Ashton Cartwright Poker

Making a living from poker was a goal I set myself from the first moment that I encountered this game, and I am very satisfied with success I have had.

As to how I got interested in poker: I was an avid Magic the Gathering player for several years (nerd for life I’m afraid!), and had been making a small amount of money winning weekly Magic tournaments. At the time I was close friends with the reigning National Champion by the name of Tim He, who was virtually undefeated for several years. Tim stopped suddenly to pursue poker in preference to Magic, and almost immediately placed third in an AAPT at Sydney, winning several hundred thousand dollars.

The idea that there was a game that pays such amazing money was all the inspiration I required to make the switch. I quit Magic almost immediately, and decided to make a serious run at being a professional poker player. I game myself 2 years, and I said that if I wasn’t profitable enough to make a living from poker after that time that I would quit and find a different game.

My first step was to get an online account set up and play ONLY with play money. I told myself that I would not deposit a single dollar until I had won 100 times the play money chips that I started with. I was playing on Pokerstars at that point, and on that site you start with 1000 in play money chips. I (through poor bankroll management and lack of skill) lost that first 1000 chips once, and then a second time. Since I had now received a total of 3000 chips, and my goal was to make at least 100 times that amount, I set my target at 300,000 in play money chips. It took me approximately 45 days of almost constant play, but it assuredly taught me the fundamentals of poker, and how to play tight in particular (as I contend that tight play is the only effective strategy to use in play money games).

On the 3rd of April 2008 I made my first deposit online of $50. I had read all the Harrington books by then, and several of the Sklanzky books as well (I am an avid reader, and for 12 month allowed myself to read nothing but poker literature). I was acutely aware that strict bankroll management is one of the most important aspects of professional poker, so I never invested more than 2% of my bankroll in a single SNG or Tournament, and never more than 5% of my bankroll into a single cash game. Some players have more liberal bankroll management than this, and some have more conservative, but I found this acceptable.

At this level I was only able to play 1c/2c cash games, and SNGs and Tournaments of no more than $1 buy in. I had told myself that under no circumstances was I to ever make another deposit online, so I played as though this $50 was all the money I had in the world.

I found that I was most successful at the SNGs at this level, so that became my primary focus. As my bankroll grew to $100, then $500, then $1000, I continued moving up the limits, keeping always within the 2% requirements that I had set for myself. I played a great deal of Double or Nothing SNGs, and also 18 player SNGs, which I found to be quite profitable. I played comparatively few tournaments, simply because I found the variance and time commitment made them prohibitive.

I also made a conscious effort to steadily increase the number of tables that I played. Once I started playing more than 6 tables I got a 2nd computer screen, and once I was playing more than 12 tables I added another 2 screens to my hardware set up.

By the 2nd of February 2010 I was making enough consistent income to quit my job, about two months ahead of the 2 years I had set myself. At this point I was playing Double or Nothing SNGs almost exclusively, and paying sometimes as much as $20,000 of buyins per day, playing $100 Double or Nothing SNGs 24 tables at a time. My income was only about $50 per hour, which is not much in poker terms, but it was more than enough for me to live comfortably.

I still believe the Double or Nothing strategy I have outlined elsewhere to be the optimal strategy for that particular type of game, and I still believe that Double or Nothings can be among the most profitable forms of poker, particularly at the lower buyins (up to about $50). At the higher levels there are often multiple players on each table playing almost identical strategies, so it becomes a bit harder to show consistent profit there. As a novice, I believe Double or Nothings, when played with a proper strategy and understanding of stack size interactions, to be one of the most effective ways to build a bankroll.

I also feel that low level SNGs are an excellent bankroll builder for new players interested in that format. For low limit cash games, since players are generally loose at those stakes, a tight Set Mining strategy is the best strategy to use.

For me, becoming a professional poker player was a conscious decision that was only made possible by clear planning, constant study, discipline, and good bankroll management. There are many players who are superior to me in skill, yet fail in one of the above attributes (most commonly bankroll management).

For those who succeed in becoming a professional poker player, this life is fun, the hours flexible, and the financial remuneration often substantial. The other benefit of playing Cash Games is that you will likely learn the intricacies of the game much faster than if you restrict yourself exclusively to SNGs.

I wish you the best of luck, but more importantly, play well!

How to Bluff: Firing a Second Barrel

“Firing a second Barrel” is a term for a very specific poker situation: you have raised pre-flop and then bet the flop (called a Continuation Bet or C-Bet), and your opponent has called you. On the turn a card comes that doesn’t help you, and you bet again as a bluff. This is called “Firing a Second Barrel” because you have fired one bluff on the flop, and another bluff on the turn.
The incentive to fire a second barrel is quite obvious: There is good money in it. Lets assume you have raised to 3BB from the button pre-flop, and get called by the Big Blind. That’s 6.5BB. On the flop you make a continuation bet of another 4bb and get called. That’s 14.5BB in the pot. Now your opponent checks to you on the turn; should you bluff again?
Well, there are certain situations where firing a second barrel is effective, and other situations where firing a second barrel is just throwing money away. If you can correctly identify the effective situations, then you will be able to take down many medium sized pots that you would have been unlikely to win otherwise.
Lets look at it from your opponent’s point of view: You have raised pre-flop, bet the flop, and fired another barrel on the turn. You opponent knows that you could be doing this with a complete bluff, a semi-bluff, or a very strong hand, and this puts a huge amount of pressure on them. If they call the turn bet, they know that there might even be another bet on the river, potentially all in. It’s a difficult situation to be in, and whenever you put your opponent in a difficult situation, there is a good chance that they will make a mistake.

A player will usually just call a flop bet, rather than fold or raise, for a logical (or semi-logical) reason. The main reasons are these:
1. They have a strong hand and are trapping.
2. They have a mediocre hand, and don’t want to build a big pot.
3. They have a straight draw, flush draw, or some other draw.
4. They are intending to bluff.
5. Some combination of the above (like bottom pair and a gutshot)
In most of those situations, the player is likely to fold to a second barrel fired on the turn. (Draws that hit, and strong hands that are trapping are the obvious exceptions)

Here is an example to illustrate the power of the 2nd barrel.
Imagine you are in the BB with A8s. I raise to 3BB from the button, which I’m likely to do with a wide range of hands, and you call. The flop is A 9 4 rainbow. You check to me, as is usual. I make a continuation bet of 4BB. You can call or raise. You decide that if I have an Ace, you are just as likely to be ahead or behind. Your hand is possibly not strong enough to raise, since any worse hand like KQ will just fold, and any better hands will call. However if a K or a Q comes on the turn or river, you might get 1 more bet out of me. Also if I raised with a pocket pair like JJ or TT, I wont call a check raise now with the Ace on the board, but I might call a small bet on the river. There are no draws to be concerned about.
All in all, you decide that your hand isn’t big enough to build a large pot, and you could just as easily be behind as ahead, and that you therefore maximize your Expected Value (EV) by just calling.
The pot is 14.5BB. The turn comes J. You check, and I fire out another bet for 12BB. That’s about 80% of the pot. You realise that if you call, the pot will be 14.5 +12 +12 = 38.5BB. That’s a pretty big pot. If you call this one, you might get hit with another bet on the river, which might be as much as 40BB. That would be about 65BB you’ve put into this pot, just to see a showdown with your top pair, mediocre kicker. Now your A8 isn’t looking so good. You start thinking that your opponent isn’t likely to have bet the turn with a weaker Ace than you. Maybe your opponent has two pair with AJ, A9 or even A4? Maybe he just has a big kicker like AK or AQ? You’re losing to those ones too. Perhaps he flopped a set, and is trying to get you pot committed? Heck, maybe he raised with J9 offsuit, and got lucky on the turn?
You don’t really want to call a big bet now if you can’t call another one on the river, which is probably what you would have to do if you opponent decides to bet again.
Perhaps you decide to call and perhaps you decide to fold, either of which could be a huge mistake depending on what cards your opponent actually has. I know that I would have trouble calling a big bet like that on the turn with only top pair and an 8 as a kicker. It’s scary. The button player can’t believe that I have less than an Ace at that point, so the chance that I’m beaten rises dramatically with each additional bet.
Let’s change the scenario slightly. Let’s say that you called in the BB with 9Ts. You hit middle pair on the flop. You’ve seen me raise from the button with some real rubbish hands, and that I make a C-Bet almost 100% of the time. You think that there is a solid chance you are ahead with your middle pair on this flop. Again you decide not to raise, because most better hands (like any Ace) will call, and all worse hands will fold. You might be able to get a hand like JJ or QQ to fold if you check raise, but you think those are reasonably unlikely, so you aren’t overly concerned about those pairs. You consider raising to protect your hand against random overcards, but you still don’t want to build a big pot out of position with only middle pair, so you just call the flop bet and see what happens on the turn.
Again the turn is the J and you check to the aggressor. Again he fires a second barrel of 12BB. Now you really can’t call. You are still out of position, with what is now third pair, AND your opponent is firing again. You hand just doesn’t seem good enough, so you fold.

There are 2 more common situations where firing a 2nd barrel should be successful:
Your opponent raises on the button, and again you call in the BB with T9s. This time the flop is A 5 4 with 2 of your suit. Your opponent bets 4BB and you call with your flush draw. Strictly speaking you aren’t getting enough pot odds for your draw, but its possible that your opponent missed as well. If that is the case he will likely check the turn, giving you another chance to make your draw. Also you think that in the situations where your opponent actually did hit the Ace, your implied odds are enough to justify calling.
The turn comes an offsuit J and you check again. Your opponent bets 12BB. You are getting slightly better than 2-1 to call, and are only about 4-1 to hit your draw with only 1 card to come. You don’t think that the implied odds are there anymore, as your opponent would need to call a large river bet with an obvious 3 flush on the board. You decide to fold.

The other situation where a player would call a flop bet and fold to a turn bet is where they don’t have anything themselves, but they believe that its unlikely that you hit the board either. If you check the turn to them, they intend to bet and take the pot away from you. This is called a “Call Bluff” or “Floating”. It plays out like this:
Your opponent raises in mid position, and you call on the button with 45s. The flop comes J 8 2, with none of your suit. Your opponent makes a C-Bet of 4BB. You think that because your opponent is a moderately tight player, he will C-Bet often, but will rarely fire a second barrel unless he hits the flop strongly. Since this is a flop that is likely to have missed a player who plays mainly high cards, you call the flop bet. If your opponent checks the turn, you will bet yourself, with a high chance of taking down the pot.
The turn card is irrelevant, because you will fold to any bet, and bet if your opponent checks. In this case the turn comes a 9, and your opponent bets 12BB, and you muck as intended.

When should you fire a second barrel?

The best situations to look at firing a second barrel are:
1. Boards with lots of draws on the flop, none of which hit on the turn
2. Paired boards
3. Boards where the turn card could have helped you i.e. a Scare Card
4. Boards that your opponent thinks would have missed you, so they are likely to call bluff.

Boards with lots of draws on the flop, none of which hit on the turn
If a flop comes K 7 2 rainbow, and your opponent calls your C-Bet, it’s safe to assume that they are NOT calling with a draw. Therefore your opponent’s hand range is proportionately more likely to be a monster, a weak hand, or a call bluff if they are in position. If the board comes 9 T J, with 2 of a suit however, there could be all sorts of drawing hands mixed in with the possible marginal hands and monsters. If the turn comes an offsuit 2 or some other irrelevant card, firing a second barrel may be enough to get the drawing hands to fold.

Paired Boards
Paired boards are generally considered to be good bluffing flops. This is due to basic mathematics. If the board comes with cards of 3 different ranks, then there are 9 cards in the deck that could make a pair or better. A flop of A J 8 for example means that there are three Aces, three Jacks, and three 8’s left in the deck that could have paired with this flop.
On a paired board, lets say JJ8, there are only 5 cards that could have connected i.e.: the two remaining jacks, and the three remaining 8’s. The fact that paired boards are less likely to hit anyone, combined with the fact that if you DID hit the flops, you could have a big hand like trips, means that more often than not, the first to bet at a paired board will win.
The flow on effect to this however, is that good players will more often expect a bluff on a paired board, and may therefore call a C-Bet more liberally on such a flop. In position they are more likely to call as a Call Bluff, and out of position they are more likely to call with a weak pocket pair that they think might still be best. On this board I would fire a second barrel about 80% of the time against a single opponent, regardless of my position.

Boards where the turn card could have helped you i.e. a Scare Card
A Scare Card is any card that your opponent thinks could have given you a better hand. The most effective Scare Cards are usually ones that could have connected with AK. Whenever you raise, your opponents usually weight your range towards high cards, and AK is top of the list in their head. The board comes JT4 and they call a C bet, then the turn comes a Q, and you fire again, some players will fold hands as good as good as 2 pair, because they will be “certain” that you have AK and have just hit your straight.
If you make a continuation bet on a Q 6 2 board and your opponent has hit the Queen (by holding KQ or QJ for example), then you will certainly be called. If an A comes on the turn, your opponent may think that this A hit your hand. This would count as a Scare Card, and you may win the pot by firing a second barrel.
A Scare Card can also be a card that seems to fill a flush or a straight, although because your opponents will often be the ones drawing, firing a 2nd barrel when a Scare Card like that hit can be a bit more dangerous.

Boards that your opponent thinks would have missed you, so they are likely to call bluff.
This would be when you have raised pre-flop from early position, and someone has called from the button. The flop comes 2 5 8 rainbow. You C-Bet, and the button calls. The button might have a set, or an overpair, an underpair, overcards, or absolutely nothing, but he has every reason to believe that YOU also have nothing. You raised from early position, which usually means either high cards, or a big pair. The flop was extremely low, so it’s unlikely to hit you. Many players would call a C-Bet in this situation, with the intention of betting if you check, and folding if you bet. They don’t need to have much, even KQ, as overcards would usually be enough. They might hit a K or a Q, you might check the turn and they can bluff you out, or they might even have the best hand with K high. All these factors combined make a Call Bluff likely.
The turn comes another 2. If you fire a second barrel on this board, an opponent who was Call Bluffing will likely fold, as would an opponent with underpairs, overcards, and possibly some of the weak overpairs. Opponents with sets and strong overpairs will either call or raise.
If you are in position on a low flop, then there shouldn’t be anyone calling your C-Bet just with the intention of Call Bluffing, as most players will only Call Bluff in position. Therefore, if there is anyone still in the hand after you C-Bet in position, their range is more likely to be pocket pairs, other marginal to strong made hand, very strong high card hands that they think might still be best (like AK or AQ) or an obscure draw with something like 67 or 34. These hands may still fold to a 2nd barrel, but it’s less likely than when their range includes Call Bluffs.

When you should not fire a second barrel

Other boards
Firing a 2nd barrel on boards other than the ones listed above is more risky, and generally requires specific knowledge of your opponent to be effective.

Multiple opponents
The situations described above all assume that you are only facing one opponent. If you have multiple opponents, the chance that your bluff will get called multiplies. I would rarely fire a 2nd barrel into multiple opponents unless I felt very sure that the situation was perfect. Maybe a paired board with a 2 flush, and a Scare Card landing on the turn while I’m in position would be good enough for me . . . but only just.

Firing a 2nd barrel too often
Firing a 2nd barrel is a powerful move, but one that should be used sparingly. If you fire a 2nd barrel every time your C-bet gets call, you will find your opponents catching on rather swiftly. They will be more willing to call you down with weak hands, and will also set traps for you more often. If you limit yourself to only firing a 2nd barrel in profitable situations, and mix in a solid amount of turn bets with your made or drawing hands, the move should show good results.

Set Miners

Set miners are big online. Very big. They play only pairs and AK. They may make button steals with other, slightly weaker hands (like AJ or KQ), but generally, they only play the best. AK and pairs account for just over 7% of hands that are dealt. If you have a large number for hands in your history for this person, and they have a VP around 7-8% then chances are you are playing against a set miner, particularly if their steal percentage seems to be low.

Set Miners traditionally buy in for the maximum 100BB, so that they can stack another deep player when they hit their set.

The set mining strategy is rather simple: when first to enter the pot, limp with all low-mid pairs in early or middle position. With AK, some players will raise in early position, some will just limp. Raise with all pairs and AK in late position. Always raise or re-raise with AA-QQ, and some players also re-raise with AK. Call any reasonable raise (up to about 5bb) with any pair, hoping to flop a set. If they miss, set miners will usually fold to the aggressors C-Bet, unless they have flopped an overpair, like TT on a 9 5 2 flop.

If they flop a set, they will try to get all in as efficiently as possible. As the Non-Aggressor, sometimes they will just call a C-Bet in position, and then raise on the turn or river, as long as they can comfortably get all in by the river without over betting the pot. On a board with either flush or straight draws, they will be more likely to raise on the flop, fearing a cooler. On a dry board, they are more likely to merely flat call on the flop. Set miners will often Check/raise the aggressor a small amount when out of position if they feel this is the best way to get their opponent pot committed.

As the Aggressor flopping a set, they will often C-bet, then fire again on the turn, and then attempt to get all (or almost all) of their chips in on the river.

With AK as the Aggressor, they may C-bet when they miss the flop, then give up on the hand if they meet resistance and don’t improve. Some set miners will even check/fold when they miss the flop with AK. Make a note of these players, because a flop bet will often take the pot away from them, and this situation occurs often.

If they hit Top-Top or flop an overpair they will usually C-bet, but then they will try to keep the pot small. They may make another bet on the turn or river, but rarely both. They are not trying to get pot committed with Top-Top.

Strengths of the style:

Simple to play

Since you are playing a very limited number of hands, this strategy is reasonably easy to learn. As long as you are disciplined enough to stick to pairs and AK, its hard to go too far wrong; You will either flop a set, Top-Top, top two pair, or absolutely nothing, so there are very few tough decisions to be made. You can C-bet when you miss flops, but other than that there really isn’t any bluffing or tricky plays involved with this style. If you hit the flop hard, try to get as much money in as you can. If you miss, you can fold (or C-bet, then fold if you meet resistance). The tight starting requirements mean that it’s very unlikely that any given hand will present you with tough decisions, and the less tough decisions the less chance that you will make a mistake. A very easy strategy to learn, and one which is probably the most conservative and safe of all the mainstream strategies.

Easy to multi-table

If you are trying to collect a large amount of Frequent Player Points on Pokerstars, or farming rakeback on another site, trying to clear a deposit bonus, or just trying to increase your hourly profit, multi-tabling is often an effective way to do it. Because you play very few hands with this style, and the decisions you face are usually quite straight forward, Set Mining is quite a popular strategy with multi-tablers. Since you play only 7% of hands with this style, even people who play 10-12 tables simultaneously are still involved in no more than one or two relevant hands at a time.

Set miners can make money.

They do. A set miner of at least moderate skill should be able to apply this strategy effectively enough to make money. I regularly encounter solid, multi-tabling Set Miners, and my Pokertracker stats usually show them doing well. This is not to say that Set Mining is the best strategy; it isn’t. A good player who adapts effectively to his opponents’ playing styles will always perform better than someone using a semi-mechanical strategy like Set Mining. But, when properly applied, this style is at least as legitimate as any other. If you’re on a table full of professionals, its likely that you will lose money, because they will be able to adapt to your style effectively. . . but I wouldn’t want to hang around on a table full of pro’s anyway J

Weaknesses of the style:

Rarely bluff

Stereotypical set miners rarely bluff, which allows a wily opponent to get away from hands which may be second best. For example: You raise in middle position with QQ and a set miner calls on the button. The flop comes J 7 2. You C-Bet, and the set miner raises a solid amount. If I had seen this player regularly fold to C-bets in the past (as a set miner generally will) then you may be able to let this hand go easily. Against a different style of player, you might call or you might re-raise, but against a set miner, you are very likely behind here. If he only plays pairs and AK, then he is either bluffing, or has you crushed. Discretion is the better part of valour in a situation like this. If he lets you win most hands with your C-Bet, then folding a mere overpair hand when he makes a significant raise is more than warranted.

Missing out on opportunities

Set miners usually don’t bother to play suited connectors, suited Ace-rag, or 1 gapper type hands, even in situations where it would often be profitable to do so. If a set miner is on the button, and there are 3 limpers in from of him, he will usually just fold hands like 56o or 79s. This is almost certainly a situation where playing a speculative hands would be profitable, and set miners often forgo that opportunity.

Perceptive players will attack your limps

Because an early limp by a set miner is almost always a pair or AK, its often possible to raise the button with any 2 cards, then take the pot down with a C-Bet on the flop (provided no one else has entered the pot). Since they will miss the flop most of the time, you should show a significant profit with this line of play. Also, since you are often raising with rubbish, you are unlikely to get stacked when the set miner actually flops a strong hand, as you will be able to easily throw you hand away if you meet resistance. Even if you raise and hit a moderately strong hand like top pair mid kicker, it’s easy to let the hand go when you know that your opponent is playing such a specific range.

For example: A Set Miner limps in 3rd position, and you button raise to 4BB with KTo. The flop comes K 9 4 rainbow. The Set Miner checks to you, and you C-Bet. If the Set Miner check-raises you, I would let the hand go almost 100% of the time. He has a set, or he has AK, or he is making an extremely out-of –character bluff. The only one of those that you are beating is by far the least likely. Unless you have a specific reason to believe that the Set Miner is making a move, your KT should go straight into the muck.

Recreational Players

Recreational players (also known “Recreational gamblers”, Weak Players, or less charitably as Muppets, Donkeys, Bananas, or simply “Bad Players”) are the main reason professional poker players make money. They are by far the most lucrative opponents for you to play against, and you should do your utmost to seek them out whenever possible. These are the players who aren’t really playing to make money, they just enjoy the game, or they love to gamble. They like the excitement of seeing what each flop will bring, they like being able to surprise someone with a hand that their opponents never expected, and they like the adrenaline rush they get when they see the big pots come towards them (or even go away from them).

While there are often differences between one recreational gambler and the next, they all tend to have similar weaknesses in their game.

They play too many hands:

By far the most common error that recreational players make is playing too many hands. A typical tight player might play no more than 15% of the hands that they are dealt. They will usually play pairs, big AK/AQ/KQ type hands, and sometimes suited connectors or cards with a gap. Most recreational players will play 30% of their hands or more. It’s not uncommon to see a player playing over 60% of the hands that they are dealt. These players are playing any Ace, any King, any 2 big cards, any 2 suited cards, any 2 cards that are remotely connected, and any hand where they “just feel lucky”. Folding is boring, so they rarely do it.

They put too much money in with weak hands:

Once a recreational player hits any piece of the flop, they are usually reluctant to fold. They hate the thought of being bluffed out of a pot, so they will tend to call right to the river with hands like top pair no kicker, middle pair, or sometimes even bottom pair or ace high. They watch poker on TV, and they see people making big bluffs all day long, and they decide that they aren’t going to let anyone push them around. Their thinking goes like this:

“I called a raise with Q8s, and now the flop has come A 8 4 and that guy is betting into me. If he doesn’t have an Ace I’m probably ahead, and even if he does have an Ace I might hit a Q or an 8. . . So I will call.”

On the turn a 7 comes, and the aggressor bets again, and the recreational player thinks: “Hmm, I know that 7 didn’t help him, and I’ve already called once, so I should probably call this bet too. I might be ahead, or if I’m behind I can still hit a Q or an 8 and win a big pot.”

The river is a K and the aggressor bets again “Well there is already so much money in the pot that I can’t fold now. If he has me beat then I was just unlucky”.

So he calls the river bet and his Q8 loses to the raisers AK.

The recreational player sees this and congratulates himself on his good read: “Yeah I thought he probably had the Ace, but he could easily have been bluffing, so I made the right call. That’s just the way poker goes sometimes. . .”

It sounds silly, but this is the way many recreational players think a hand through.

They pay too much to draw:

Recreational players don’t usually know odds, and if they do know them they don’t act upon that knowledge. If they have a flush draw they will happily call a pot sized bet on the flop and then another one on the turn. Why? Because they might hit a flush! That’s all the reason they need. The fact that they are getting incorrect odds doesn’t bother them at all. We have all seen players who will call pot sized bets with draws as weak as a gutshot, and then display their hand proudly when their card comes in. Against players like this, just making large bets with strong hands is the way to succeed. If they don’t mind paying too much to draw, they you should be charging them the maximum every step of the way. Sure they may make their draw and win the pot, but don’t let that worry you. As long as you make sure that they are getting bad odds on their draw, then you’ve done your job properly.

They don’t choose bet sizes relevant to the pot size:

Recreational players are often quite passive, but when they do bet they choose bet sizes based on some logic that makes sense in their head, but is rarely related to the pot size. They might make a 1BB bet into a 20BB pot. They might shove all in for 70BB into a 6BB pot. They will often bet too little to charge draws, or too much to get callers. If they have called pot sized bets on the flop and turn to try and hit a flush draw, they may lead out with a tiny bet on the river when the flush actually hits. They would rather bet 2BB and get called every time than bet 40BB and only get called half the time, even though the 40BB bet will make 10 times more on average.

They have no regard for position:

A9o is a reasonable hand on the button if nobody has entered the pot. It’s almost certainly too weak to play profitably from UTG however. That usually applies for Q9s, JTo, or K8s as well.

A recreational player doesn’t make such differentiations however. If K8s is good on the button, it’s also good in middle position or UTG. If they get dealt a hand they like, they will play it no matter where they are.

They ignore the relevance of raises:

If a recreational player decides a hand is good enough to play, he will play it whether the pot is limped, or raised, or often even if the pot is re-raised. If he believes K9s is a good hand, he will limp UTG with it and then call any raises as long as the raise is “reasonable” in his mind. This might be 4BB or it might be 10BB. If you can find out the upper limit that the recreational player will call, always raise to that amount when you have a strong hand and the recreational player has already entered the pot. If you are dealt AA and the recreational player has limped, just go ahead and raise to whatever amount you have seen that player call before, even if it’s 10 or 12BB. Don’t worry about scaring the player off; if he has a hand he wants to play, he will play regardless of the price.

They disregard stack sizes:

Recreational players are more likely to buy in for stack sizes somewhere between the minimum and the maximum; most of the time they have no practical reason for this. They might buy in for 20BB because that’s the buy in at their home games, or 55bb because their street number is number 55, or 75BB because they “don’t want to risk any more than that”, or 48BB because they were born on the 4th of August. The size of their buy in won’t have any affect on the types of hands they play. They might call for 25% of their stack with pocket 2’s hoping to flop a set, or they might call with T7s for a 20% of their stack, just because that’s their favourite hand. The fact that their stack is too small to get a relevant payout on their long-shot hands doesn’t concern them.

Playing against recreational players:

The optimal strategy against such players is this:

“Play good hands, bet them strongly when you hit, and don’t bother bluffing”

Pretty simple.

If you have a big pair or an AK/AQ/KQ type hand, just go ahead and raise a large amount. No need to diversify you plays by occasionally limping behind or min-raising these players. They aren’t paying enough attention to notice that you only raise with strong hands, so you don’t need to bother trying to trap them.

If you hit top pair/good kicker, or any other reasonably strong hand, go ahead and bet bet bet! Sometimes they will hit 2 pair and you will be unhappy, but more often than not you to will win money from a player who has A4o, hit their Ace on the flop, and called to the river with top pair no kicker.

Go ahead and play your usual mix of small pairs and suited connectors in position, but generally don’t loosen your starting requirements too much. While its true that a recreational player is playing a wide mix of hands, don’t use that as justification for playing rubbish yourself. Calling raises with hands like A6o and K9s, just because “Well he could be playing hands even worse that that, and I can just outplay him later on anyway” is not optimal strategy. The Recreational player gets dealt just as many AK’s and big pairs as you do, and you don’t want to be the one stuck in a dominated position. To outplay this type of weak player you simply play solid hands and bet them strongly when you hit. That’s it. Don’t outplay yourself by getting too tricky.

There are very few situations where bluffing a Recreational player works. They like to call, even with weak hands, and they won’t understand what hand you are representing with your bet. If you raise and the flop comes A K 9, a recreational player will quite happily call your C-bet with 89. One of the cards in their hand matches one of the cards on the board, so how can they fold? If you bet again on the turn and river, make sure you have something solid to show down. Don’t help the recreational player to make “really great calls” with their bottom pair. If you miss the flop, and your C-bet gets called, just check and fold unless you improve. Bluffing just plays into the recreational players only strength: “Nobody can bluff me!”.

The only situation where a bluff may be profitable, is in a hand where you have C-bet into a drawy board, and then the draws miss on the turn and river. It may be worth making a tiny bet in this situation, even if you only have air. Because recreational players like to draw, and also don’t care much about pot odds, you can sometimes take the pot away on the river with a bet of as little as 10% of the pot, or even a single BB. If they were on a draw that missed, they will fold, even for an itsy bitsy bet like that. If they hit any piece of the board they will call, but you don’t have to win many of these to show a profit. If you have a reasonable hand like Ace high however, you may be better off just checking it down or even calling a small river bet.

One last note on betting the river: You are in position. You hit Top Top on the flop. You have bet the flop and turn on a board with straight and flush draws. If the river fills either a flush or straight and the Recreational player checks to you, checking behind is usually better than continuing to value bet. Recreational players LOVE to slow play, even on the river. If you have bet every street, and the Rec. player makes his flush or straight, he will almost certainly check to you on the river, hoping for a check-raise.

Even the recreational players who play better than described above will almost certainly make some of the errors listed. Maybe they don’t call raises with K4s, but they will call with K9s. Perhaps they won’t call pot sized bets with gutshot draws, but they will call with open-ended straight draws. Maybe they won’t call 3 bets with middle pair, but they will call one bet on the flop and another one on the river. The sooner you find out how much these players are willing to pay, the faster you will win money from them.

These players are found at every level, and in every type of game. Unsurprisingly however, they are more common at the lower buy-in levels than at the higher ones. You will also encounter more recreational players at a casino than you will at the small-medium stakes online games. Keep an eye out for them wherever you play; they will be the easiest money at the table, and your overall results will be heavily skewed by how effectively you maximize against these players.

Bankroll
A “bankroll” is an amount of money set aside specifically for the purpose of playing poker.
The management of your bankroll is a seemingly mundane, yet incredibly vital aspect of overall poker strategy and direction. The importance of correct bankroll management is underestimated by good and bad players alike, but the simple truth is that a player who practices sound bankroll management is much more likely to be successful. In fact, without proper bankroll management, it is almost impossible to become a professional player.
Someone playing within proper bankroll limits is much less likely to “go bust” due to an unlucky run of card. They will be able to make the correct plays, even if the plays are high variance, because they won’t be playing with “scared money”. Most importantly, they will be able to move up limits in a way that minimizes risk, but still allows for consistent growth.
There are many players that could make a significant income playing poker, if it wasn’t for the fact that they let themselves down by poor bankroll management. It doesn’t matter how good a player you are: sometimes your Aces are going to get cracked. If that happens a few times in succession, it’s your bankroll management that will determine if you can keep playing, or if you have to wait for your next paycheque to try again.

What a bankroll is not
A bankroll is not “all the money you have in the world”. It is not the money you should be using to pay rent. It is not your college fund. It is not the money you were putting aside to get the car fixed. It is not the deposit that you were saving for a house.
A bankroll is money that you have set aside SPECIFICALLY for playing poker. Think of it like investing money in a business: your business needs capital to run, but if your business performs well, and if you don’t spend your capital on risky things, then you can expect the amount that you have invested to grow. This growth can be reinvested into the business to grow still further, or you can take that profit and spend it however you like, as long as you leave enough for your business to keep running.
It might be $50 in an online poker account, or it might be $50,000 set aside for playing high stakes at a casino, but whatever the amount, the important thing is that it is money that can be used entirely for poker.

Who does not need a bankroll?
1. Losing players. Whatever money a losing player sets aside for a bankroll will eventually be gone, and then they will have to dip into their own pocket to keep playing poker. There is no bankroll strategy that can be of enduring benefit to a losing player unfortunately. Study combined practice at micro-stake levels should be their focus instead.
2. Casual players do not need a bankroll. If you only play poker every couple of months, then a bankroll is probably not required. As long as you only ever play with money that you don’t mind losing, it doesn’t really matter what that amount is, or whether or not it grows.

Who does need a bankroll?
1. Anyone who is playing poker for the purpose of making a profit. If your intention is just to have fun that’s A-ok, but if your intention is to make a profit over any reasonable period of time, then you need a bankroll.
2. Anyone who plays poker often, at stakes that are relevant to that player. If you’re playing poker every week, and buying in for amounts that are not negligible to you, then you are definitely at the stage where you need a bankroll.
3. Anyone who wants to derive some proportion of their income from playing poker. You don’t necessarily need to be a pro, but if you have come to rely on the extra money you usually make on Friday nights at a local home game, then you need a bankroll.

Bankroll Strategy
The bankroll strategy that I use is very straight forward. The exact numbers may vary, but most serious poker players will use a system reasonably similar. The strategy is this:

Cash games:
I always maintain a bankroll of at least 20 maximum buy-ins at any cash game level I’m playing.
Once my bankroll builds up to 30 buy-ins at the next level higher, I move up to that level.
So when I’m playing 50c/$1 blinds, I’m buying in for the maximum $100 per table and my bankroll is $3000. The next level up is the $1/$2 blind level, with $200 max buy-ins, so when my bankroll gets to $6000 ($200 X 30), I move up to that level.
If my bankroll drops below 20 buy-ins at my current level, then I step down to a lower level again until my bankroll builds back up to 30 buy-ins.
It is a very simple strategy that works well for me. If you are a bit more conservative, then perhaps you would move up limits when you have 50 buy-ins at the next level, and move down again if you fall below 30 buy-ins. Choose whatever amounts you feel comfortable with, but I wouldn’t recommend going any lower that 20 buy-ins. Its not uncommon to lose a few buy-ins within an hour or two if the cards run against you, so make sure you have a comfortable enough buffer to protect yourself.

Tournaments/Sit ‘n’ Goes
For tournaments and SNGs I am extremely conservative in my bankroll management. I will only enter tournaments and SNGs for which my bankroll is 100 times the size of the entry.
If my bankroll is $1,000 then I can enter tournaments and SNGs with an entry price of no more than $10. Once my bankroll increases to $1,500 I can enter tournaments and SNGs with a $15 entry price.
I can recall instances where I have played 16 straight SNGs without cashing a single time. In those situations, I was very glad that I was not committing more than 1% of my bankroll to each entry. SNGs have a high variance, tournaments even higher, and so I have given myself an adequate buffer by only committing 1% of bankroll per entry.
If you are willing to accept greater risk, then perhaps committing no more than 2% of your bankroll per entry would suit you better. That’s 50 buy-ins. I would personally feel a bit uncomfortable with only 50 buy-ins at any tournament level that I was playing frequently, but I’m definitely more conservative than many players.
One last note on tournament entries: If there is a one-off tournament that you have had your heart set on playing, then it’s OK to go a bit out of your bankroll to play in it. But just keep in mind that if you commit too much of you bankroll to a single tournament and you don’t cash, you might have to move down to a lower limit until you can build your bankroll back up again.

In all forms of poker, if you are a winning player, and you stick to your bankroll strategy, then you will be able to continue moving up the limits as your bankroll grows. You will be insulated from the swings that occur in any game where luck/probability plays a part, while still being able to benefit from your development as a poker player. . . and you wont ever need to wait for your next paycheque to play again.