Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 8:heart:, 8:spade:.
UTG calls, 1 fold, UTG calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (7.50 SB) 5:diamond:, K:diamond:, 3:spade: (3 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks, Button bets, Button folds.

Final Pot: 5.25 BB

My thinking here is that I often have the best hand, but to just call this down here is really not a good idea. If UTG calls I fold, and if button reraises I fold. If button calls I bet any card on turn, and that is the last money I am going to put in the pot unless I catch my 8.

Sometimes I lead the flop here.

yay nor nay?

This is a line I'll take with pocket pairs myself, though usually with something like JJ where I raise and get 3-bet preflop. Like you, I lead the turn if villain calls as well.

In short: I like it.

Raise pf.

Flop is good. You may fold a better pp, or a hand like AJ.

raising preflop is nice.

I can't really comment on the flop play, I guess it depends on his abiliy to fold. When you find the occasional player who can bet/fold the flop, it's good. Overall, I don't care much for it..but dont' hate it. The K hits a lot of raisng hands, I'd like it better with say Q/J/T high.

raise preflop.

**** read replies ****

uh... so Screech, we do this with any two cards on the flop?
I like it if Button was not pfr, and/or no K on board or a read that button is rockish.

Our hand has more sd value than any 2 cards. (Well most any 2 anyway.)

Any 2 can beat AJ/77 if it comes to sd.

BTW, what do you figure our equity is with 88 against a normal range of pf raising hands (think 7%). Now what is our equity with 2 random cards?

7% ??
You saying after the flop?.. ok..sounds good.

obviously I was exaggerating on the any two.
I'd be suprised we get folds often enough at that level to make it worth it

I meant a 7% pfr, not our equity.

I need to use this line more often. Nobody does it if the overcard is an A, right?

It turns out we're ahead about 40% of the time giving villian a normal, tightish, range.

We raise the flop because it gives us info very quickly. If we're 3-bet, our equity plummets, and we fold. If not, our equity shoots up, and we keep the pressure on.

So yeah, I don't see what equity had to really do with anything excepting showing us we shouldn't fold which we knew anyway. We raise the flop because it's the cheapest way to get the info we want.

an A on board makes it much easier to do.
you will almost always get a fold or a 3-bet if an A is on board, which makes it cheap if you're wrong and therefore even more profitable.

people are very afraid of aces.
start "short"-bluffing ace-high boards more often...you'll like it.
by "short"-bluffing i mean just one extra bet, whether its a bet into someone, a raise, or a check-raise. nothing complicated, just a one-bet (sometimes its two if its a raise of course) bluff, and fold right away if you run into aggression.

to be good advice, obviously the above needs a lot of clarification and more details, but as a general piece of advice, ace-high boards are good bluffing situations against preflop raisers.
daniel

I disagree. Simply for the fact that our opponent will hold a hand with an ace far more often than a hand with a king.

Although you might be on to something against bad players. Bad players will call down with AJ trying to spike their 3 outter (which is really a 6 outter). Yet they will fold a hand like KQ for fear they are drawing dead if an ace is on board.

Players who try to play good will fold a hand like AJ readily on the flop or turn, thinking they only have 3 outs.