9 replies to this topic

[jmar]

it came up in an earlier post that the min raise is the worst move in NLHE. Does anyone ever use it? The only time I will is if I'm 1st to enter the pot in middle position with something like KQ, AJ, KJ. Even a small raise in that situation will fold some lesser drawing hands and set me up a little bit if I wanna bluff on the flop. Other than that I don't like the mini raise but I see it all the time. Any thoughts?

[Davin]

jmar said:

it came up in an earlier post that the min raise is the worst move in NLHE. Does anyone ever use it? The only time I will is if I'm 1st to enter the pot in middle position with something like KQ, AJ, KJ. Even a small raise in that situation will fold some lesser drawing hands and set me up a little bit if I wanna bluff on the flop. Other than that I don't like the mini raise but I see it all the time. Any thoughts?

that's actually the worst place to minraise. you allow worse hands to call and if they two pair, you end up losing a lot of moneythe only time i minraise is when the bet is already big, i have a very solid hand, i and want my opponent to draw w/ improper odds.like a few sessions ago. i was playing 1/2nl. pots around $30 and i had a flush on the turn. villain bets $40 into the pot and i minraise to $80. i knew he had a marginal hand and wanted him to stick around (or reraise me possibly). also, i may minraise in a tourney if im in late position, the blinds are very high, and both blinds are weak-tight or short stacked.

[doublemeup]

theres no "plays" that are weak. you have to use every "play" in the book to keep your opponents guessing. i don't use the min. raise often but i used to never understand the value you of it in nlhm. i think i understand now. i usually will do it with a decent preflop or a monster and postflop either to keep my opponents in a hand or if i'm semibluffing to keep them guessing.

[shpaget]

I use it simply as a mechanism to mix things up - as long as you min-raise when you're weak and min-raise when you're strong, and your opponents see it, then you're not giving anything away.I will sometimes use a min-raise when I'm strong/weak, and then show it, and then later against the same opponent I'll minraise again, with the opposite hand and see if he falls for it.

[doublemeup]

shpaget said:

I use it simply as a mechanism to mix things up - as long as you min-raise when you're weak and min-raise when you're strong, and your opponents see it, then you're not giving anything away.I will sometimes use a min-raise when I'm strong/weak, and then show it, and then later against the same opponent I'll minraise again, with the opposite hand and see if he falls for it.

i'm always suspect of when somebody shows me their cards when they just win the blinds unless he has AA because i always think "was it really neccesary to show that? most likely hes just trying to set me for the next time he does it but a lot of people will fall for it.

[shpaget]

doublemeup said:

shpaget said:

I use it simply as a mechanism to mix things up - as long as you min-raise when you're weak and min-raise when you're strong, and your opponents see it, then you're not giving anything away.I will sometimes use a min-raise when I'm strong/weak, and then show it, and then later against the same opponent I'll minraise again, with the opposite hand and see if he falls for it.

i'm always suspect of when somebody shows me their cards when they just win the blinds unless he has AA because i always think "was it really neccesary to show that? most likely hes just trying to set me for the next time he does it but a lot of people will fall for it.

There are many reasons to show, even AA.Show a bluff to piss someone off.Show a bluff to advertise that you are capable of bluffing.Show a strong hand when you bet strong.Show a strong hand when you bet weak.Next time he might fall for the bluff...or, conversely, he, like you, may go, OK, he's trying to trick me, and now he's not bluffing, and fold...then, show him you bluffed again.The key is to keep them guessing...sometimes by giving them no information at all...and sometimes by giving them snippets of information that may or may not be accurate.

[zimmer4141]

I basically never use the minraise. I don't like it in almost any situation, I occasionally will use it when the SB limps into my BB, and I want him to stick around.

[shpaget]

A min-raise is more effective with certain players, in order to pull off a post oak bluff.You bet the minimum - certain players will see this as a sign of weakness, others will see it as a sign of strength.When you bet the minimum into a very large pot it is suspicious as all hell.Some people will call you down simply due to pot size - others will fold, convinced they're beat, figuring it's not worth it to waste the bet.

[doublemeup]

shpaget said:

A min-raise is more effective with certain players, in order to pull off a post oak bluff.You bet the minimum - certain players will see this as a sign of weakness, others will see it as a sign of strength.When you bet the minimum into a very large pot it is suspicious as all hell.Some people will call you down simply due to pot size - others will fold, convinced they're beat, figuring it's not worth it to waste the bet.

i like to raise when somebody bets the minimum into a small pot to say "are you really serious with this hand or are you making a post oak bluff?" most of the time, i'll have some kind of hand just in case they do call.

[jayboogie]

I will use it to steal the blinds once in a while if the blinds tend to be weak players who give their blinds up easily. It's important to experiment with blind stealing, you don't always need to make a 3X or 4X BB raise to steal the blinds, sometimes 2.5X or a min raise will get the job done against certain opponents.Other than that, it's a pretty crappy play to be using on a consistent basis, but then again I see it and minimum betting all the time.