7 replies to this topic

[Royal_Tour]

When playing NL games, (tournaments, or S n G's mostly)Some times when i get low - mid pocket pairs, or big drawing hands like A,K. i will either raise, or just smooth call dependng on my position, and chip count in relation to the other players.I have a read a few books, nothing really on this topic.. anyone agree with me, or is there a better way to play these "profitable" hands??

[BeanGW]

Royal_Tour said:

When playing NL games, (tournaments, or S n G's mostly)Some times when i get low - mid pocket pairs, or big drawing hands like A,K. i will either raise,  or just smooth call dependng on my position, and chip count in relation to the other players.I have a read a few books, nothing really on this topic.. anyone agree with me, or is there a better way to play these "profitable" hands??

Always raise A-K. A-A, and K-K preflop. Low-Mid pairs depends on position and how loose the table is. If you've got a lot of limpers, obviously it's good to see a flop to make your set. On the button with everyone folding to you, it's worth a raise. Behind a raise, it's an easy fold.

[Royal_Tour]

BeanGW said:

Royal_Tour said:

When playing NL games, (tournaments, or S n G's mostly)Some times when i get low - mid pocket pairs, or big drawing hands like A,K. i will either raise,  or just smooth call dependng on my position, and chip count in relation to the other players.I have a read a few books, nothing really on this topic.. anyone agree with me, or is there a better way to play these "profitable" hands??

Always raise A-K. A-A, and K-K preflop. Low-Mid pairs depends on position and how loose the table is. If you've got a lot of limpers, obviously it's good to see a flop to make your set. On the button with everyone folding to you, it's worth a raise. Behind a raise, it's an easy fold.

ya. AA, KK QQ JJ, even 10,10 is no question... but ace, king is a drawing hand.. technically you have nothin unless your cards hit. So i wonder if its always smart to always raise with that hand in everyposition and in every circumstance.

[Kevin Garceau]

well not always raise with them.If you desperately need the chips, I mean you need to do more than double up to make any head way. I see times to slow play them and attempt to get more action. But you always have to realize the risk in doing this. You are taking the chance of giving up the blinds or chance to double up, to get more than the double up.If you do slow play them, you cant complain about getting beat by an inferior hand.

[Royal_Tour]

Kevin Garceau said:

well not always raise with them.If you desperately need the chips, I mean you need to do more than double up to make any head way. I see times to slow play them and attempt to get more action. But you always have to realize the risk in doing this. You are taking the chance of giving up the blinds or chance to double up, to get more than the double up.If you do slow play them, you cant complain about getting beat by an inferior hand.

Thanks., ya., i mean. i will fold ace king at any sign of trouble.. same with mid - low pocket pairs, Just thought i would ask the lot of you how / and if you mix up these types of hands..thanks agian.

[BeanGW]

The reason I always raise with A-K is the idea of the pot equity edge, as Sklansky discusses a little in SSHE. When all the cards are said and done for a hand, A-K is more likely than a whole lot of others to take down a pot and therefore it's a good idea to pump up the pot early with this hand.For example. If there are 4 players, and you have a random hand, you would expect to win a pot 25% of the time (less than 25% if it's 7-2 off, more than 25% if it's A-A, but, figuring your hand is random ya go with the 25%). Now, when your hand is known to be A-K, that percentage is increased to at least 30% (approx. I'm not sure of the specifics, but you get the idea).This correllates to you having a claim to a greater percentage of the pot... and, since more of it is yours, you want to get more money in the pot preflop so that you are getting more of other peoples money in there preflop as well.There are plenty of other reasons to raise preflop... you take control of the betting if you are in late position, you force others to fold or call two cold if you're in early... yada yada yada.Of course there are always exceptions to every rule, but, technically, I think this is the reason why you should always raise preflop with A-K.

[Royal_Tour]

BeanGW said:

The reason I always raise with A-K is the idea of the pot equity edge, as Sklansky discusses a little in SSHE.  When all the cards are said and done for a hand, A-K is more likely than a whole lot of others to take down a pot and therefore it's a good idea to pump up the pot early with this hand.For example.  If there are 4 players, and you have a random hand, you would expect to win a pot 25% of the time (less than 25% if it's 7-2 off, more than 25% if it's A-A, but, figuring your hand is random ya go with the 25%).  Now, when your hand is known to be A-K,  that percentage is increased to at least 30% (approx.  I'm not sure of the specifics, but you get the idea).This correllates to you having a claim to a greater percentage of the pot... and, since more of it is yours, you want to get more money in the pot preflop so that you are getting more of other peoples money in there preflop as well.There are plenty of other reasons to raise preflop... you take control of the betting if you are in late position, you force others to fold or call two cold if you're in early... yada yada yada.Of course there are always exceptions to every rule, but, technically, I think this is the reason why you should always raise preflop with A-K.

This is a perfect example with limit., and some does apply to no limit. however with that hand, as strong as it is pre flop, in first position and first to act, after your pre flop raise, you should be throwing out a bet post flop regardless of the flop.and if you are raised, how much is too much to call?. right. and obviously this should be an easy lay down. but a sufficient raise preflop to push out the crap when you are in first position will also make you feel a little more pot committed depending on your chip count.I dunno. maybe i'm looking too deep into this. i'll just go buy SSHE

[BigDMcGee]

To the first sign of trouble is nessisarily the right thing to do. Certainly, to certain kinds of action muck it, but it has to be alot of it, from rocky players, 'cause theres just two hands AK is killed by, and so many that it kills, and the two hands that kill it (AA KK) are very unlikely. I remember one tourniment that I mucked AK twice preflop, and I was right both times, I was against AA once and KK once. but most of the time I am willing to raise and re raise with it.... from early position at certain times in a tourniment, I will limp from upfront with AK, in order to trap other aces in there, as an early positon raise can scare out AJ. Ax or Kx is the hand you want to play against most with AK, and raising early can often scare them out. But if the blinds are worth stealing in relation to my chip stack, then limping goes out the window.