Microstakes Mastery: Analyzing a Big Blind Defense Hand
Playing microstakes online poker can be a grind, but it’s also a fertile training ground for honing fundamentals and exploring optimal strategies. After quite a few years of playing poker, I am still in microstakes. In this post, I’ll break down a hand I played at 0.01/0.02 NLHE, discussing my thought process, general play principles, and GTO (Game Theory Optimal) considerations. The Setup Table Dynamics: A 6-max table with one seat empty. Stacks: Hero (Big Blind): $2.00 Player5 (Button): $3.95 The action folds around to the Button, who raises to $0.06, a standard 3x open-raise. The Small Blind folds, and I’m left to act with [2d, Ac] in the Big Blind. Preflop Action Hero’s Spot: Facing a button open, I have a decision to make with Ace-deuce offsuit. This is a borderline hand, but calling is reasonable for several reasons: Pot Odds: I need to call $0.04 to defend $0.09, giving me direct odds of 4.25:1. That’s sufficient to justify continuing with a hand that ca...