This excerpt is from "Part Four: Beating Micro-Stakes Games" of the soon to be released book Harrington on Online Cash Games; 6-Max No-Limit Hold ’em by Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie.
Trapping
One characteristic opponent type in micro-stakes games is the loose-aggressive maniac. These players have a high VP$IP number, a high PFR number, and a high aggression factor — in fact, more or less every measure of activity is high. They understand one key idea: most of the time players don’t have a hand where they’re comfortable getting their whole stack involved, and if you bet enough, at some point they’ll throw their hand away.
Maniacs will bet constantly, even with nothing, as long as the opponent shows weakness by checking and calling. Their goal is to win all the pots that no one wants. If you do play back at them with a raise, they’ll frequently fold their tent and go away, unless they actually have a hand.
So what’s the right defense against such a player? To catch a wolf, you need to look like a sheep. That is, the best approach is to trap.
Trapping simply refers to taking a strong holding and playing it as though you are weak and capable of being pushed off the hand with sufficient pressure. Instead of betting, you check. Instead of raising, you call. In essence, you imitate the style of a loose-passive player with a weak to medium strength hand. In some cases, you might play the hand like this all the way through. In other cases, you might spring the trap with a raise on the turn or the river.
Trapping is a tool at all levels used to slow down overly aggressive opponents. In microstakes games, it’s a brutally effective tool against a loose-aggressive maniac. In fact, trapping, along with value betting, will be one of your most profitable tools at these stakes. Let’s look at an example.
Example No. 1: You’re in a $10 NL 6-max online game. The player two to your right is ‘Terminator,’ and his HUD looks like this:
Terminator / (98) / +16
VP 50 / PF 40 / AS 86 / FB 12
3B 15 / F3 na / AF 8 / inf / 3 / 2
CB 100 / FC 40 / FT 50
W$F 32 / WtS 20 / W$S 38
Note: Post-flop: bets & raises, folds to reraise.
Turn: bet/fold=2.
This is a typical profile for a micro-stakes maniac. Preflop, he plays half his hands raising about 80 percent of the time, and 3-bets about one-sixth of the time when he has the chance. Postflop, his aggression factor is extremely high although it tails off a bit on the turn and river. Put another way, Terminator’s approach can be summed up simply: "All pots belong to me unless you tell me otherwise."
In this hand you’re in the big blind with a stack of $12.50 (125 big blinds). The under the gun player folds and Terminator, with a stack of $8.60, raises to $0.35 from middle position. The cutoff, button, and small blind fold. You have the
Q
Q
in the big blind and call. At micro-stakes, not raising here would be a big mistake in almost all situations, but given who you’re against, it’s a good play. The pot is now $0.75.
The flop is the
T 6 5
which is a good flop for your situation. It apparently offers both straight and flush draws, which will allow your opponent to rationalize that you’re on a draw if he behaves as you expect him to.
You check indicating weakness and he bets $0.60. Since his ‘c-bet’ percentage is 100 percent, this is no surprise and you just call $0.60. The pot is now $1.95.
The turn is the J
. Normally
you would bet here since there are many possible draws on this board. But your goal is to
have Terminator think you’re drawing, so you do what a loose-passive player would do
with a draw and check. Terminator, as expected, bets $1.50 and you again just call. The pot
is now $4.95 with an effective stack of $6.25.
The river is the 2
.
You check, representing either a missed draw or a low pair. If you were drawing, you’ll
probably give up to a big bet and if you actually have a low pair, you might call. At a higher
stake, this is a play with considerable risk. If Terminator has a hand like the KJ,
he might check his pair of jacks on the end thinking that a final bet would only be called
by a better hand. But that’s not the way micro-stakes play normally works. Bets on
the end are often called by weak hands, so players learn to bet top pair on the river after
a series of checks and calls. Terminator now pushes all-in with his last $6.25 and you call
with your overpair. His hand is the
K 9
and you take the pot.
Terminator never had anything at any stage and simply relied on his ability to push you out of the pot since you never showed strength. Had you check-raised on the flop or the turn, you would have won less. But as you played it, his entire stack became yours.
Let’s take a look at a second example with a slightly different twist.
Example No. 2: You’re in a $10 NL 6-max online game. The player two to your right is ‘Pwnmaster,’ and his HUD looks like this:
Pwnmaster / (31) / +220
VP 55 / PF 39 / AS 100 / FB na
3B 0 / F3 50 / AF 4 / 4 / inf / 1
CB 100 / FC 0 / FT 100
W$F 47 / WtS 29 / W$S 40
In this hand, you’re in the small blind with a stack of $19.50 and Pwnmaster is in middle position with $34.30. The under the gun player limps for $0.10. Pwnmaster raises to $0.40 and both the cutoff and the button fold.
You have the TT and
you elect to reraise to $1.40. Note that calling is more dangerous than in the previous hand
because there’s a greater risk that overcards can appear on the flop when you have
tens than when you have queens. So you really don’t mind winning immediately, although
you recognize that with Pwnmaster already involved, that may not be easy. However, your raise
will probably chase out the big blind and the under the gun player leaving you isolated against
your target.
The big blind and the under the gun player do, in fact, fold and Pwnmaster calls $1. The pot is now $3.05.
The flop is the K75.
It has one overcard to your tens, but otherwise is pretty good. A few hands in his range
contain a king, but many more don’t, so you expect to be in great shape.
You act first and bet $1.50, about half the pot. Since Pwnmaster’s ‘fold to c-bet’ number is zero, he’s expected to call, but since you 3-bet preflop, a bet here should protect your hand if he has overcards to beat you (and now you would want him to call). But instead of calling, Pwnmaster raises to $6.00.
At this point, you need to decide if you’re willing to get your whole stack involved. If the answer is ‘yes,’ it’s also best to decide how to go about it. And the answer should be yes because given Pwnmaster’s HUD, you’re still a big favorite to have the best hand. So what’s your strategy? The right way is to just call and let Pwnmaster try to push you out of the pot on later streets. Notice that while his ‘fold to c-bet’ number is zero, his ‘fold to turn c-bet’ is 100. In other words, if you reraise or perhaps lead on the turn, he might fold some of the hands you’re beating, while more passive play will get him to bet the turn with all his hands.
You call another $4.50. The pot is now $15.05, and the effective stack is $12.10.
The turn is the K and
you check. Notice that’s a good card for you. If he already had a king in his hand,
you were losing anyway, and now the chance of that has been reduced by a third.
Checking is still a good move. It indicates that perhaps you just have a low pair or a diamond draw, and it encourages your opponent to bet again regardless of his hand.
Pwnmaster pushes all-in. You call and he shows the Q9.
The river is the 9, you
take the pot, and you now endure an obligatory lecture in the chat box about how badly you
play. You respond that you’re just trying to learn the game and welcome the chance
to play the masters.
