly pay the aggressive players off. This means you should be putting in pot sized bets/raises when you feel your hand is good and check/folding when it isnt (or calling with the correct odds to draw). There is risk inherent in this of course, if you put in a pot sized bet on the turn at a large pot where someone has a flush draw then they will often call and 20% of the time river you - stinging your bankroll for that large bet. This leads to it hurting more than if you had played weakly and only bet small however in the long run these players will pay you off and you can only win by being aggressive and maximising these pay offs. Jez