You are having trouble with these hands?

Pull 'em up on PT.

When is the money going in?

Is it a Sklansky Buck issue or are you just having trouble dumping them and getting it in bad?

i have huge troubles with these hands, mainly because i dont know how to fold'em when they call my flop bet and i have to decide what to do OOP with them (if i bet, usually i get commited, if i check i dont know if i face a bluff or not.) In position, it gets a little easier, since i can control the pot, but in small pots, i usually bet flop and turn to protect my hands from possible draws, in big pots if i do this i get commited which creates me problems, since i dont know if im protecting my hand drawing dead or not.

Lastly, ive been running always into two pair, flopped flushes and sets when i have AA KK which i have 3bet preflop, and usually i find myself commited... I sincerely have 0 confidence in my AA-QQ game, since ive lost a large chunck of my money these last 2 weeks with them.

If you're 3-betting AA/KK good enough pre, villains are making a huge mistake by set mining.

and i make a bigger mistake stacking off to them

maybe ill start simply to 3bet more with them, like 3 times the pot, will make the setminers head aches and make my decisions at turn easier, what you think?

Your 3bet in this hand is too small. Because villains PFR is undersized and he had a 120BB stack his call to set mine is correct assuming you'll always stack off - He has to call $2.75 with the potential to win >$30. That's a super-easy call. Either raise more, or be prepared to fold sometimes.

If people are calling your 3bets light, then go ahead and bloat your 3bets. If they'll call $10 then go ahead and raise to $10. The existing conventions as far as raising are really only there as a balance of risk vs reward - Raising as much as will get called and not so much that we're spewing money when we raise with 78s since most of our raising range is not just big pairs. But all that goes out the window if you're at a table or playing against players who are so loose they will even call over-sized bets. Go ahead and punish them by making them put in a bunch of chips while they're behind!

Do this enough and it won't matter if the sometimes hit sets because you make a bunch more money when they don't.

glad i could help

I don't know the exact math, but seems to me that if there is not enough money behind after you 3-bet and are HU, you could literally get all in on every flop and be +EV. Maybe I'm wrong.

thanks I vi ii V7 and Cry me a river, i will def change my 3bet size and hope that it will improve my game.

I heard also something about 'game plan', havent read the book that mentions that, but i suspect its something about having an idea of how you will play the hand and what you want to achieve before the action takes place. Am i right?

Yeah, thats PNLHE that SS was speaking of.

If you have about 80% equity with AA then why not raise so that it has a meaning compared to your and opponents stack. So you should get it in as early as possible.
That means bigger raises pre-flop with an intention to get it in on flop.

If you are saying why not raise larger with AA/KK/AK etc?
Well, thats fine in theory but becomes transparent if you play any reasonable volume I think.
You could counter that by balancing your range with other hands but I think its already been discussed and I dont see anyone using varied open raises to manipulate SPR at the moment.

Go ahead and see how it goes by all means though.

+1

I've found that in most 1/2 2/5 live games, you can get away with the "transparent" plays. There always seems to be one loosey that has no concept and will follow you. Online, with the HUDS and everything, people are much more hip to what you are doing and will get out of your way.

It is not out of the question to PFR 10x the blind with AA KK and get called live.

Happy days! I have 2p2 from work today from some reason. Woot...so much for being productive today.

One more thing to consider is that an overpair isn't always a three streets of value hand. I used to bet the turn as my standard play but found I was too often creating a larger pot than I should have, or conversely was folding out worse hands. Sometimes it's okay to let the villain draw. If you know he is a donk and will call with anything then sure, bet the turn. However, frequently a second barrel is only folding out hands you are ahead of and putting more money in the pot when you are behind. Checking the turn often suggests to the villain that you whiffed the flop, which will cause him to put more money in than he would have had you put in another bet at the turn.

What is your win rate with those hands? When you see a flop with them, are you usually HU?

You just have to know when to let them go post flop. More important than the numbers I posted, which I should have posted originally, are win rates:

AA: 95%
KK: 87.5%
AKs: 76%
AKo: 73%
QQ: 81%

Keep in mind, this is only for ~80K hands (I've got my DBs split up and this is my biggest one).

Your win rate with AA should be no lower than 85% over a significant sample size (hundreds of thousands of hands). My win rate is substantially higher and I'm sure it is because of sample size. If your win rate with AA is significantly lower than 85%, then yes you are playing them incorrectly. Just remember AA/KK/QQ hands play better in HU pots. I'd say if your win rate with AA (for example) is much lower than 85%, then you're probably not playing correctly pre flop such that you are HU post flop. That would be my first guess.

Its a fine line between value and spew sometimes, certainly OOP with an overpair is tough and I think this is where planning comes in.

I'm not so sure about checking the turn often OOP with an overpair but I do agree that you cant just think "ZOMG AA bish bash bosh 3 streets arrrrr in" (although I admit I use that as a default and adjust accordingly).

This situation is a good example of why "REM" >>>>>>>>> "SPR"
Let's say you have AA OOP with 100bb and get called by the button. Your SPR will be 13 or so and that sucks. Great, SPR tells me that this might be a ****ty spot.... great help.

"Range Equity Maximise" on the other hand is very useful you use it to plan your hand.
Let's say the board comes T72 or K96 and the villan is a 14/2/1, here I'm betting 3 streets but probably bailing out at the first sign of aggression.
Why? because the range that he raises any street with is sooooooooooooooo different to the range he calls three streets with.

/ramble

If you have villains that will call larger raises with worse hands, my question is why wouldn't you? The whole Idea behind range balancing or unvaried bet sizing is deception. You don't want the "thinking" players to be able to narrow your range down so much that they can play perfectly against you. When your playing against loose/poor players the value of deception goes down. By the same reasoning you don't bluff calling stations, they don't fold, you can then raise for more pf, they don't fold.

I'm not talking about a ton more, 1 or 2bbs, and I generally like to do this when someone has limped into a pot. Especially 1/2 stacks or 3/4 stacks because their SPR is easier to manipulate with a reasonable raise. Plus these are the folks that get pot commited easier with lesser hands and I find my self all in with more with over pairs.

Yes, if you have a real weekend maniac limping multiway then yeah you can make it larger for sure.
Likewise postflop, if the villan isn't good enough to process the information we are giving them then its fine to bet 1/2 pot with air and 4/5 pot with the nuts.

We're all weekend maniacs at NL25 and below, amirite?

My winnings with AA alone are actually greater than my total winnings. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

General Question: I was trying to get my software situated with PS last night. I use Realtime HUD and was having a god awful time getting it adjusted to PS. On FTP, I used auto-centering when I sat at a table and I don't believe that option is available on Stars. As such, my own stats were moving around on the table as soon as I clicked over to another table. Anyone using Realtime HUD/PT2 on PS who I can PM a few questions to?

Im pretty sure you can select a seat to sit on stars.
There is an option to check in PAHUD for this as well.

maniacal limping? This I gotta see!

knn, you probably found it already, but it is "preferred seat" in the options tab.