By Staff writer of 100pokerplayers.com
How a top low limit poker player turns a profit

The player has played over 6,600 games on PokerStars. Almost all of his games are played on $5.50 (10 minute blinds) and $6.50 (5 minute blinds) table tournaments.  We wanted to understand how this low stakes pro thinks.  When asked, this player was gracious enough to take time from his games to talk with us.

        
                      Player's Chart

Interviewer:  How old are you? 

Player:  27  

Interviewer:  Do you work in addition to playing poker?

Player:  I do landscaping part time – I play poker most of the time.

Interviewer:  Have you always been good at poker, or did you ever have a curve where you were losing money left and right?

Player: I started playing about 2 ½  years ago, and I haven’t had a losing month in my life yet.

Interviewer:  One day I watched you play and what I found interesting was that you played 6 games at one time.  Do you usually play that many games at one time?

Player:  Yes, I usually do play that many.

Interviewer:  When you’re playing that many games, what type of a screen are you on? 

Player: It’s actually a laptop.  It’s a 17-inch screen. 

Interviewer:  Are you playing all of those games on one screen? 

Player:  Yes. I don’t like to reduce the size of the boards much.  I’ve done that, but I tend to get disconnected from what I’m doing.

Interviewer:  Are you concentrating on other players or on your own cards?

Player:  I’m playing my own cards a lot.  I think as far as online poker is concerned, and especially the game level that I play at, I think it’s a little overrated to play the players.

Interviewer:  And you can concentrate on 6 games? 

Player:  Yeah, I can. When I first started, I had more problems with it, but not so much anymore. I can comfortably play that many.  When I play 3 games, it’s pretty slow to me.  I often play 7 or 8 games at a time. Some of my decisions at that point are not exactly what they should be. When I’m playing 8 games, I might not have picked up on a tight player who might have made a move, and maybe I might have over-played A Q or some other hand.

Interviewer:  Is that because you don’t notice the types of players at your tables when you’re in 8 games?

Player: Yes. But besides that, I can pretty much handle that many games.  I’ve played that many in cash – five, six at a time.

Players are abiding by what seems to be a strict pattern of play.  Take for example people who have A 10 to A K, they’ll pretty much make it 3 times the big blind. If they have a pocket pair, they make it 4 times the big blind. 

When I come into the pot, and it’s probably something I’ve done for the last 3 months, I’m always coming in for pretty much less than 3 times the blind.  My hope is that one of the blinds will call me, and then they’ll play hesitant after the flop so I can pick up all of those pots. Let’s say I have a J 9; a lot of players’ natural reaction would be to make a little bigger raise.  I like to make it a small raise so that another bad hand comes into the pot with me.  I’m actually trying to encourage calls from bad hands.

Interviewer:  One of the hands that I noticed you played was a J 9. I didn’t think you played those types of cards until I saw that.

Player:  I’m a little more aggressive than people think. I’m real big on being first into the pot. I’m very disciplined after someone comes into the pot.  I’ll throw away tons and tons of hands.  If someone comes into the pot before me, I’ll fold A Q and A J, but if I’m first in and I pick up J high suited or J 10, I like to raise with those.

Interviewer:  Even from early position? 

Player:  No, not from early position.  I don’t like to come in from early position. 

Interviewer:  In the hand I’m talking about, you were in early position, but you didn’t raise it. You called the minimum bet, and at that time it wasn’t very expensive.

Player:  I do limp sometimes until the blinds are 100 200, but that’s the only time I’ll limp in.

Take a typical game, and we’re a little ways through, and the blinds are 100 and 200, I’m going to fold a lot of hands.  I’m going to look for hands that I can come into the pot with.

Interviewer:  With the J 9 that I saw you play, you hit a straight on the flop.  I think you made a minimal bet.  Do you ever let a hand go by without betting it?  

Player:  I like to bet my big hands, especially straights. I think that’s one of the worst problem-hands for people; they check their straights. For one thing, when you check a straight, there’s still going to be 6 cards in the deck that can come out that can probably tie the board and that will probably tie your hand. I tend not to slow-play those and I don’t slow-play sets.

Interviewer:  If you make a small raise and someone re-raises your J 9, how do you handle it?

Player:  If I have a J 10 or K Q suited and someone makes a small re-raise but not for a lot of chips, I’ll call.  I raise a lot of pots and if people show strength back at me, I tend to get rid of the hand pretty quick and wait for the next one.

Interviewer:  When I observed you playing 6 games, I noticed that you fold a lot.  Are you looking for specific cards?

Player:  Yes I am.  But also, what I think is really important, especially with on-line poker, is being first into the pot. I think it’s one of the most important points to emphasize.

Interviewer: So that’s one of your key factors? 

Player: Yes definitely, definitely.  I really hate calling hands.  If you’ve seen me playing with J 9 and I’m raising, you’d automatically think I’d be calling with one of those hands, but you’d be wrong.

Interviewer:  I played against you in a game.  I had a pair of nines. I made an all-in call against you and two other players.  You had a King and a Queen.  Do you normally go all-in with a K and a Q? 

Player:  Was I the first one into the pot? 

Interviewer:  No – you were the third one in.  There were 2 players in front of you. One went all-in, the next went all-in, you went all-in, then I went all-in with a pair of nines. Normally I would fold a pair of nines, but I didn’t that day.

Player:  My guess is that it represented a third of my chips.  That’s usually the situation that I would do something like that. 

Interviewer:  No, no! That was all of your chips. It was near the beginning of a single table tournament.  No one was even knocked out yet.

Player:  No, that’s not a normal play with a King and a Queen. 

Interviewer:  Would you normally go all-in with A Q suited? 

Player:  No, I wouldn’t put too much weight in the cards being suited.

I do play A K very strong, even at low blind levels.  I tend to play A K all-in from really low blind levels, when playing on the sit and goes.  Not so much in the bigger tournaments where there are more players, but I do in the 45 player tournaments.  I’m so frequently getting called by A Q and
A J and even K Q, even when the blinds are low. It’s really a profitable play for me.

A lot of times the players I’m playing against will call with A Q – A J and if it happens to hold up, it holds up, (said in a no big deal voice).

Interviewer So you play A K differently from A Q?

Player: I play A K way different.  It’s kind of funny to me; A Q is closer to A deuce.

When you push with A Q,  A J might not call you, but A K will.  In some games it’s really hard to get a caller that you’re going to be ahead of.

Interviewer:  You know better than I do, but it seems to me that when I raise with anything, and they have A J, they’re in; they’re usually all-in, at least at the $5 - $6 table levels.

Player:  Sometimes I don’t even like opening with A J.  I usually will open with it, but if someone comes over the top of me, I will dump it. 

Interviewer:  I’m a little surprised to hear that. 

Player:  I raise a lot of hands and dump a lot of hands.  I think one of my strengths is in playing my hands after I make them.  I think I play them as well as anyone can once I make a hand.  And I will always bet the river.

Interviewer: Always?

Player:   Yes.  If they check to me on the river, even If I have middle pair, I’m always going to bet the river.

Interviewer:  Do you play Ace anything suited, looking for a flush?

Player:  No, I don’t.  I’m real disciplined with my Aces. I don’t like to play bad aces. I would rather play a 7 5 offsuit.

Interviewer:  If you have Aces, and if you’re in last position, and there are three pot committed players ahead of you, say they’re all-in, do you play them at that point with your tournament life on the line?

Player: Yes. With Aces, I’m all-in.  I read Harrington’s books and he said that if you’re ever in a tournament with a low set and your almost 100% sure a guy has a higher set, you just have to go ahead and lose your money.

Interviewer: If you have pocket 7’s and a player went all-in ahead of you, would you call if your tournament life was on the line? 

Player: No I wouldn’t call a tight player with 7’s.  If he had 1800 chips and I had 1900 chips, I wouldn’t call. If he went all-in and it was for all of my chips, no.  If I have pairs that are like 6’s or lower, I will try to make a small raise.  If I’m re-raised, I will usually call, but if a tight player comes over the top, I would fold. 

Interviewer: What about the guy that you know plays garbage? 

Player: Then I’ll definitely call. If I feel I have a slight advantage, that’s pretty much all I need to get my money in. 

Interviewer: Are you going by the odds?

Player: I’ve played a lot of games. Pretty much all that I do is based on feel.  I know the odds pretty well.  I’ve always been really good at math.   A lot of times when I’m in a position where I don’t want to fold my hand, but it doesn’t feel right to call, I’ll just get my money in and put the decision on the other player and take the decision off me.

Interviewer:  Do you have certain rules that you follow?

Player: I really play more of a psychological game. I play more on how my chips affect theirs.  Let’s say there are 12 people left in the tournament.  I don’t like to play a bad hand or raise with a bad hand on the button.  I fold a lot of hands on the button. 

Interviewer:  What if you’re short-stacked? 

Player:  Even then I will fold.  A lot of players make the mistake of raising, but you’re missing out on six or seven free hands coming up.  Even on lower levels, people are expecting the button to make a play.  I tend to play only good hands from the button. 

Interviewer:  What type of a hand are you looking for?

Player:  Pretty much, like I said, if the blinds are 100 or 200 and I have like 1800 or 1900 chips the only hand I’ll play at that point is an all-in hand.

Interviewer:  What do your cards look like at that point?

Player:  If I had an A 10, that would probably be a pretty loose play. My cards would have to probably be stronger than an A 10 hand. 

Interviewer: Ok, but what about K Q?

Player: I’ve done that with K Q.  If the people in the blinds are tight players, and usually if I’m in the cut off seat, I’ll do that. 

Another thing that helps me to play a lot of tables is that early on in the tournament, if the blind levels are still at 10  20  and 15 30 and you flash to a table, (playing several tables), and your in a pot with a guy who has 900 chips, there’s a 90% chance he’s going to have garbage - because he lost 600 chips on the first blind level by playing garbage. So I tend to attack those players. There’s a lot of that going on, especially if you’re playing six tables, I’ll flash back and a guy will have raised all-in with 900 chips. I’ll sometimes call him with less than strong hands.  I’m pretty sure he wants to get out of there or try and double.

I like to take advantage of players who like to mid-raise.  A lot of players make a 3 x raise when they should really be moving all-in.  And they make that mistake. Let’s say the blinds are 100 and 200 and you have 1900 chips. That’s really a spot that you should be moving all-in, but almost 99% of all players will raise to 600, leaving themselves with 1300. Now you’re giving you an action to call or come over the top with a hand that you would have folded. People do that throughout those tournaments.

But let’s say I have 3500 chips on the button and both of the blinds have 7000 chips, I can almost shove with any two cards. 

Interviewer: Why is that?

Interviewer: I know that they don’t want to change places with me. Let’s say that you have 7,000 chips. That’s usually enough to make the final table on the 45-player tournaments.  So they really have to pick up a monster hand to call me. If the blinds had 3,000 and 4,000, and I have 3,500, now my chips don’t matter to them.

Interviewer:  Let’s back up for a second. You did say that on the button you’re not going to raise unless you have a solid hand,

Player:  Unless I caught onto some real tight players.

Interviewer:  In the situation where a guy has 7000 some odd chips, would you be more likely to raise with a lesser hand, or not?

Player:  Let’s say I have a medium stack. I like to attach stacks that are double mine.  If the stack is double mine, I’ll attack it. If it’s triple mine, I’ll leave it alone.  If they have 9000 chips and I have 3000, I won’t touch them. If they have 6000 chips and I have 3000 chips, I feel I have a big advantage at that point. 

If I have 3500 chips and the blinds are 400 and 200, and I pick up A J, I’ll shove that a lot of times, when I could have raised to 1,200 and still leave myself with 2,000.,

Interviewer:  But then they might go over the top like you said before, Player:  And then I would have to fold. Because I would fold.

There’s a lot of times during my day playing when I’m ready to raise, but then I fold. That’s a lot of how my games go.

Interviewer:  Do you consider yourself an aggressive player, or does it depend on who’s at your table?

Player:  I definitely play aggressive.  If I’m on a flop and I have K Q and the flop comes Q 10 2, you’re really not going to get me off that hand. If they have A Q or better, I’m pretty much going to lose my chips at that point.

Interviewer:  You played a lot of games.  When I checked, you had played 6,600 games.  When I play a lot of poker, family around me get annoyed.  Do people around you get annoyed about how much poker you play?

Player: I read Barry Greenstein’s book, and I was glad to read it because he has a lot of things in there about the aspects of playing full time.  I want to play poker full time always.

Interviewer:  So you have objectives with this – you’re not just doing this for fun? 

Player: No, not just for fun. I want to play full time.
 

Interviewer:  There are players that have significantly more money in their bankroll that they won, and they play at much higher levels than you, but they don’t have a better sharkscope chart than yours.

Player:  I know that my level of play could be much further up the buy-in levels than I am. 

I turned more profits on the 45 player tournaments at the $5 and $6 buy-in over the last 6 months than anyone on the site (PokerStars.)  As far as moving up, I do plan on it. 

I’m 2^nd or 3^rd for any multi table of 3 or more tables for $6 to $15 buy-ins. I’m on 4 of 5 of the leader boards for the smaller buy-ins.  I’m about $500 dollars away from being the total profit leader for any game over 3 tables for $6 to $15 dollars.  Most of those players who also appear with me have been playing for the last year. I only started in November, like 5 or 6 months.  The SharkScope numbers are all since late November. 
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