Defeating Small Ball Poker And Slow Playing

[chongli04us 0]

Everybody knows the style of small ball. Keeping the pot small and making good post-flop decision. However, due to the increasing popularity of small ball poker, everybody is using it and abusing it nowadays. Thus, understanding the ways to defeat small ball is also very important now. I have heard people say that moving all in and calling & slow playing are the ways to beat small ball. Is it true? Does anyone have any other strategies??Also, I recently played a heads up match against a guy. His style was checking and slow playing until the turn and the river. Then he makes large bets. This was agitating because he kept calling my preflop raises and postflop jabs and i was confused about what he had. So, is there any way to crack this style?Much appreciated !!

[Danege 1]

Does anyone have any other strategies??

Players who use small ball want to outplay you post flop. To combat this just shove preflop every time you want to play a hand. They can't outplay you then so you end up outplaying them. Its simple maths.

[Caturday 0]

I've heard being unpredictable goes a long way.Small ball wants information on your hand out of your pre and postflop bets. If your style is seemingly random he hopefully won't know what to do, get confused, and hopefully make the wrong decision.That doesn't 'necessarily' mean slowplaying alot.

[aucu 3]

The best defence is a Kill Phil style of play but the more players who try a small ball game but can't really play well post flop must have some huge leaks that could be used.

[gooch 0]

open up your raising hands a couple levels, that way they will have a harder time putting you on a hand, play position more

[Nashtak 0]

By moving all in (or simply raise a lot more than you would normally) you simply give them the last word. You put all your money on the line and they decide if they wanna go in or not. I don't see how that's a good idea. On youtube, there is a 3 part video of Negreanu explaining is small ball strategy. You raising his bets to ''hammer'' him down his part of the plan. He will back off and lose a little, or call you down and you lose big.I'm no poker genius but i guess that playing strong hands with a good preflop raise and defending them post-flop if the board looks dangerous to them might work. Really tight, highly aggressive. Don't give them much to maneuver through. It would basically be the same as huge preflop raises but instead of putting a lot of your money on the line, just scare them off with your conservative player image.

[nosoul 0]

It depends on how good you are. As always, you should be playing the player. What are his tendencies? Are there any patterns you can take advantage of? If he tends to fold when you have a good hand, start acting like you have a good hand when you don't. Small ball assumes you can outplay the other player post flop. If he can't outplay you, small ball won't work against you. If he's better than you, then moving all-in removes that from the equation. The main thing is to always push when you have outs. That way, you don't have to make any more decisions and still have a chance to win if you're currently behind.

[SpatsJ 0]

I definitely get more into the mix pf and open my range (as a few said above). if i become a little more unpredictable and aggressive i find these guys don't get a chance to play the game they want.