💥 Small Stakes Crusher: Mindset Secrets Revealed! 💰

Most people don't understand what it takes to be a winner at the small stakes of live No Limit Hold'em. In this video, I'm going to share with you the mindset behind crushing the small stakes of live No Limit Hold'em. I'll show you how to adjust your mindset so you can start winning even at small stakes poker and increase your chances of becoming a professional poker player.
0:00 - Intro
1:20 - Preflop
3:00 - Flop
3:34 - Small Stakes Exploit
6:53 - Turn
8:35 - River
12:53 - Hero decision
14:18 - Reveal
Small stakes exploit at 3:26: crushlivepoker.com/courses/cr...
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[@mrpophireal3789]

But if he 5 minute tank calls 34 is he really calling down with any Q ?

[@michaelstephens9852]

No way😂

[@Fignuts35]

I would argue he is valuing his trips as much as he would value top pair with a strong kicker. Reason is if he is tanking that long at those stakes he is fearful of JT. And whether he has trips or a top pair he's still afraid of the same monster.

[@chrissternfeld1306]

he wasn’t tanking to fold, he was thinking about whether to call or shove. kind of a nit call but completely understandable.

[@juand3p]

That’s not at all the point

[@ryanbahnsen6429]

​@@servethesongs Somebody called my $80 pre flop raise with J10 the other night and cracked my Aces. Shit happens 😆

[@Averylikethepaper]

What up Bart, I just wanted to say thank you. Your training has helped improve my game a lot.

[@CrushlivePoker]

Shout out to all you viewers in Saskatchewan! Chad is from Regina, respond here with the your provincial town/city

[@thevoiceofreason5589]

My wife is from Regina (“the city that rhymes with fun”)- got that Rider pride 🏈 👍

[@davidculhane4388]

Hey Bart, I am a huge fan of your program. NH restaurant owner and resident here, originally from the Boston area. Hope to see you at Chaser's sometime!

[@Shytan420]

Ottawa, Ontario

[@TobeyWieler]

Mississippi

[@jamesbell1613]

Thats the thing with these small stakes games. The sizing has to be crazy to keep from getting too many callers.

[@Dexerion]

It's not crazy, it's just crazy in reference to the blinds. People just want to play lower stakes.

[@torsloke]

Because it’s Canada after the hand the villain said “Soory.” for calling with 43s and the hero said “Soory.” for putting the villain to such a hard decision on the river.

[@fastfunpokerjamie124]

Ha 😂

[@pokertroll320]

At these stakes, when I bet on the bigger side on the river and want to get called, i often calculate the pot out loud. Cause 350 sounds like a huge bet to some of these guys, and they don’t automatically think about how big the pot is.

[@PTfan54]

Damn that's a crazy nit roll, too.

[@ronkupka6262]

Live small stakes cash is so villain-dependent for me. The CLP content is good for game fundamentals, but so much goes out the window in-game. As played in this hand, I think the hero played it just fine, and I imagine I would have played it similarly. But with any kind of profile on the opponent (or on the table in general), I can play the same hand vastly different. So much of what theory will tell you to do is based on a villain as a rational actor, but how often is that really the case at low stakes? We should be able to bucket our opponents as good reg, bad reg, splashy recreational, etc., and play against them accordingly.

[@nonleague8613]

Pretty much this.

[@AmrishKelkar]

Tend to agree. Hero played right. But there was no discussion of villain - previous plays, style etc.

[@GetMeThere1]

Good one. I'm learned a lot from your emphasis on how many Qx would still call even on a jam.

[@leorubio5653]

Thanks bro, I would imagine this is also applicable when 150bb, 200bb, etc in lower stakes tourneys or maybe even mid stakes tourneys. Thank you Bart! This is such a common scenario that comes up all the time,. You have helped make me a better player brother and whenever I hit a big/descant score, you are getting one nice gift my friend! :) I've prob said that before, I think..LOL..I am planning on playing a little more than norm this summer though so let's see if that means my odds of getting a descant score goes up.?.? LOL. Not only have u helped me and many others get better, it also contributes to our Love of the game, as I appreciate and Love Poker more than ever and getting better/understanding the game on a deeper level is a big reason why. I know, long winded comment but I mean it from my heart brother, I see Poker as such a gift to us all and you definitely help make it that much more special sharing your experience, wisdom, knowledge, etc. I know your humble, but when alone and you reflect, I hope you understand and just know, you're doing something really cool for your fellow poker player/human. :)

[@willinnewhaven3285]

Aboujt the amount to raise. in my 1/2 game, my raise after one limper is to 11. I had KQo and I raised. I wasn't looking, grabbed the wrong chips, and raised to 51! _Everyone_ knew it was a mistake. Everyone folded to the blinds,, there was some laughter. I could see that the BB and the limper were folding and I knew that the self-styled pro in the SB could see it too. When it got to him, he shoved, smacking his stack (350 and I covered) on the table forcefully. I called and won unimproved.

[@shanehall8909]

You gotta get a feel for preflop raises at any given table. If you’re typically getting 4 callers with a $15 raise you need to make it bigger to slim the field. $25 pre is probably better in this hand.

[@edwardjohansen1560]

What an insane nit roll on the river

[@dchevron77]

Going for super thin value has boosted my win rate significantly. Showing down the best hand 60% of the time is profitable!

[@skelthouser2730]

Damn, every time I'm going for thin value I wind up owning myself!

[@Alex_Hart]

The Regina games are probably the craziest games I've played in during my long life Stopped there and played while travelling and then went back for the Harvest Festival They are NUTS!

[@robertmercadoiii2462]

I play a lot of 2-5nl not much 1-2nl but, what I tend to run into is that most people are not calling off $350 on the river with 1 pair unless its AA or KK on a this board. Maybe I'm leaving money in the table but, if i get to the river like this I'm either just tabling my hand and hoping it's good or I'm bet folding a really small sizing. Maybe even something like $150.

[@virajs.8864]

agreed people are usually tight

[@ryanbahnsen6429]

I agree in my 2/5 experience.

[@mjriemen]

I was thinking $150 exactly before I even saw this comment! Lol A random Queen with no kicker may call a larger bet some portion of the time, but its very unusual.

[@Jealod24]

Always love the extremely vague titles

[@ItsBeausy]

Ikr lol

[@JohnSmith-su3ze]

Such clickbait lol

[@nopoint2427]

It's just variance in this particular spot + a slowroll as well personally I would've have used a larger sizing to jam most rivers. Maybe a larger sizing on the flop folds out 3-4s if villains are playing hands like 3-4s then you're pretty happy to suckout often when it's flush over flush. Also it's also nice to have some limp then massive reraise with these hands when the table is this loose.

[@MrJoosebawkz]

honestly, isn’t the river card significantly better for hero here? If BB was a passive player “trapping” with 2pair they just got sucked out. I feel like thats more likely than them having a suited 3. edit: hahahha well yeah of course villain had the 3. otherwise they wouldnt have called this in 😅 but still. Im surprised bart didnt point out how the river makes u beat some super nitty scared 98 and Q9s as well. Single pair queens + 2pairs makes up _way_ more of their range imo than their suited 3s (like 4 combos, maybe 8 if they’re calling with bd hearts on the flop). and yeah, 2pair probably raises at some point but if villain tanked that long for 75% pot bet with trips than i wouldn’t be surprised if he didnt raise w 2pair

[@mrhumble2937]

He did point that out lol

[@MrJoosebawkz]

@@mrhumble2937 he pointed out how villain probably doesn’t have a 3. I dont remember him saying anything about 2pair holdings dropping in value but maybe i missed it

[@devonherron9935]

One thing that is interesting about this hand - if he thought for 5 minutes with trips here does it mean that against this particular villain we shouldn’t go for as thin of value in the future? It seems like this particular villain would have probably folded a queen?

[@Badbentham]

I kind of understand Villain: Hero barrels from Early Position into a field of 4 players on the flop. Where he is supposed to check most of his range, while betting small with the rest. Which looks extremely strong in the first place, and only rarely like a bluff. - So, at the very least, Villain really has to wonder whether any of his weak top-pair hands from the BB can ever be good. Then again, as played, Villain's range is rather capped after C/C on both flop and turn, so X3ss may indeed be about the best he might ever have here.

[@user-jt2bf6ym1o]

​@@Badbentham Yeah trips are the top of villain's range here as he does not have many slowplays on this runout, sets start raising the turn at the latest with two flush draws. Villain has no boats here. I personally wouldn't read too much into it though, people at these stakes usually only play their hand and are not cognizant of their range and where their specific holding sits within it. Hero's line just seemed super strong so the villain was worried of a flopped set etc.. I would still go for thin value to put them into difficult spots, and if they really fold all their bluff catchers I just start overbluffing.

[@AT-bw4cm]

I think the fact that he called a 7.5x raise preflop with 34s 5handed would still lead me to going for max value absent more evidence that I should adjust.

[@skelthouser2730]

Funny thing is that if he tanked that long with trips, maybe he's folding that to a hero shove!!!

[@malazuth3306]

@@skelthouser2730 He wasnt tanked for folding, He was thinking if he can jam against AQ/AA/KK and loose against 88 99 JT and QQ. 9 full + 4 straight, 11 combos that beat you, vs 6AA 6KK and 12 AQ you beat If AQ call he can jam, if not, it's better just calling. If hero wasnt calling the shove with KK, then shoving it's horrible, you win against 6 AA and loose against 13 nuts, so in the long run you're loosing 66% of that 175$ for no reason A player thinking doesn't allways mean he's considering folding

[@bluesringer]

Bart - don’t you think a check on the flop would be better? It’s multi-way with a wet board. It’ll be tough to get raised here. I understand it’s 1/2, but a half decent player can raise here and put you in a tough spot. In theory also you should do a lot of checking here. Or polarize it with the nuts or nut flush.

[@nat2r]

Aside from the theory around multiway, don't solvers prefer to not get these type of boards in general due to the amount of bad cards that can come for us? I could very well be wrong but despite the exploit we are so lost in this hand when we receive callers.

[@forsakic]

They never discussed if BB/villain is on J-10 for a flopped straight. Is that something that should be considered?

[@malazuth3306]

most people raise that hand in flop or turn to avoid the flushdraws or check-backs in the river, you have the nuts in a very dinamic board with TWO flushdraws and just call flop and turn? Maybe 1 of 10 times

[@LEG2023]

I guess like I said it’s different in Los Angeles then bet size pre-flop according to the goal that I’m trying to accomplish. In LA 15$ bet in 3/5 game invites a reraise buy Almost any decent player

[@googastic]

I played last night at a 1-2 table and employed a whole new strategy. After years of playing at this level (as there is not a higher level available where i play) i realized there is virtually no advantage to preflop play. Anything involving preflop play, be it position, starting hand, raise size, 3 betting, you name it, is pretty much irrelevant. People that want to play the flop are going to regardless of what you do preflop. Any advantage comes purely in post flop play. So i did not open raise once preflop. I limped every hand. AK, limp. KQ suited, limp. And pretty much every time i limped i called. Super passive preflop and play from there. The easiest game i ever played and the most profitable.

[@patrick_kyker]

I can't believe he only got one caller on that flop.

[@spanky9753]

I have a hand out of casino Regina. She smiled at me on the flop, we flirted on the turn, went all in on the river, and as a result had to get a shot of Penicillin

[@magicalelvishman]

Presumably it was on this cross-country train trip Bart traded his last swallow of whisky for the new business venture consulting that led to the launch of CLP.

[@jonverb7709]

when the 3 pairs, the caller beats all two pairs also. nice hand kid

[@MichaelTilton]

I would not have guessed 34SS. That was a weird way to get there with that particular holding.

[@gerontius3]

Me neither. He's a fish. He's drawing to just about the worst flush possible. Tell him to stay right where he is because he's gonna give it all back.

[@pot_kivach160]

@@gerontius3 👍

[@kurd1970]

Bart I enjoy your video great contenant. More likely it is nothing but I recommend to check possible lump on left side of your neck. Hopefully it is nothing..wish you best.

[@mkader2494]

i hope that's an optical illusion or distortion caused by the camera, because now i can't unsee it :/

[@CrushlivePoker]

What lump? Are you talking about that pimple?

[@theNfl_Esq]

In the nightly big tournament or weekend big game how on BetOnline much should I be raising first in? I always use bbs as my indicator and generally raise 2.-2.3 or so but some people open bet 3.5 bbs I finished 4th Friday. I can’t seem to break the top 4. I’ve had many top 10s n 45678 etc and can be the chip leader for a while but I always get beat at the end. Am I playing too tight ?

[@jsh0822]

You have to be playing to tight for sure. You need to find bluffing spots. Unless there is a reason to warrant it you should be raising when your coming into a pot.

[@theNfl_Esq]

@@jsh0822 I never limp, rarely not fi anyway and have started going 2.6-2.8 rfi. Had 2 more n finally finished 1/3 recently. Ty for response

[@mkader2494]

Ouch caller. Tough unlucky run out.

[@tiki4rafiki390]

11:14 what does "in the field" mean?

[@ant4007]

Lol when u raise $15 in a 1/2 and everyone calls😢

[@Dynamice1337]

Where I play it would get 3 bet to $85 and go 5 ways to a flop...

[@dennisdupuis1567]

This is a check on the river all day. He loses to QQ,Q3,99,88,10J, or any 3 and MAYBE gets a call from Qx. Take it down on the flop instead of letting him float into a back door. In the end KK is only ONE pair on a board with straight & trips possible

[@Toxodos]

"even though they don't know what polarized means" the shade lol

[@stevenundisclosed6091]

I'd take the villain outside for a little "talk" after that nitroll.

[@JohnSmith-su3ze]

Why? So you can make out with him?

[@320zippy]

Regina it rhymes with fun...

[@brandonhopkins8222]

How come u guys never mentioned the fact he could have had J10 and slow played it ? Or a lower pocket pair and or set ?

[@AT-bw4cm]

4:50 7:48 It's in there.

[@Scott-wq5lk]

“And that’s why Regina rhymes with FUN!”

[@therealjackwhite1523]

*player almost folds trips* Everyone in the thread: "yeah man solid value bet, you have to go for it there, Q10 is calling for sure" Lmao

[@malazuth3306]

villain was never folding, he was thinking about shoving or just calling. It's a perfect value bet. Just because you see one player thinking you cant assume he's thinking to fold.

[@LEG2023]

OK so like I say, I am not a professional, but I played a decent amount of low steaks cash games in Los Angeles! So I don’t know about your deep stack games. Also, Mr., I haven’t play Low stakes in a while, the maxbuyin for any commerce no limit game is 60 BB 1/2 is 40/80 buyin so ace queen is really raising you pre-flop! I guess I look at it a little different something you never talked about is what type of player you’re playing against did you have any information about the villain? Do you have hand history with the villain? Is he the type that would do something strange like flat with queens or call you with a three suited? There is very little to no context, other than the money and betting size. I was in a Multi way pot 3/5 no limit. AA got 4 callers after I reraised to 75$ from 15. In early positions . Flop comes 10/8/7 Goes check i push all in for 400$ shot stack with 90 left calls somehow QQ FOLDS ON THE BUTTON And BB calls 300$ more. I think I am toast. 10J and JJ call. There at least 5 to 10 factors that he didn’t even mention when He was talking about the hand in no limit low stakes when I play no limit. Low stakes I guess because there are no 2/3/400 times BB At table unless they get it buy playing there’s a different game 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@Keptionpoker]

"phew" ... :D we get in position, dont wanna spoiler in chat, but guys .. we can hope ;) > GG

[@iamjesuschristintheflesh5866]

I would of checked the river

[@rppoker4768]

Fish 1 - 2 hand 😂

[@SavvaSou]

Caller is lucky V didn’t jam, saved himself $175. Bad play from villain.

[@stanhartman6662]

You didn't raise enough pre flop to the bed at least a 100. You get one caller and the 34isgone

[@bookedroomer]

Yeah keep opening to 100 at 1/2 you donkey

[@Dynamice1337]

7.5X isn't enough? His play was perfect, you can't win every hand. It's exactly like Bart said. Variance. If you have the best hand here 65-70% of the time you print money. Don't let the 3 in 10 times you lose on this board prevent you from making money overall.

[@malazuth3306]

ye, he must just shove pre flop so no one call him with KK

[@JohnSmith-su3ze]

Agreed. KK needs to bet 10x so get rid of stupid cards

[@stanhartman6662]

Erase the forty and 34dropsout

[@themi6sportsnetwork171]

How does the villain not raise all-in with trips smh...

[@malazuth3306]

cause hero can have JT, QQ, 99 and 88. And he's not sure if hero is calling with AA/KK and AQ, so if hero folds AQ/KK/AA you're torching 175$ the times you're beated, and not wining anything extra the times you're good

[@malazuth3306]

for the record, i would raise cause i think hero it's gonna call with AA/KK most of the time

[@UBSLOLAGE]

Bless his cotton socks

[@DescartesRenegade]

In my experience, folding quickly to raises by tight and OMC players, allowing clueless players to bluff on brick rivers, and betting large sizes at draw heavy players are important exploits to beat these games. They play their hand and never stray from their image.

[@Mauricio-kf8qx]

Yes and double barrels when bluffing since it seems every single player is always two pair and trip mining. They will never fold bottom pair in hopes they can improve on future streets.

[@quincyw7777]

Thats a slowroll for sure.

[@tbev3363]

I can't even watch this one.....too soo....fresh wounds.....playing 1/2.....2nd hand i get dealt KK [UG].....I raise to $10 (this table was high hand chasers as people folded to $6 raise)...so I try to get max value at a tight table. I bet $10 pre....still get 3 callers....flop 10 8 4 rainbow...I hammer out $20...one [CO]caller...turn 8....I bet $50....villian calls....river was a 2...I bet $50....he calls....he has 83 off. seriously just a noob player I could tell as the night went on. I ran horrible all day.....busted a tourney after 8 hours (39/230) card dead for 4 hours.....no places to make moves blah blah blah...then played cash ...lost first 300 buy in as the card dead run bad still was in effect.....rebought/moved tables.......and that's when the KK hand kicked off yet another buy in blow out.

[@dawsonlipman1335]

feel it man. lost a 3 way all in with the best hand as 2nd chip leader vs 1 and 3. woulda given me 80% of the chips with 5 remaining. didn't even make the money cause of it (money was top 5)

[@getmeoutofsanfrancisco9917]

I play 2/5 nowadays but when I made the jump from online 50NL 6-Max to 1/2 and 2/3 FR soon after, I immediately had the realization that you just cannot use a standard 3x raise size. You just can't in nearly any (if not any) situation. While I may understand it sounds absurd, you really do need to be raising 7-10x at these stakes. Even a $20 open at a 1/2 live FR table is bound to get one to three callers in many rooms. And if they aren't calling that large, possibly size down (slightly) and more importantly, widen your opening range until you are able to find some sort of equilibrium. I'm not saying go crazy but just add in a few more hands especially in later position. And even then, your opens and 3-bets are going to get called by 52o. Sometimes no matter what you do, villains simply play so wide that there is often little way of ranging them. As for being card dead, just gotta ride out the pain.

[@ItsBeausy]

83 off😭

[@tbev3363]

@@ItsBeausy yep......ibhate when stupidity gets rewarded.....painful

[@Dynamice1337]

That's a standard 1/2 poker hand. Notice that when that poor player had an obvious winner they just flatted to close the action. When you run good you will make 3-4 times as much as they do and that is what makes you a winning player overall. Only worry about your play, ignore the variance in the runouts.

[@justinmorris1134]

Ouch…just because playing 1/2 Bart claims “they don’t even know what polarized means”. Know your audience bro, most of us 1/3 and 2/5 players 😝

[@kineahora8736]

Not me. Im never gonna bet this flop 4-way or 5-way. Too any straights and 2 pair out there. Don’t want to play a big pot. Actually I just had a hand like this but slightly different last week. I had QQ♦️♥️, 3 way and it came Q♠️T♠️9♦️. Turns out one of the villains had flopped a straight. It checked on the flop. Turn was the 8♠️. It checked again. Then river a Jack. River checked and both villains had straights-one of them to the king.🤣🤣 Watch-this guy has A3♠️♠️ or 43♠️♠️🙄 but you have to go for it because you now beat flopped 2-pair. Edit after the end of the vid: [I KNEW IT!!!🤣🤣🤣]

[@malazuth3306]

now you loose against two hands, As3s and 4s3s and you win against Q9,Q8,98. And any QX of hearts, T9,J9, QT, QJ. but you magical knewed villain had, not any of that hands, no. You can narrow to 2 combos. Let me think, if river it's a 5 of diamond suddenly villain had JT slowplaying?

[@kineahora8736]

@@malazuth3306 read my post again. And then stop and apologize when you get to “but you have to go for it…”

[@moneymikz]

Ugh classic poker is stupid hand

[@dollarcostbackpacker1226]

Ra J i na? Whats wrong with her?

[@michaelbaydoune8261]

The worst advice ever. Would love to play in your game

[@stanhartman6662]

You're the exact example of how not to play a big pair

[@pedro.gandra]

Honestly that was an awful river bet. Any top pair Q here would fould to such a big bet, while all AA, trips (or better) would call, this is an easy check to see showdown, pot was already 200BB.

[@pedro.gandra]

Also, BB wasnt even bluff catching with the check, I'm pretty sure he was being cautious and going for the show down.

[@Gol_D_Enko]

Q8, Q9 is not folding for sure. 2 bricked flushdraws (that hero even blocks) further weight villain towards a call with just a queen. And at least some portion of the boats/ AA would go for a more aggressive route on some portion of the board. Not awful at all

[@Jermo484]

You must not play much low stakes. In the 10 minutes since you wrote that, hundreds of 1/2 players have gone broke with top pair even to a triple barrel.

[@sousuizero]

kk is a slamdunk vbet against your average sticky lowstakes regs here unless your own image is a nit. almost all people don't fold aq and some will even look u up with like qj or q10 that had gutters on the flop

[@CrushlivePoker]

Have you ever played live $1-$2?