Small Stakes No-Limit Hold'em

306 Pages·2010·0.89 MB·English

by  Ed Miller

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Small Stakes
No-Limit Hold’em

Ed Miller Sunny Mehta Matt Flynn
Copyright © 2009 by Ed Miller, Sunny Mehta, and Matt Flynn
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the
publisher.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this
book, write to Ed Miller, 9850 South Maryland Parkway, Suite A-5,
Box 210, Las Vegas, NV 89183, United States of America.

www.smallstakesnolimitholdem.com

ISBN-13: 978-0-9825042-0-8
ISBN-10: 0-9825042-0-9

Limit of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher has used
its best efforts in preparing this book, and the information provided
herein is provided "as is." The publisher makes no representation or
warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the
contents of this book and specifically disclaims any implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose and
shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other
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A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, we thank the delightful Anna Paradox for her
careful and kind editing. Anna was most helpful in shaping the
manuscript and keeping a keen eye not only on what we wrote, but
also on what we did not write. Any editor can see the former, but not
many see the latter. If you need a good editor, poker or otherwise, she
is your huckleberry. She can be reached at www.annaparadox.com.
We thank Mark Roh for his friendship, careful review of the
manuscript, and perpetually cheerful willingness to help whenever he
was needed. Scott Roh contributed his math and programming savvy
to create the dominance chart for big card hands. Thank you, Scott!
Professor Lars Stole of the University of Chicago was most helpful
with the game theory discussions in the text. Several people helped
review the manuscript, including Cero Zuccarello, Piotr Lopusiewicz,
Marc Crawford, Elaine Vigneault, and Mimi Miller. Thanks to
Miranda Wumkes for designing the cover art. She can be reached at
www.mirandawumkes.com.
Ed would like to thank Elaine, Mom, and Dab. Your love and
support is with me in every word. Also thanks to Sunny and Matt for
being just foolish enough to complete this journey along with me.
Sunny would like to thank his family and friends for their constant
support, as well as his coauthors for their combination of intelligence
and diligence.
Matt thanks most of all Theresa, Sean, and Ryan for their
continued support and affection. Last book for a long time, I promise!
Thanks to my family and friends. Thanks to my coauthors for their
persistence and especially their easygoingness. Thanks to Tommy and
Alex for teaching me how to play back in the day. And thanks to all
my acquaintances in the pokerverse who have made it interesting,
especially the Raleigh cast of characters.

C
ONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 9
PART 1: FRAMEWORK 11
64 SQUARES 13
SHOWDOWN EQUITY AND STEAL EQUITY 15
USING EQUITIES TO MAKE DECISIONS 18
STEALING 20
WHAT MAKES STEALING LIKELY TO SUCCEED 23
PART 2: BEATING ONLINE $1–$2 6-MAX GAMES 29
INTRODUCTION 31
STEALING BLINDS AND PLAYING POSITION 35
PROFILING OPPONENTS USING STATS 49
BARRELING 62
GOING FOR VALUE WITH GOOD HANDS 93
3-BETTING LIGHT AND THE 3-BET, 4-BET, 5-BET GAME 125
ISOLATING BAD PLAYERS 150
HANDLING OPPONENT AGGRESSION 159
SPECIFIC PREFLOP DECISIONS 175
PUTTING IT TOGETHER 190
PART 3: 7 EASY STEPS TO NO-LIMIT HOLD’EM SUCCESS 203
STEP 1: PLAY TIGHT 206
STEP 2: DON’T PLAY OUT OF POSITION 210
STEP 3: DON’T OVERCOMMIT IN SMALL POTS 213
STEP 4: BIG POTS FOR BIG HANDS 217
STEP 5: PULL THE TRIGGER 221
STEP 6: ADJUST TO YOUR OPPONENTS 226
STEP 7: KEEP YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME 231
CONGRATULATIONS 235
PART 4: BEYOND $1–$2 237
UNDERSTANDING FIXED BET SIZES 240
PLANNING BIG BLUFFS 264
OVERBETTING THE FLOP 274
UNDERBETTING IN MULTIWAY POTS 276
BALANCING YOUR LINES 278
BANKROLL REQUIREMENTS 301