The Concept of “Small Ball” Poker

This is a tournament strategy made famous by Daniel Negreanu, NPP's own Nahanni and Beerhog - and many other pros on the tournament circuit. The idea is to make small bets and calls, while taking cheap shots at winning pots.

The advantages of this style is:

 It allows you to play a lot of hands.
 It keeps the cost of entering pots small.
 It reduces the chance an opponent will take a monster pot with your stack.
 It reduces your chance of an early exit from a tournament.
 It helps you build a stack with little risk.

Sounds great, right? But there are requirements that make this strategy optimum for you, and there is a downside:

 You need to be one of the best players at the table, where maximum pots played maximizes your edge.
 You need to be able to raise with less than premium hands.
 You need to be able to read opponents well enough where you can smell weakness and force them out of pots when you have nothing.
 You need to be able to keep your bets small, even when you flop a monster.
 If you are not the best player at the table – or close to it, this strategy will wipe you out, as you are simply bleeding away chips with weak hands.

Ok, now that you know this, you say, “Faldo, I’m not playing that way. But how do I counter that?”

Simple. Give all of your money to Faldo and buy 10% of Faldo’s poker profits!

Or,

 Play tighter and avoid these tiny pots without good hands and position. Save your ammo for the right time.
 Make the pots bigger. When you enter a pot against a “small baller” (twss), over bet pots to drive them out.
 Increase the ‘luck’ factor, which is exactly the atmosphere the small ballers are trying to avoid.
 Play your drawing hands aggressively. Put large raises out there immediately.
 “All-in” are the two worst words in the dictionary for a small baller. That is the ultimate counter-measure.