Medium Stakes Cash Poker Strategy
The full time grinders start to take prominence at the medium stakes games, but there are still plenty of major flounders just waiting to give their money away. The medium stakes are where pre flop skills are harnessed and perfected. You will not find too many regular players at the medium stakes who do not have a solid understanding of pre flop play.
ABC poker is no longer going to cut it, you will need to know how to include an occasional light 3 bet in your pre flop game from time to time. Moves like re stealing the blinds will become more commonplace at the medium stakes. There is no easy way to make money from the regular medium stakes players.
One of the best things you can do to help ensure profitability in the medium stakes games is make sure that you are table selecting. Table selecting means that you are finding tables that have weaker players. If you are able to identify and sit at a few tables that are not populated by strong players you will have a much better shot at making some money.
As odd as it may sound, there will sometimes be even worse players at the medium stakes games than there are at the small or micro stakes games. When some major fish want to play poker they will often jump to the games that require a buy in that is the size of their entire bankroll. You won’t find too many players like this but when you do it will be easy to earn money from them, especially pre flop.
Pre Flop Tactics for Medium Stakes Cash
The moves in the medium stakes games are much more advanced than they are at the small stakes or micro stakes games. One of the popular move is “betting light.” Betting light essentially means that a player is making raises with nothing. The term light 3 bet means that a player is 3 bet raising pre flop with absolutely nothing. This is done in an attempt to help balance a range. When a player is balancing their range they are trying to evenly spread out the times where they will 3 bet with nothing with the times where they will 3 bet with a strong hand.
If you are able to properly balance your range it will make your pre flop play that much more deceptive. Re stealing the blinds is another common tactic that is popular at the medium stakes. Re stealing the blinds means that a player is making a re raise of what appears to be another player’s attempt to steal the blinds.
Say that the cutoff player makes a steal attempt after everyone before him had folded, if the small blind re raises the steal attempt it would be considered a re steal. Re stealing the blinds is a great way to help foster an aggressive image, while also making sure that you are not getting pushed around. You will be wrong from time to time, but that is just the nature of the game. For every time that you get caught re stealing the blinds there will be a number of times where you take down the pot.
SUMMARY: Medium Stakes Cash Game Strategy
Medium stakes poker is where the grinders live. There is no easy money to be made in medium stakes poker, but there is still money to be made if you are willing to make some more advanced moves. Medium stakes pre flop play requires players to really expand their games and try things that they never had before. Once you’ve got he pre flop play down its time to move on to the medium stakes post flop.