how do you play strong hand early on? |
|
Posted Thu Feb 08, 2007 2:32 pm GMT by MrDarling
How should you play strong hand early on a tourney or S&G?
Lets say you have a high pocket pair (9's-Q's), or AK in MP.
How much do you raise?
In low limits, a lot of players will call up to 10XBB raises in the first levels.
So you raise 5XBB and get 2 callers and last to act.
You missed the flop (or there are over cards)
Bet to you - probably an easy fold.
Checked to you - what now? pot is at least 15XBB.
How big is your C-bet? Any real bet means 1/3 of your pot is invested in this pot. Do you really want to risk so much so early?
Lets say you do bet 10XBB and get called. Now what? give up? fire a second bullet UI?
Its gone to the point that I almost hate seeing those hands early on.
Its either I win very little with them or lose a lot.
Later in the tourney, when the blinds are big the decisions are much easier.
please advise.
Danny
Did you know that participating in a poker forum can help you improve your own game? Be it by sharing experiences or simply asking for help, participation in a forum helps you focus and keep 'on topic' which will help you improve your game. You can learn from other players feedback and from their experiences. Why the THP poker forums? We offer one of the best managed texas holdem poker forums available, and the community within is far more friendly than those typicaly found on other sites. We've made a 'lurkers edition' of the poker forum available here on Holdem Poker Online, but we encourage all visitors to register and join in on the conversations on TexasHoldem-Poker.com
Posted Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:25 pm GMT by Sid Lambert
i agree that those situations can be quite deadly....btw, i'd consider 77-jj to be middle pocket pairs...i would agree w/ the big preflop raise if you had QQ-AA, cuz you want callers, but w/ a middle pocket pair, i'd make a standard raise generally, cuz ppl tend to call earlier on due to thinking that noobs are push-happy and the blinds are small....no reason to make the pot all fat early on and see overcards and often times be out of position w/ more than one caller...thats just bad news....keep in mind that w/ jacks or anything less you are likely to see overcards on the flop...
but to answer your exact situations...if the pot is 15xbb, a c-bet of 5-15 isnt all that much early in a tourney, and an advisable bet as the preflop aggressor generally speaking
after having a 10xbb get called, assuming you have position and they check again, the more overcards on the board, the more nervous i am, cuz you hafta assume their preflop 5x call involved overs...chances of them catching something are pretty good....if the flop is like ace-rag-rag, you may be able to bluff them off, but since its early, they are expecting a noob push and dont know you
middle pocket pairs can be crippling...its a difficult hand to play often times...dont be afraid to toss em when there are overs and callers running around...
good question tho
Posted Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:55 pm GMT by tame_deuces
Well, raise a standard raise and see what happens? 
I don't know what to tell you really, a good hand is a good hand, play it and see.
Posted Thu Feb 08, 2007 11:39 pm GMT by Jefecaminador
Dont raise so much with marginal hands early on. Med pps dont play that well in a multiway pot so dont raise 5x the bb. Raise 3x or prolly just limp and try to hit your set.
Posted Fri Feb 09, 2007 9:35 am GMT by UrAteUp
| Jefecaminador wrote: | | Dont raise so much with marginal hands early on. Med pps dont play that well in a multiway pot so dont raise 5x the bb. Raise 3x or prolly just limp and try to hit your set. |
A Mid pp will play good in a multiway pot provided your getting priced right to see the next card Jef. By that I mean if your getting odds to make the draw then you should unless you see a stronger hand possibly out on the board. If not and your getting a good price stick around and another card.
Posted Fri Feb 09, 2007 9:43 am GMT by MrDarling
I'm confused, what kind of odds you need to draw to a set after seeing the flop? isn't it something like 25-1?
What do you guys think about pushing with those hands (AK, mid pairs)?
People might call with crap hand thinking you are a donk. And if a real hand call usually it will be a race. Sure, you might run into a bigger pair etc, but that same apply later on when the blinds are high and pushing IS the right move.
If no one calls, you might get a donk image. Which is never bad!
Posted Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:26 pm GMT by golddog
I only did a quick scan; apologize if I missed some salient point.
First, let's get the notion that 99--JJ is a "big hand", especially early in tournaments. (I'm speaking relatively low-buy-ins, where cheapskates like me play).
Assume for the first round at least, any hand you play is going to a showdown. So, the question becomes, not, "do I have the best hand right now", but, "how likely is my hand to be best at the end"?
One strategy that I've found effective is to std raise, or even sometimes limp with mid pairs. You know you're not going to chase off the AJo and the like with a raise, so don't commit too much til you know where you are.
Another advantage to this is it's easy to get away from these hands when the flop treats you wrong, since you have so little invested.
Of course, like everything it's situational; if you've identified the decent players who will recognize your bet for what it is, and are fortunate enough to have them behind you, raise it up!
So I guess I wasn't any help whatsoever.
Posted Fri Feb 09, 2007 11:39 pm GMT by Jefecaminador
| UrAteUp wrote: | | Jefecaminador wrote: | | Dont raise so much with marginal hands early on. Med pps dont play that well in a multiway pot so dont raise 5x the bb. Raise 3x or prolly just limp and try to hit your set. |
A Mid pp will play good in a multiway pot provided your getting priced right to see the next card Jef. By that I mean if your getting odds to make the draw then you should unless you see a stronger hand possibly out on the board. If not and your getting a good price stick around and another card. |
Um... drawing to a set after the flop is usually a terrible idea. You have 2 outs, at best. Not often are you gonna get 22.5 to 1 odds.
Posted Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:49 am GMT by MrDarling
Yeah, l started to play them real tight and passive early on and it serves me well so far.
3XBB raise in position with J's. One caller. Flop QT7 two diamonds. Caller leads half the pot - I fold. Sure he might have a T or a flush draw, but I just think it is too expensive to find out early on.
Few hands later I had AKs in the button, SS in the BB had 4XBB. I raised to that. SB called (with K4) and BB called. Luckily SB was smart enough to check to SD. BB had J8 and hit his 8.
Posted Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:13 am GMT by tame_deuces
People are so pessimistic. :D
A big hand is a big hand, raise with it. In low buy-in SNGs you will be called by worse hands all the time which means value for you.
Then after the flop we have to play some cards and figure out if we should put more chips into the hand. That's the bit they call poker. 
|
|
