Dead money question.

[LarsVegas]

No particular hand here. The thought crossed my mind however, when I held J4s in the small blind in a $15/30 game, the cutoff had posted a big blind and the CO-1 seat opened with a raise. My hand ended when the cutoff called the raise.

However, in an online game at a large site. New opponents every day, very few knows your name. Certain tendencies, such as playing very aggressive in dead money pots will rarely be picked up and when it does it will usually be to late anyway.

Lets rewind the scenario to the cutoff post again and the CO-1 raise which could be done on a lot of hands (although not likely any two, which could be the case if the raise came from the CO or the button in a hand like this). Say CO and button both fold. You have posted a $10 small blind, and play which hands and how?

lars

[LarsVegas]

I find the lack of responses here strange and a little bit disappointing.

I think this is an important concept, particularly considering the large amount of 2+2'ers who play online $15-30 and also important in the aspect that this is perhaps a concept where online plays differs quite a bit from live play.

To perhaps start the ball rolling, I think if you are fairly new in the game, opponents are unknown to you and you presumably unknown to most of them, one should 3-bet an excessive number of hands, almost to the point of any two suited.

If the trend catches on, and preflop play in dead money pots get more aggressive, you of course would have to alter this strategy.

lars

[rory]

I think that making these sorts of moves in the 15/30 game is just expensive over the long run. In general naked bluffs and hyper-aggressive plays do not work well because anybody who has been playing the game for a length of time has learned not to fold heads up unless the board gets super scary. Playing some trashy hand out of position for 3 bets is a good way to flush money down the toilet. BAWOOOSH.

[Senor Choppy]

I think the concept is interesting, but the small blind isn't where I'd be looking to isolate from. Change my position to the button and I think it has it's merits.

If I were a better postflop player in these HU, short-handed type situations, I'd probably be doing it vs. the right opponents, but this is exactly the type of situation where I can easily push things too far and wind up making seriously -EV plays without even realizing it.

I do make a few different 'any two' plays in this game, but they're not of the 3-betting variety.

[astroglide]

i'm actually MORE likely to threebet somebody with reasonable stats/play when they raise from the cutoff after posting because of the commonly-held belief among decent players that any two should be raised there. their cards are random, my cards are random, but now they're the ones that have to hit the flop. i think the situation you're describing is too thin.

[LarsVegas]

"Playing some trashy hand out of position for 3 bets is a good way to flush money down the toilet."

All well and good Rory, but even when the pot would be usually be laying you 95-to-35 (or close to 3-to-1) on taking the flop headsup with the intiative?

Also, if CO-1 is raising QJo, J9s or KTo, will he go to a showdown or even to the river if unimproved every time?

I think we need to talk a lot more about this.

lars

[LarsVegas]

Oh, and another thing. Holdem starting hands run so relatively close in value that aggressive play postflop without any real made hand values is as much of semibluff as pushing a MONSTER draw without a made value on the turn. It's not at all what you seem to label a naked bluff.

lars

[AceHigh]

The raiser has position on you, if you don't know the raiser, then he doesn't know you and there are a lot of overaggressive maniacs on Party, the Big Blind may wake up with a big hand on be super loose, wait for a better situation.

Now, if everybody knows you to be supertight and you know the raiser can laydown a hand and the Big Blind is tight, then I would think about making a play like this. But you want to know your opponents and you want them to know you.