Not everyone can be a professional poker player. It takes years of learning, dedication, and a wide array of skills to become a pro. That doesn’t mean you can’t beat micro and low stakes games without investing much time. In this article, we’ll offer four tips to help you crush micro and low stakes poker games.

Keep Raising from Late Position

Being first in counts for a lot in poker. You can just steal the blinds or win it post-flop with a bet so stay active in late position. A lot of low stakes players still have trouble grasping this concept or maybe just don’t know. Lots of low stakes games have hands folded round to the blinds. If you are in the poker cutoff position or the button, raise with most of your hands. Most of the time, your opponents will just fold and you’ll win the blinds. Or, if you get action, a continuation bet will work most of the time, particularly on disconnected, dry boards.

Table Select Carefully

Most low stakes games are low quality, but you’ll have an even better chance if you spend time table selecting. I recommend looking through all the tables stats and cherry pick games with a high average pot and high players per flop percentage. These are indicators of loose and juicier games. These are the best games to play in as people are playing too many hands and likely to pay you off too.

Play Solid From Early Position

A lot of low stakes games have 3 or more opponents to each flop. For this reason, you want to be careful playing from the early positions. Otherwise, you will be playing a lot of pots multi-way with average holdings. Stick to medium pairs or better, high suited cards and big aces. Hands like king ten, queen nine and low aces should be thrown away. Position is very important in Texas Hold’em and this is especially true when you’re at a 9 handed table.

Don’t Go Overboard With Bluffing

One of the biggest reasons low stakes are beatable is because people are stubborn. Your opponents will pay you off when you hit strong hands. Top pair, top kicker is the nuts to low stakes players so patience is rewarded. As long as you are staying active enough to keep them on their toes, you’ll get action. So, don’t go crazy with bluffs. You will find people calling you down and get yourself frustrated. You need to limit your bluffing to smaller and more effective bluffs.

A lot of people watch players like Phil Ivey pull of insane bluffs on YouTube and try to replicate it at low stakes with very little success. This is because Phil Ivey is playing opponents capable of folding good hands. They are few and far between at the low stakes games online so stay solid and patient, for the most part.