Playing micro stakes No Limit Hold ‘Em

Of late I have been playing No Limit Hold ‘Em cash games with blinds of .05/.10 and a minimum buy-in of 50 big blinds (BB) or $5.00.  When playing No Limit I play fairly tight and aggressive post flop, if I hit. Last night I played about eighty hands over the course of over two hours. During that time, I only had two pocket pairs, a pair of jacks and a pair of kings.  I won a small pot with the jacks and went bust with the kings.

I was maintaining an average stack of 40 to 50 BB’s until a hand I was dealt in late position cost me about 22 BB’s. I had an Ace Ten off suit in late position. Three of us were involved in the hand. I raised the pot pre-flop by a pot size bet andI  got two callers.  The flop contained an Ace and two other cards lower than my ten but two of them were clubs. The small blind made a pot size bet and the middle position player called. I saw that I was getting two to one odds to call and so I called.

The turn card was low and not a club. The small blind bet out a small 10 BB’s sized bet. The middle player and I just called. The river card was a club, meaning that three clubs were on the board. The small blind bet out a 15 BB sized bet. The middle position player and I both called. We turned over our cards. The middle position player had an Ace three for a pair of Aces; I had Ace ten for a pair of Aces with a better kicker. The small blind had hit his flush draw and showed us the best hand.  His value bet at the end increased his winnings by pricing us in.

This was one of those times where you wonder if you should even play Ace Ten in late position and if you do, should you try to raise high enough to make a flush draw fold. At these stakes, however, someone with a flush draw is apt to stay in right to the river regardless of their odds of making the hand.

My final hand of evening was a pair of kings dealt to me in the “under the gun” position, UTG, right after the big blind.  I lead out with a pot size bet and got one caller. We saw the flop, which was Q 3 7. The caller raised to the size of the pot and I shoved in all my remaining chips. He turned over the cards I was hoping to see – an A Q off suit, giving me the lead at that point. The turn card was a queen, giving him three of a kind, beating my pocket kings. I felt good about my play, overall. I went in with the best hand and was outdrawn.  Being all in, I decided not to rebuy and instead left the table. I was starting to feel tired and felt that it was best to stop.

What influences your decision to leave a game? Do you leave after you reach a certain win level or a certain loss level? Do you leave when you are not playing as well as you think you should?