Posted Fri May 20, 2005 4:42 pm GMT by Hurricane Ham
Been dabbling at the 1 2 six max tables on Empire, ran into a few situations where I wasn't too sure how to play them, wondering if some of you limit gurus can shed some light on it.
Say you've got a nice hand in the small blind, AK, AQ, KQs, etc, and two or three people limp in front of you. Do you raise, knowing you'll be acting out of position on every subsequent round since chances are they will call you because you can't throw in a large raise? Or just limp in and try to hit a flop. Most of the tables are pretty soft, but also pretty loose, so you expect everyone to call most of the time if you do raise. Assume pretty normal players, usually pretty decent starting hands, a few fish.
Middle pocket pairs, on the button or cutoff, folded around to you. Now chances are you've got the best hand, so a raise is in order I'd say. But all too often, it seems people just defend their blinds with something like a Q5 and hit the queen, then just check/call the whole way down. Better to limp for a set, or raise preflop? Or just mix it up altogether.
Also, at a six max table, how do some of you guys value aces? On a full table, I'll rarely play anything below A10, save if it's suited and I'm in good position. But I find myself getting into the habit of playing those lower aces at these tables, usually just limping, depending on position. Play nearly any suited ace in middle or late position and in the blinds, usually A5-9 raise in late position figuring ace high is best against random blind hands. So far it's worked out pretty good, but I fear I may be developing a bad habit of over-valuing the ace when it hits.
I realize this is definitely some player dependent stuff, but a lot of the players at these tables are of similar calibre, so any general advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Posted Fri May 20, 2005 5:58 pm GMT by xDiamond_CutteRx
I hate to say it, but it depends. I know, crappy answer, but it's true, because you have to adjust to the table settings. In many low limit games, you will find the extremes: people playing extremely loose or extremely tight. In either case, you're going to want to differentiate yourself from the table based on how aggressive the table is (ie play tighter in loose games because in general you will have a better hand than the field, and plat looser in tight-passive games because many people will surrender hands that don't hit).
If I have a decent hand like those you mentioned in the SB, it's a difficult choice between a call and raise. If no one has raised, it's quite possible I have the best hand at the moment, particularly with a hand like AK or AQs. Depending who has come in, I may raise here to give myself better pot odds on later rounds, particularly if I have high suited connectors. Alternatively, I may just call to add some deception to my play with the intent on check-raising on the flop or the turn if I hit top pair or better.
Overvaluing pocket pairs (low pockets at least) is often a costly mistake in low limit games. Anything worse than 8's should often be thrown away from early to early-middle position. Some people like to see a flop just to see if they make trips, but since you will trip up only about 1 in 9 times, the pot odds normally don't justify staying in just to see if you get trips. However, with moderate pocket pairs you may flop something good (9-9-3 is a fairly good flop for 88, for example) that justifies staying in. I hate anything 4's or lower because there just isn't a whole lot you can do, and more often than not you'll be outdrawn. High pocket pairs should definitely be raised. 9's through Jacks I like to raise when I'm the first one to open, there have only been one or two callers, or I'm on the button. Queens or better should probably be raised and reraised from any position to knock out as many drawing players as possible. Still, don't get addicted to JJ, QQ, or even KK when overcards hit, especially since some players will play any Ace.
6-handed, the range of hands you can play is much larger. Big cards and pocket pairs gain a lot of value, as does Ace-rag suited. I like to play more aggressively here, even with hands I don't like 10-handed, like KJo. If you're going to play Ace with a low card, I'd play it for a raise instead of limping, because you come out showing strength and get a better idea of your opponents' hands based on how they respond. Here I think it's really crucial to "pump it or dump it." I would rarely limp in at a 6-handed table, especially if I'm the first one into a pot. Since the blinds come around faster, they're worth picking up.
Posted Sun May 22, 2005 10:13 pm GMT by suitedaces84
| Hurricane Ham wrote: | | Middle pocket pairs, on the button or cutoff, folded around to you. |
There are two ways to play pocket pairs
1) Raise--the idea here is to push enough players out so that your hand will hold up unimproved.
2) Call--the idea here is that your hand will need help (hitting a set) in order to hold up. For this to be profitable it is necessary to have enough players in the hand.
Pick one of these two based on how many players are likely to see a flop. If your preflop raises are getting respect you should be able to get away with a raise from EP with mid-pockets. If you're up against a bunch of fish or there are several players already in the hand you have to realize your hand will need help in order to win. So if it's folded to you or even with one limper raise it preflop from LP.
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