If you haven’t heard of the ABC online poker strategy before you probably haven’t played poker long enough. Its basically waiting for good hands and playing them optimally or robotically.
While this can work in the short term for lower stake games it simply doesn’t cut it long term. What I am saying is that you will never be able to win at the mid to higher stake games playing this way. Let me explain further.
What Exactly Is ABC Poker
The ABC, in ABC poker, refers to the ABCs that we learned in grade school. The basics or fundamentals of reading and writing that you need to progress through school, work and life.
It means the same thing for poker players too. It means basic poker strategy. The foundation for everything else you’ll learn. More specifically, ABC poker strategy means that you’ll:
- Bet or raise when you have a hand.
- Check or fold when you don’t have a hand.
- Calculate pot and cards odds hand.
- Play in position
- Slow play, check-raise
- Bluff little, if not at all
- Make bets relative to the size of the pot.
That’s the basic idea. It’s basically playing in a straight forward manner. Almost like a robot.
Understanding ABC Poker
Okay, so what is the ABC poker strategy? It’s actually quite simple because it is all about the fundamentals. You will be making decisions based on straightforward ideas rather than intricate or crazy bluff plays.
At its core, ABC poker focuses on playing solid hands, making value bets, and avoiding unnecessary risks. Here are a few ways to implement this strategy in your next poker session.
1. Starting Hand Selection
A fundamental aspect of ABC poker is the obvious selection of starting hands. Rather than chasing marginal hands or attempting to bluff with a jack 6 suited, ABC players only play strong starting hands.
This conservative approach helps minimize losses and maximizes the chances of entering pots with a strong hand. The problem is you make yourself predictable. When I see someone doing this type of thing, I usually just fold whatever my opening hand is.
An example of what I’m talking about is opening only with premium hands like high pairs (AA, KK, QQ), strong broad way combinations (AK, AQ), and some suited connectors.
2. Positional Awareness
ABC poker also places a strong understanding of leveraging position. Players who use this strategy recognize the advantage of acting later in the betting rounds, allowing them to make more informed decisions based on the actions of opponents. Playing tighter in early positions and widening the range in later positions is another way to use this approach.
3. Value Betting
Value betting is something you should really try and get good at. It can help you make a lot more money in the long term instead of just shoving it all in pre flop with strong hands like pocket aces or kings.
ABC players prioritize extracting value from strong hands by making well-timed and sized bets. Rather than relying heavily on bluffs, you focus instead on getting paid only when you have a solid hand.
4. Reading Opponents
While this strategy follows a straightforward set of guidelines, you should still be trying to get a read on opponents. Most of the time paying attention to tendencies like fast betting or 3 betting are signs of strength.
If your opponent 3 bets for example it might be wise to simply lay down your hand. That is unless you have something very strong like pocket aces, kings, queens, or an AK suited.
Why It Can Work Sometimes
When you sit down at an online poker table for the first 30 minutes or so no one will no what type of player you are. The longer you sit at a table the more obvious your style of play will be to the other players.
Instead of getting paid off on big hands players will likely fold because they know exactly how your playing. The only time this type of play has worked out for me personally is at extremely low stake games.
It also takes a lot of critical thinking out of the game as well. This can help you play for longer periods of time since your brain isn’t going to hurt as much. Multi tabling doing this can also be effective at some of the lower buy in games.
What I mean is that since you won’t be bluffing or trying to get opponents off hands your systematic approach is simply looking at your hands and acting instead of reacting and thinking hard. There is a big difference. So, the endurance to play longer sessions is easier to withstand.
Why It Doesn’t Work
Some people also wonder how do you beat ABC poker? And it’s really not that complicated. The higher stakes you move up in online poker the harder the competition gets. Its just like anything competitive in life. Your not going to see any online pros or even semi pros playing $50 dollar cash games.
While you can make some money playing low stakes its never going to be anything significant.
In order to win consistently in online poker you need to be bluffing, putting players on ranges, and usually just outplaying them. If your goal is to always play ABC online poker you will in most cases always end up a loser.
What Should You Do Then?
Well what you should do is get better at putting people on ranges of what they might be holding. An example of this would be understanding that in a cash game if someone raises pre flop early in the hand they likely have something good.
Another example would be someone raising pre flop late in the hand which could mean maybe they just want to steal your blinds.
The only way to get better at putting people on ranges is by playing thousands of hands, and honing in on your poker instincts which takes time and dedication.
Where To Play Online Poker?
Currently Ignition Poker is one of the top sites to be played on. They’ve been operating now for a little over 7 years and are backed by Bodog Gaming.
They share the same software and player pool as Bovada, so the traffic here is massive. At regular playing times they have well over 3000 people playing on the virtual tables.
You can currently play up to four tables at a time, change color of card decks, customize table colors, and use the rabbit whole cam card feature.
The software for playing here is also excellent and plays great on both mobile and pc. Cash outs are also fast here via cryptocurrency. Lastly, the tournaments are excellent as well with lots of guaranteed buy-ins to choose from as well as specialty options that run throughout the year.
The sign up bonuses for getting started are also really good for players. They have a $3k option that you should take advantage of asap! You can learn more about Ignition Poker here.
Final Thoughts
Using an ABC poker strategy may work in low stake games initially. But at some point, you’re going to need to break away from it completely.
If you just sit back and wait for your hands a couple of things can happen. The first is that blinds are likely going to eat away from your stack since you will be folding constantly. And the second thing is that it will make you very predictable. This will make it hard to get action from other players at the table because they will know exactly what you’re doing.
At some point in your poker career, you will need to break off from this and have an open-ended strategy that includes things like bluffing, 3 betting, and stealing blinds. It’s not like I can pinpoint just one thing you will need to do because it’s a lot of things.
Every session you go into is always going to be different as well. You will be sitting with different players who have different styles, and you will need to adjust.
I think that what you should get from all of this is that an ABC style is okay to use initially. But eventually you’re going to need to evolve. If you don’t then you might find it hard to win consistently and possibly end up getting left in the dust overtime.
Players aren’t stupid so stop thinking they are. Instead have an open mindset to some of the areas in your game you might need to work on. This could be getting better at bluffing post flop. Or possibly getting better at value betting so you get paid off.
Your goal should also be to improve little by little each time you end a poker session going into the next. These little improvements add up over time and will be the difference maker in whether you’re making money at the end of the month or not.
Stay the course and keep stacking your chips and of course those sweet dips!
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