Big Pairs early on very loose tables?
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 95
these aren't questions about specific hands more just general stratagy.
big blind 20 or 30, table is crazy loose. your UTG with QQ+.
I'd raise 4x here. you get 3 or more callers. flop is all under cards and pretty dry. if checked to me here i'd bet 2/3 pot. correct or with so many people in the hand should i bet more, just check? if someone bets in front of me or reraises, to i go ahead and shove?
same scenario, but on the button this time, and 5 limpers in front. bet normal, 4BB + 1 for each limper, shove or somewhere in between?
if the answer is normal raise how do you handle post flop with a dry board?
maybe even a more basic question is better. if you have a big pair in a big multiway pot, do you go slow and get away from it, or do you pound as soon as you can?
I've been reviewing my hands and i'm losing money with big pairs at loose tables, so any help appreciated.
thanks,
mike
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,931
Hi mike,
These are pretty general situations, and it's hard to give any kind of specific answer. Std raise vs shove depends a lot on stacks, blinds, reads, buy-in (in terms of how bad unknowns are), position etc. How aggressive to be post-flop is dependent on these things too, plus board texture. Generally you should be aggressive pre and post flop with big pairs to get value from loose players, but this can change quickly depending on other factors.
You really just need to dig through hand histories and post spots you have trouble with. If you haven't read it, the FAQ is good for guidelines on hand posting, among other things.