Five Key Skills to Beat Small Stakes Poker Games

I’ve met many people over the years who struggle to beat small stakes poker games. They come to me and complain about how nothing ever seems to go right when they sit down at the tables. In every single case, I’ve found that these people aren’t short on the IQ. The only problem is that they haven’t yet acquired the key skills necessary to beat small stakes poker games.

It requires a little patience to learn how to beat small stakes poker games but it is possible. The following five key skills are fairly basic but they are difficult for many people to adopt. The problem is not that these skills are complicated, but rather that it’s tempting to veer away from these skills.

1. The ability to play a tight game

The most important skill of all is the ability to play a tight preflop game. Casual poker players love to play a lot of hands and gamble it up but that’s not a recipe for success. If you want to be a winning poker player, you are going to have to fold about 75% of your hands. Strong poker players only play the top 25% of their starting hands.

Although it’s true that “any two can win” in Holdem, the odds are against you when you play weak hands. All that money you pay to see the flop adds up over the long run. Even if you do get lucky every once in a while, you’ll still see a negative return with weak hands. Stick with strong hands like big pairs, AK and AQ. In late position, you can also play hands like small pairs and suited connectors.

2. Bankroll management

Bankroll management is the ability to only play in games for which you have a proper bankroll. Serious poker players make sure they have at least 40 buyins for no limit cash games, 600 big bets for fixed limit games and 100 buyins for tournaments. Any time they fall below that amount, they move down in stakes.

If you follow strict bankroll management rules, it’s hard for you to ever go broke. By moving down in stakes, you ensure that you always have plenty of money to play with. Poker players who refuse to move down in stakes always eventually go broke.

3. Stop chasing draws

Draws are tempting but they should rarely be chased. The problem with draws is that they miss the majority of the time. The money you make when you hit your draws doesn’t make up for all the money you spend chasing draws and missing them. The only time it’s OK to chase draws is when the pot is large and the bet is small. For more details, check out our pot odds article.

4. Cut back on the calling

One of the most common mistakes casual poker players make is calling too often. In many cases, you should either be raising or folding. The idea here is that if your hand is strong enough to play, it should be strong enough to raise. Otherwise, you should just fold the hand.

That doesn’t mean you should never call, of course. The point here is to think about it more. If you don’t have a clear idea of where the hand is going or you are just hoping that something good happens, you should probably save the money and fold. Folding isn’t exciting but that’s how good poker players turn a profit.

5. Only play when you are in a positive mindset

Don’t play poker if you’re feeling angry, depressed or are in any other negative state of mind. Your emotions have a strong effect on how well you play poker. Even the best players in the world sometimes have to stop and take a breather after an especially wicked bad beat.

One key word here is “tilt.” Any time you let your emotions affect your play, you are suffering from tilt. Don’t every play while you are on tilt. It sometimes feels like you have to rip yourself away from the table when you’re angry but it’s worth it. Any time you feel irritated or impatient at the table, step away from the table and go take a walk. Poker isn’t going anywhere any time soon.