Beating The Rake In Limit Poker

Playing micro limit hold’em to build a bankroll is a great way to get started, especially if you feel comfortable playing multiple tables at the same time. As bluffing really won’t work at these “no fold’em hold’em” stakes, you need to play very solid ABC poker and stick to playing the top ten starting hands in position. Beating the rake can be tough at these limits, but I have a few suggestions to help with that.

Clear Limit Poker Bonuses!

That’s right, the easiest way to build a bankroll playing micro limit hold’em is to clear first deposit bonuses at as many poker rooms as possible. This will help you beat the rake at these levels, and will add significantly to your win-rate at limit hold-em.

For sites allowing US poker players, Cake Poker and Full Tilt Poker use a bonus clearing system that favors tight players, as you will earn points towards clearing your bonus for even the cards you don’t play, even when you fold with posting an ante! Combined with rakeback this is the best way to clear a first bonus, but if you are seeking the best reload bonuses, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet offer weekly and monthly reload bonuses that are NOT deducted from your rakeback payments, making them a great site to use for bonus clearing at micro limits.

For Non-US players, any ongame bonus in addition to the rooms I mentioned above will offer signup bonuses up to $5,000, and anytime reload bonuses that clear at 8x loyalty points.

Play Limit Poker With Rakeback!

I can’t stress this enough, playing poker with rakeback is the single most important thing you can do for your bankroll, especially at the micro limits! If you can give yourself back 30% of the rake you pay for each pot, the micro limit games become very beatable.

Once you are playing with the most value, that is, with rakeback + bonus clearing, you can concentrate on building a sound foundation to your micro limit hold’em game, the opponents at these stakes can and will call down with any two cards, so starting with the “best of it” is key at these stakes. If you do that, and play solid poker – you will be jumping up to the middle stakes very soon.