A lot of people are not familiar with the term small ball poker, but it’s getting more and more attention.Small ball poker is a style of play used in Texas Hold’em where you don’t limit yourself to premium starting hands and play a wider range of starting hands without investing too much in the pot to begin with. But you have to remember, that small ball strategy was designed primarily to be used in MTT's rather than cash games (or even sitngo's). The primary purpose of the strategy is to create a loose image, where you will get payed off more on your strong hands, bluff people frequently with your weaker hands, and make sure you don't bet or raise too much with your mediocre hands, thus reducing the. Small Ball can be an extremely profitable style of poker when used in the right circumstances and against the right opponents. It potentially requires more skill than Long Ball poker (so not necessarily recommended for beginners) but can also be more profitable than Long Ball poker when executed correctly. Introduction to Small Ball Poker A poker strategy that has exploded in popularity in the last few years, small ball is an overarching poker mentality used successfully by professionals, yet often misunderstood and poorly used by novices. There are several components to playing small ball; hand selection, bet sizing, position and table image.

Small Ball Poker Strategy
Small Ball Poker Pdf
Small Ball Poker Theory

A good poker strategy implies understanding all the different angles

When playing heads-up games of poker, the strategy is different than when playing in a table full of people. A common question among players is whether to take a “small ball” or “long ball” approach when playing heads-up, with each style having its own pros and cons. There are several things to consider when choosing one of the other.

First, the concept of playing small ball style means that you will avoid all confrontations against opponents whenever your whole stack or your life at the tournament is at risk. This means that if you decide to take this approach you will try to play many hands by either limping or min raising preflop and then trying to pick up pots on the flop with small bets. Playing this style implies that your stack will be ground out slowly and steadily but without taking unnecessary risks. It is also important to consider that if you are thinking about using this approach, you need to be prepared with a good post-flop strategy because it will happen a lot.

Of course, this approach is not for everyone and if you are more of the aggressive kind of player, perhaps the long ball approach might work better. It is quite the opposite, instead of playing a lot of flops and keeping it cheap, long ball players wait for big hands to attack with big bets. This means that a long ball player will build his stack on one opponent’s stack at a time. For a successful play, you need to also be good at post-flop action while making an effort to counter the small ball player’s strategy.

Casino free slot play. There is no right or wrong in this case; for some players, one works better than the alternative and sometimes, it can be a combination of both. The idea is to find the best combination that works for you when playing in a heads-up table.

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A common discussion amongst poker players today is about what approach to take or style to adapt while playing. Should you take a small ball or long ball approach? Most often, these discussions are in regards to tournaments.

However, many of the same concepts, pros and cons will apply to heads up poker as well. That's what the focus of this article will be about. Before I get to that, let's quickly cover exactly what each style entails:

What is Small Ball Poker?

Grand bay online casino. The name 'small ball' primarily stems from the concept of avoiding confrontations where your whole stack or tournament life is at risk. Rather, players look to play many hands by either limping or min raising preflop and picking up the pots on the flop with small bets. Small ball players grind out their stacks slowly and steadily, but do so without having to be constantly at risk. This whole strategy relies on a player's ability to play postflop.

What is Long Ball Poker?

The long ball approach to poker is quite the opposite. Instead of seeing a ton of flops for cheap, long ball players wait for big hands and make big bets. Long ball poker players build their stacks one opponent's stack at a time, often putting their whole stack or tournament at risk. The long ball approach relies on a player's lack of ability to play postflop while at the same time attempting to counter the small ball player's strategy.

Small Ball Poker: Pros & Cons

Small Ball Poker Strategy

Here are some pros and cons to adapting to a small ball style.

Pros of Small Ball Poker:

When you risk less, you lose less. If you limp or min-raise on the button in a heads up match, you'll lose less money when you're 3betted and have to fold as opposed to fully 3x'ing it. You also keep the pot much smaller which allows you to make smaller c-bets and become less pot committed.
Put constant pressure on your opponents. Since your post flop skills need to be solid in order to play a small ball style of poker, you'll be able to put constant pressure on your opponents. Their ranges will be a little bit easier to read whereas yours will be much more difficult to pinpoint since you're so active. This in turn makes you difficult to play against.
You see less variance. When you're not putting your stack or tournament at risk as often, you cut out a lot of variance that someone doing that might. Less variance means a more stable bankroll and/or income. It'll also keep you sane.

Cons of Small Ball Poker:

Lots of post flop play. If you're new to poker or just haven't developed your post flop play, you're going to have a difficult time utilizing the small ball style. You're going to be involved in many flops which means facing many decisions that aren't clear cut with marginal hands.
You will have an active image. This is both a pro and a con. The good aspect to having an active image means that you'll be called down lighter by players who don't think you have a decent hands. This means they'll try to value bet you thinly.

Long Ball Poker: Pros & Cons

Ok, let's look at some pros and cons for utilizing the long ball approach.

Pros of Long Ball Poker:

You're more difficult to exploit. If you're making big raises or all-in shoves, it's much harder for other players to exploit you. They either have to call off a big portion of their stack or all of it. And most times a player's hand isn't good enough for them to risk their tournament life or stack over.
It's not as much of a grind. Using a big bet or all-in approach isn't nearly as much of a grind as the small ball style is. The pots you're picking up are much bigger and build your stack up much faster.
Your decisions are easier. I'm not saying every decision you make using the long ball style is easier, but am saying that since you play fewer hands, the hands you do play are stronger therefore being easier to play than maybe suited connectors or hands that are easily dominated (which you very likely will play using the small ball style).

Cons of Long Ball Poker:

You'll experience more variance. By playing for stacks or by playing hands using bigger bet sizing, you're going to subject yourself to more variance. After all, the more you risk the more you stand to lose. Keep in mind though that the variance will work both ways - you'll lose a lot when you're losing and when a lot when you're winning. But it's definitely swingy.
Playing a long ball style caps your growth. The more you play a long ball style of poker, the longer you're going to go without learning how to play post flop. All this does for you is stunt your growth as a player. The sooner you step out of your comfort zone and start to play some small ball poker, the quicker you'll grow to be comfortable with it. Your skills as a player will quickly increase as well.