Low stakes hold 'em tourneys advice?

Question

I've been playing poker online for a couple of years now, and in general I break even. I play the low stakes ($3-$5) one table tourneys as I enjoy them more than cash games, and wonder if anyone has any general advice on how I can improve.Basically I'm a conservative player (because I always seem to lose against some moronic calling station/flush chaser/river rat if I play premium hands aggresively) - I like to limp in and build a pot. However this is also an approach I carry through to heads up, and it works generally 50% there; I tend to play a high card, say J or higher, with some aggression, paying less attention to the kicker.

So, based on this info can anyone give me some advice on how to improve my game for these stakes(I tend to feel that my play is better suited to higher stakes, and on the few occasions when my bankroll has allowed me to play $10 or $20 tourneys it has benfitted me on more occasions than not, but I prefer to play with my profits, which are often too small)?

Answer 1

I don't play heads up much so can't help you there but have played a lot of sitngos.

In low stakes games you get a lot of callers, so generally bluffing or playing aggressively with medium strength hands is a bad idea. It's best to adopt a super-tight super-aggressive style. ie play very few hands but the ones you do play get seriously stuck in. Just wait til you get something like AA,KK,AK,QQ then throw a load of money into the pot, likelyhood is someone will call.

Don't bother making any fancy plays on low limit tables, just play the cars as they are. bet on good hands folds bad hands, keep it simple. This strategy works for me, although I'm still doing the day job.

Last point. You have to remember when you get outdrawn you're playing well so keep doing the same thing. on Average you'll win the hand more often than you get outdrawn.

Know how it feels though you get outdrawn 3-4 times in a row and you're convinced there's some kind of conspiracy and it's fixed.

Lastly - don't play when coming in from the pub or you will lose.