1/2 Standard Line?
06-13-2013
, 12:53 PM
06-14-2013
, 01:53 AM
06-14-2013
, 02:27 AM
06-15-2013
, 04:03 AM
). We can't count on opponents making mistakes on their own, we need to give them opportunities.Now, that doesn't mean that every time we raise pre we have to lay in a big iso raise, or even want to. We're likely check-folding many flops, so it is a speculative hand, meaning we want good implied odds, so we don't necessarily want to go only HU otf. Your not going to fold down to 3-way. But if you end up taking the pot, you'll almost always win a bigger pot than if you just limped, and if you hit gin with a set or something, you'll get your stack in allot faster and easier. It's a joke for trying to iso or get 3-way, but that's not really the point anyway. The point is to build a pot worth playing for. And to punish the limpers for playing bad. And to potentially take control of the betting otf (should we be so inclined). All for a price low enough that we can dump it if some cowboy 3-bets without a twinge of regret.
I'm probably gonna raise to about 10-12 here. Ordinarily I'd go 3-4bb's, but because of the straddle, we can shave a little off and get the same result. We'll get a few folds because people will try to limp in with ATC, but they'll give pause to call off a raise with allot of garbage. But there'll be 4-5 callers likely. Well, 5:1 + {Dead$$} makes great implied odds.
On a flop like this, our 8's are crushing the table's range, and we can take it down right here with a ~3/4psb c-bet allot of the time. So if we'd bet 10 pre and got 5 callers, the pot would be 60ish, so we bet 35-40, and happily add 1/2 a buyin to our stack with a lowly pair of 8's. Easy game.
Other times when we'll play a pot fairly confident we're ahead against most hands. What beats us? 22, 33, 66, and 45. The first 3 are just coolers, and most players will take a beat in "overpair vs set" situations. If he's got 45, then good for him for playing the lottery.
As played, I guess you've got to call. Being shortstacked, he could be doing this with a fllush draw or top pair hand often enough, I suppose. I don't
06-15-2013
, 09:31 AM
Quote:
Your opponents are calling stations and so you don't want to put extra money in pre-flop only to have to fold many flops, a standard low variance approach for playing middle pairs. However, is this too passive? You hold an 88 on the btn with a straddle and two limpers and so you likely have the best hand. What do you think the limpers have? Most likely their ranges include weak Ax hands, marginal Kx hands, suited connectors, smaller pairs and some junk hands. By not raising you don't extract any value from those hands which you think will call, you lose some equity by letting in the blinds, you don't afford yourself an opportunity to bluff by maintaining aggression throughout the hand and you've not learned anything about your opponents' hands in a multi-way pot. As played the 3/4 pot bet on the turn with your over-pair is standard and has the effect of narrowing the field, getting value from your disguised over-pair and information about your opponent's hands. By calling that bet it does suggest that he's likely putting his small stack in on the turn with favorable cards because he doesn't have enough chips left to bet two more streets, which includes trying to get you to fold weak pairs. Yet, his turn pot size shove is still disconcerting considering his line, call, check call, shove. That line can mean strength on that board with the hand's action so far. You have no real read on his over all play, he's in the SB and so only had to put in 1.5BB into a 9BB pre-flop pot which suggests his range is wide and only has that pot sized bet left, which gives you 2:1 to call with your over pair, and so I'm calling, but kind of uncomfortably blind guessing.
