How to Crush Live $1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em
$1/$2 No-Limit Texas Hold'em is by far the most popular poker game being played in casino poker rooms.
Without a doubt, your average table features a motley crew of fish waiting to give their money away.
With a little help from this article, you'll get your fair share of it.
The Game
The game is $1/$2 No-Limit Texas Hold'em, the Chevrolet Cavalier of poker. The minimum buy-in is $40 and the max $200.
$1/$2 is the smallest No-Limit game run in most casinos and for that reason the games are very, very soft.
Your Average Opponent
$1/$2 games are inhabited by everyone from 60-year-old nits, to first timers, to gamboolers who raise every hand, to young, sunglasses-wearing wannabe pros.
Some of these players are actually good, but most are not. They're first-level thinkers, thinking only of their two cards and nothing else.
They are going to be clueless to the fact that you've folded the last 30 hands and are now betting hard into them.
What they're going to be doing is thinking, "I has a pair of jacks; how much?" and then pushing the required chips into the pot.
These players are your targets, and the source of the bulk of your winnings.
Loose-passive players have two major weaknesses - they call too often before the flop and they take their hands too far after the flop.
You'll often hear new players lament about how it's impossible to beat fish because all they do is call.
This sort of thinking is so fundamentally wrong it's laughable.
Players who call too much are the ATMs of the poker world, readily dispensing money to whoever has the patience to wait for a good hand.
Your Ideal $1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em Strategy
You play tight, you make top pair or better and you bet! Not exactly groundbreaking stuff. Play ABC poker, make your good hands and bet them.
Loose-passive calling stations will do what they do best: call. So let them call, stop bluffing them, and value bet your good hands relentlessly.
When you play tight before the flop, you make your post-flop decisions easier. By playing solid hands before the flop you will make solid hands after the flop.
When you eliminate marginal hands from your repertoire you'll find yourself with fewer difficult decisions after the flop.
Your goal is to flop top pair with a good kicker or better. You have to avoid getting caught up in the table flow.
Just because half the table is limping in up front with K♥ 3♠ doesn't mean you have to.
Stick to playing tight and focus on playing hands that can flop big.
Playable Hands at $1/$2
Big Pocket Pairs (AA - TT)
These hands are already made for you. A single pair is often good enough to win at showdown, so when you start with one, you're ahead of the game.
Big pocket pairs are such big favorites that you should always raise them for value when nobody has raised in front of you. With aces, kings, queens and even jacks you should often even reraise.
The profit in these hands comes from when you flop an overpair to the board or a set. When you do, bet.
Your loose-passive opponents will be more than happy to call three streets with worse hands.
Good Top-Pair Hands (A-K - A-J, K-Q)
Top-pair hands are hands that make top pair and when they do so, do it with a good kicker.
In a game where most of your opponents are loose-passive, your kicker is going to make you a lot of money.
For example, if you have K♣ Q♣ and the board comes king-high, you can bet three streets for value against a loose-passive player.
He will be more than happy to call all the way down with K♦ 9♠ only to find his kicker is no good.
Good top-pair hands are good enough for a raise when the pot has not been raised before you.
Top-pair hands do better against one opponent than many, so keep that in mind when choosing your bet sizes.
Speculative Hands
These are hands that are rarely going to win at showdown unimproved, but when they hit they make big-pot hands.
A big-pot hand is a hand like a set, a full house, a straight or a flush. Holding these hands, no matter what the action, you're ready to put your stack on the line.
They are speculative hands because they have to hit before they'll be worth anything. They rely on the implied odds that you win your opponent's stack when you do hit.
Ideally you would like to see the flop as cheaply as possible with these hands. Speculative hands do best when played in position, so be wary about playing them from up front.
Pocket Pairs (99-22)
Pocket pairs make huge hands when they flop sets. Sets are often hidden, and you can easily stack someone who has top pair or an overpair.
For that reason it's OK to limp pocket pairs from any position.
When facing a raise, you have to think about your opponent. If he is a tight player and is unlikely to pay you off when you do hit, you're best off folding.
If, however, he is a loose player (or you're multiway with more than one loose player), you can call a reasonably sized raise to play for "set value."
The main thing about pocket pairs is that when you hit a set you should almost always be looking for the best way to get all your money into the pot.
Suited Connectors, Suited One-Gappers (Q-Js - 67s, K-Js - T-8s)
Suited connectors are great hands, played within reason. They do make both straights and flushes - both big-pot hands.
The problem is they don't do it nearly as often as you might think.
When you're in early position, you're best off folding low suited connectors.
If your table hasn't been seeing too many raises before the flop, you can limp the best suited connectors like J♥ T♥ or Q♠ J♠. All others should be folded.
Suited connectors are hands that play well in position. More often than not you're going to miss the flop or hit a weak one-pair hand.
Playing them from out of position, in contrast, is going to put you in too many marginal spots after the flop.
Suited connectors should rarely be played versus a raise unless you are on the button and it is a multiway pot, or the raise is very small.
Suited Aces (A-9s - A-2s)
Suited aces are decent speculative hands because they can flop the nut-flush draw and they do have some high-card strength with the ace.
Nut-flush draws obviously have value because you can stack smaller flushes.
The problem with flushes though is that they are right there in the open. Everyone is always aware when a flush draw comes in, and as such it is sometimes difficult to get paid.
Suited aces are good hands, but not good enough to limp in from any position. You should be more willing to limp the closer to the button you get.
Against a raise suited aces should seldom be played. You're not going to flop a flush nearly as often as you flop a pair of aces with a weak kicker.
A weak pair of aces can be a curse. You feel like you have top pair and should see a showdown, but by the time you get there you find yourself outkicked and half a stack short.
Weak Top Pair Hands (K-Jo, Q-To, etc.)
These are hands that you want to steer clear of for the most part. They are dominated hands and should be avoided at all costs unless you can get in cheap from late position.
From early position and/or against a raise they should not be played at all.
They don't make many straights or flushes, and when they hit a pair you're going to find yourself on the losing end of the kicker battle more often than not.
Everything Else
Everything else is trash and should not be played even if it is suited. Suited trash is still trash.
Players get themselves into trouble all the time playing weak suited trash because they think they're going to make a flush.
You don't make a flush with weak hands nearly as often as you may expect, and the rest of the time you're bleeding money. Stop playing them.
Position, Position and Position
The importance of position can't be overstated.
Many people think they understand the concept of playing in position, but they routinely call raises with marginal hands, only to play the rest of the hand out of position.
This is a leak that costs you money. When you're out of position you're playing a guessing game - you have to anticipate what your opponent may do.
They dictate the flow of the hand: if they don't want to put more money in, they don't; if they want to bet three streets, they do.
Which is why being in position is so important: it puts you firmly in the driver's seat. You get last say on everything.
If you want to see a free showdown you do; if you want to value-town someone, you do.
Your opponents will be guessing, just as you are when you're out of position.
As the better player, with the advantage of being in position, you'll ensure that they're guessing wrong more often than right.
Sit Back and Wait for the Dollars
That's really all there is to it. The most important skill you can have at $1/$2 is patience.
Sit back and wait for a good hand. You should be folding 80% of your hands.
Do not get involved just because you are bored. Start with solid holdings and make solid hands after the flop.
When you're card-dead, that doesn't mean you should be sitting around watching TV. Pay attention to the game and your opponents.
Profile them in your mind; identify who the weak players are and what their tendencies are.
If you know who the loose players are and who the tight players are, you'll be able to understand their bets and raises and what they mean.
Once you figure out your opponents' tendencies, the rest is just a waiting game. Make your big hand and value bet.
Exploit the calling stations and force them to put their money in with worse hands.
$1/$2: it's an easy game.
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Comments
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LeonardSong
2011-12-05I agree with this strategy except it does not consider different playing fields. Some casinos are full of wish while others are crowds of good players grinding. I tried this strategy and made far less than average - I
The use and unuse of this strategy is dependant on who you're playing against.
Robo from hamilton
2011-11-25I have been playing poker for quite awhile now, read this article and I played for a week using this strategy. It's simple people! Read the players, who is good, who grinds daily and the fish. After playing for a few days at the casino, ive come to know the regulars who I have now made friends with. I made 500 Monday Tuesday, Wednesday made 400 and Thursday 820!! All from 200$ max buy in. Like it says below in a comment you do need firepower. I sometimes have to grind out while not hitting flops. Reload once I hit 150$ from seeing a few flops with only premium hands. All you fresh players that read this... Trust me and this site. They are absolutely right in every aspect of 1/2 strategy. This is the best way to seriously CRUSH 1/2. You just need to learn when to fold. Good luck fishes and thanks for the strategy pokerlistings! I quit my job to grind and so far making 1500+ a week grinding it out. Thanks for my new career!
Nicks bait shop
2011-11-23Wow! A lot of info here but still the monkeys seem to suck out a good amount of the time. Yes I call them all monkeys at the table some of them put me on tilt as soon as I see them sit down. I am working on that. I play 4 nights a week 1-2 or 2-5 I can't get over the way people call a pre flop raise of 25 with j5 to my ak suited then catch a 5 then call my 35 bet and after flop with my pair of kk catch a 5 I bet 55 monkey calls. I ask why u even call. Answer I had Jackson 5 I love mike. Shit like this puts me in orbit happens all the time. I play at a gambling joint where they take a rake. Lots of calling stations and goofs. I guess my question is does anyone else encounter fools like this. Or we have the all in guys after the flop last night I go all in pre flop w kk 207 2 shorter stacks after me plus a real big stack they fold he calls with qj off of course he goes jj runner runner wtf.
Turbo
2011-11-08@SMH:
I think calling this article horrible is a little overboard. I am by no means a great player and still have lots and lots to learn about the game. However I have played a decent amount of 1/2 no limit and the basic (even if it is dated) strategy talked about here is the way to go. You say that playing ABC poker is easy to ready and people catch on, which is true against a better player. The thing is, at these levels it doesn't matter if your play is transperant. Most of these guys are total stations!!! Even when you're being completely obvious about what you're doing, they can't resist calling and hoping to spike hard, even when they may be drawin dead. I watch people all the time calling huge re-raises out of position praying to flop a set, calling down every street trying to hit their gutterball and so forth. So I feel, and according to books written by many high profile pros I've read, ABC TAG poker is the way to go at this level. No, you're not always going to win for a variety of reasons, but you greatly improve your chances which you need to do when the more complex skill of poker is lost on your opponent. One thing about this article I disagree with is betting hard with top pair or better. Even with top pair top kicker, it's hard to make that the best hand by the river with one or two (at the least) people in the pot chasing something. I prefer thin value bed with my solid pair and two pair, as to not get pot committed while still getting value. A set or better then sure, start pumping it up. I do agree that ego is one of the most damaging things you can add to your game, but to tell a bunch of beginners that might be checking out this site, that sticking to TAG play when starting out is wrong, shows that your ego is getting the best of you right now.
SMH
2011-10-28Quick side note: Solly tipped a dealer 10$ in 1-2. #lmao
Wow, anyway:
None of you are long-term winning 1-2 players. Including the author of this article. Seriously, this article is fucking terrible. I want to gauge my eyes out.
What this article should say:
It's immensely difficult to make a living playing poker, or even just sustain consistent income. While poker is a skill game and any luck is pretty irrelevant, skill is probably the least important part. Patience, discipline, self-control and overcoming insecurities is first and foremost, which most people can't do.
Then comes the understanding that poker is a JOB. You have to play a minimum of 50 hours a week while limiting your expenses to almost null. If you play here and there just to make a couple of hundred bucks, unless you play 3 times and never play again for the rest of your life, it will catch up to you and you will lose. Poker is not a game you can just play once in a while, you MUST keep your mind sharp to consistently parlay.
It's estimated about 90% of poker players are losing long-term, but that number is probably much closer to 95%. Low stake NL winners? Probably closer to like 3%, lol.
Even if you started playing poker professionally in your early twenties with a 200$ bankroll and you now have 8,000 to your name, you probably lost hundreds of thousands between 16 - 20 just learning the game.
With that all said, calling people "fish" is an ego thing. Ego + poker = you lose. I have to type the following in caps to emphasize a point:
ALMOST NO ONE YOU EVER MEET WILL BE A WINNING POKER PLAYER, THEREFORE YOU SOUND LIKE A FUCKING RETARD CALLING ANOTHER PERSON A "FISH." ESSENTIALLY, EVERY TIME YOU PLAY A HAND WRONG (WHICH IS INEVITABLE THAT YOU WILL), YOU ARE A SO-CALLED "FISH" AND VISE VERSA, SO IT'S COMPLETELY REDUNDANT. YOU SOUND LIKE AN EFFING RETARD.
Onto the skill of playing 1-2 NL poker. You can't play ABC poker and make money unless you literally play over 100 hours a week, your a complete mindless drone with no life outside of poker and you have flawless patience, self-control, discipline. Impossible, literally.
First of all, your play becomes obvious. When your hands become transparent you lose all implied odds. Secondly, ABC poker or tight-aggressive is the average field. It's a 2yo equation, average vs average = stalemate.
I'm seriously terrified by how fucking stupid the world is that we live in.
Stu
2011-10-26I see tons of these types of articles and the strategy works most of the time. The problem I have is that a lot of people are reading these types of articles and the fish are starting to disappear.
Is there any advice for what to do when you're stuck at a table full of people that play like this.
I've heard that playing aggressive when you're at a tight table is the way to go, but how to do you balance on the thin line between being aggressive and being too loose?
Brian
2011-10-19I would win this author so hard! For reals!
top2pr
2011-10-05Very, very, good posts Gunnz & Solly.
I play in MICH. We have these charity places all over the State.
The trny buy in's are $20 to $50 depending on the place w/25-70ppl mostly. The charity charges 20% fee on the buy in.
$1/$2 cash games charge 10% up to $6.
There incredibly soft :-) I keep coming back to reread this article at least 2/3x a month to keep it fresh.
I also loved the Beginner Poker Tips article on this site too.
http://www.pokerlistings.com/no-limit-texas-holdem-basic-starting-hands
I keep my VPIP% under 20-22% most the time.
Well, keep coming back, it WORKS if u WORK it.
Ron Vargo
2011-10-03This stuff was OK, but there was really nothing contained therein which is not old stuff! Why don't you tell player wannabees what they can do by dealing out a make believe 9 seat ring cash game, and observing what significant things they see, just in the makeup of the 18 cards that are dealt. Sometimes the jargon that is used becomes corny. One learns, when one actually sees and experiences a particular set of circumstances. Not too many can learn or better yet recall, by just reading!
si12ius
2011-09-27Very glad I found this article before going to play my first 1/2 50-200 dollar buy in at a friends place... He told me it was a friendly game at first but, come to find I was in a room full of SHARKS!! these guys gamboolers had wads of cash wrapped with rubber bands buying in and raising consistently hard for a fish like me to get into a hand... But, I told myself I will stick to the article and fold 80% of my hands as I did...not only did I take out 4 very good players. I also won the most money that night. I am the harpoon!!!
zzflop
2011-08-30For many poker is like fishing.. its boring as hell and you just have to sit it out until that bite comes, then the adrenaline starts to flow. As boring as poker can be I love it and would rather be bored out of my mind waiting for a hand than bored working in some company for 8-10 hours a day waiting for my paycheck with the same amount each week\month. Gimme boring any day... I will take my chances at the poker table with all the impatient fish.
B.B
2011-08-26I'M VERY PATIENT THROWING AWAY ALMOST EVERY HAND,,AND I CAN TELL YOU IT DOES GET VERY BORING NOT PLAYING,,I FIND MYSELF TAKING CHANCES WITH ANYTHING AFTER AWHILE...
MY NEXT TRIP I WILL TRY T0 STICK TO THIS STRATEGY...
ANYONE ON HERE PLAY $1/$2 IN TUNICA...
David Napoliton
2011-08-11just want to win some money
adaptordie
2011-08-01URel pretty much says it all... this is what I do and I regularly make 2 or more buy-ins on each visit to my local casino. Sometimes the players are a bit tricky but most of the time the table and players are very easy to adapt to in order to take full advantage of their generosity.
URel
2011-07-20who the fuck says that you have to be a hero and play like a young gun maniac? If your style resembles that of a 60 year old nit then so be it as long as you are taking money off donkeys, fish, wideboy wanabies. Whatever it takes, just adapt to the table, players and punish them.
BL
2011-07-19Effective in most of these games, but sounds a lot like "60-year-old-nits"
fugu
2011-07-17A fair few replies to this article are from the fish that this article discusses. Thanks fish, i really appreciate your ignorance and total lack of any common sense. Thankfully many people are like this and no matter how many decent articles are posted in an attempt to educate them they will never wise up... all winning players need such ignorant fish... so please fish dont ever wise up... cheers.
rollerdynamic
2011-07-17Good article with solid advice... this style of play is very profitable. This is exactly the way I play and I consistently make money. usually turning £200 into anything from £400-800+ on a saturday night is very much the norm now. Sure, its a grind playing tight but once you suss out the players at the table you can mix up your game a little depending on the situation. If your smart enough you will soon see where your and other peoples leaks are. This article is just a great style to adopt from the outset. I agree with Gunnz and Solly on your points too. I love it when people argue regarding strategy, its usually the ones that have zero patience and keep blaming the loose players for their losses..haha. These are the sort of players you want at your table and if you think otherwise then you are seriously deluded!
steve
2011-07-15Thanks for this great articl,,,,i live in las vegas and most of the time played tournaments and limit games,,,,could not figure out in last 2 yrs why its so hard to win a tournament,,,played 100 win only 2,,,so even if u win just count the lossess....they even out,,,after reading this article ive started playing no limit 1/2,, ireally want to say thanks,,,now its much better,,,better than that limit ,,,fishing as i call,,,,,now i play very few selective hands ...avg 1 out of 10 and make better money,,,once again thanks,,,,for this article,,,it increased my profits atleast 6 to 10 times,,,,,
Degas
2011-07-14Andre A
was the best comment :) ....
its poker....peeps get lucky.
"This game is easy"
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