This structure weeded out most casual holdem players.  Of course there were deep-pocketed newbies to be found,  and surely some of the players at the table were playing beyond their means.  But for the most part,  the players at the no limit table were at least good players who were comfortable with the money they had at risk.

Not so today.  Today,  the most common form of no limit is the oxymoronic Baby No Limit with tiny blinds of $1 and $2 and a maximum buy-in of $100.  The game is designed expressly to seduce the low limit holdem player into no limit poker.  It shouts out to them,  “Hey!  Can you scrape together $100?  Come play no limit hold em without any disadvantage at a $100 maximum table!”  And so they do.

This is both advantageous and disadvantageous to the good no-limit player. On the one hand,  the game is often filled with tight,  timid players and wild, loose players who are very easy to exploit.  However,  the low stakes often make the rake or time charge prohibitively high.  I’ll cover the problem with the rake and how to exploit wild,  loose players in another article.  For now,  I’d like to focus on how best to exploit these timid and tight no-limit players.

The first thing to consider is the motivation of these players.  By considering the why you will understand the fatal weakness in their how!

These low-stakes guys are not playing to win.  Not really.  They are hoping to win,  of course.  Surely they don’t want lose their stack of $100.  But their prime motivation  --  what really gets them to the table  --  is just to be able to say to themselves that they’re playing no limit holdem.  They’ve seen it on TV and they want to emulate the poker stars they’ve been idolizing.  They want to survive as long as they can.

They figure that if they play carefully enough,  if they just wait for the monster can’t-lose hands,  they’ll be able to play for a long time and maybe even win.  So here’s what they do.  They will call the bring-in with many,  many hands,  hoping they can see a flop cheaply and maybe flop a monster that will win them the pot. But if the pot is raised they will fold all but the best hands.  If they,  on the other hand,  have a good starting hand they will raise,  but not by too much lest they get re-raised and have to put in all their money.  So when they are aggressive, they are only limitedly so,  exerting little pressure with their bets.  For if they lose all of their money they have to stop playing,  since for the most part they’re on a very short bankroll.

These straightforward weak-tight players are easy to exploit.  Position plays a most important part of your game.  If you’re in late position,  they are apt to call in front of you,  wanting to play the hand at least to the flop but not having the temerity to raise with any but the strongest hands.

Use your position to your advantage.  Against these players,  when you are in late position,  you want to raise aggressively to steal their calls.  Because the blinds are so low,  a raise to $10 or $15,  while not a lot in absolute terms,  will usually be enough to get them to fold.  If they had really strong starting hands they would have raised in front of you.  So their call is an explicit statement of weakness.

You can’t do this all the time,  lest even they start to recognize what you’re doing, but you can do it with hands that wouldn’t warrant this kind of action against experienced no-limit players.  Your raise depends more on how tight your image seems to be at the table than how strong your hand is.

If a player calls your raise you have to be careful post-flop.  But I’ve found that by checking for standard tells,  I’m often able to steal the pot on the flop regardless of the cards.  Look at them when the flop hits.  They’re usually transparent.  Do they look back at their hole cards?  Do they keep looking at the flop?  Do they grab their chips and then tap the table with a check?  These are all obvious signs of weakness.  Bet strongly against them  (3X the last bet or so usually does it)  and expect to pick up the pot.  Now,  of course there are some of these players who may be aware of these tells and may be deliberately trying to fake you out.  But for the most part there is very little trickery in these low-limit Timmies.

But don’t be seduced into overplaying your hand on the flop if your opponent doesn’t show weakness.  There’s no need to make a bet if he checks.  If you suspect that he may be strong you should check behind him,  getting a free turn and often a free river card as well.  Such a player will usually be happy to check each round even after you showed weakness,  fearful that the card that didn’t help him helped you.

If the player in front of you bets the flop,  unless you have hit a monster you should usually fold.  It takes a great deal of card power to convince these guys to actually bet into a guy who bet pre-flop.  They’re usually not nearly confident enough to try to bluff you out of a hand in which you showed strength,  especially when you have position on them.  There are exceptions of course.  I’ll cover one of them shortly.  But for the most part,  respect aggression and concede on the flop if they bet.

Here is an exception:  If they are short-stacked they often will just toss in their chips in a desperate ploy to win the pot.  Let’s say,  for example,  that this player had $25 pre-flop.  He called for $2 and you raised to $15.  He thought for a long time and then tossed in another $13,  leaving himself with $10.  The flop hits and he throws in $10.  Don’t respect this bet.  He may have a couple of unpaired high cards or a draw to a gutshot straight or three to a flush or a low pair.  You may be ahead even if you didn’t hit your hand.  Just call his remaining $10 and see what develops.

This is different from a short stack going all-in preflop.  Let’s say the blinds are $1/$2.  A player who started with $100 is down to $30 or so. He goes all-in for $30 preflop.  Unless you have a very strong hand,  don’t call this player.  He is probably very strong.  Remember,  these players came to play Hold Em for as long as possible.  They’d be likely to fold their mediocre hands in this position, since they could just call for $2 and see the flop most of the time.  Why are they raising?  They’re afraid that if they play more slowly someone will draw out and beat them.  Rather than risk this they’re trying to bully everyone out with a super-large raise.  Respect it and fold.