Rope a dope

Hi all


Im playin on Pokerstars most of the time. Since its 9 handed, its very common to face a steal raise in the BB with a hand like Ax. Sure its an easy call against most of the players but how do u play after if u hit an ace.


I like to use the check call strategy for the flop and turn and then bet the river since i dont expected to be raise unless im against a monster. Im just scared that if i bet or raise the flop, my opponent will fold with his steal raise atempt, but if i call, he will try to steal again on the turn


IS there any weaknesses in this strategy against most of the unknown opponents?


Ty for help


Charlie

"Im just scared that if i bet or raise the flop, my opponent will fold with his steal raise atempt, but if i call, he will try to steal again on the turn"


Why are you scared? Bet or raise him on the flop, take the money when he folds. The more money your opponent puts into the pot on later streets, the more likely it is that top-pair-no-kicker is no good.


I don't like calling possible steals with weak hands. There's always the likelihood that the raise is coming from a real hand; and even if you hit something like top pair, there's the lingering doubt that your kicker is no good.


You aren't playing limit hold'em here. The blinds are insignificant compared to winning a real pot. Don't bother defending with crap. The way to deal with chronic thieves of the blinds is to let 'em steal ... until you have a real hand, and then you can trap them. AX simply isn't a real hand.

this is fine for limit poker,


for no limit, i dont know

I will call with Ax againt an obvious steal raise all the time...


Am i wrong?


I really think its EV+...


Charlie

Sure i got lucky but if i raise in the flop, my opponent clearly fold...


*********** # 1 **************

PokerStars Game #8100856: Hold'em Limit ($5/$10) - 2002/04/06 - 16:52:01 (EST)

Table 'Phad' Seat #9 is the button

Seat 1: Aloysius ($110 in chips)

Seat 2: ME ME ME!!! ($148 in chips)

Seat 3: Goku ($231 in chips)

Seat 4: McGee ($211 in chips)

Seat 5: The hack ($130.50 in chips)

Seat 6: von Neumann ($128 in chips)

Seat 7: RDiaz ($393 in chips)

Seat 8: rik14 ($102 in chips)

Seat 9: Vinman ($243 in chips)

Aloysius: posts small blind $2

ME ME ME!!: posts big blind $5

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to ME ME ME!! [Ad 5c]

Goku: folds

McGee: folds

The hack: folds

von Neumann: folds

RDiaz: folds

rik14: raises $5 to $10

Vinman: folds

Aloysius: folds

ME ME ME!!: calls $5

*** FLOP *** [Ac 7s 7c]

ME ME ME!!: checks

rik14: bets $5

ME ME ME!!: calls $5

*** TURN *** [Ac 7s 7c] [Ts]

ME ME ME!!: checks

rik14: bets $10

ME ME ME!!: calls $10

*** RIVER *** [Ac 7s 7c Ts] [Ah]

ME ME ME!!: bets $10

rik14: calls $10

*** SHOW DOWN ***

ME ME ME!!: shows [Ad 5c] (a full house, Aces full of Sevens)

rik14: mucks hand

Sandrine collected $69 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $72 | Rake $3

Board [Ac 7s 7c Ts Ah]

Seat 1: Aloysius (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 2: ME ME ME!!(big blind) showed [Ad 5c] and won ($69) with a full house,

Aces full of Sevens

Seat 3: Goku folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 4: McGee folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 5: The hack folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 6: von Neumann folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 7: RDiaz folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 8: rik14 mucked [Kc 9d] - two pair, Aces and Sevens

Seat 9: Vinman (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

*********** # 1 **************

PokerStars Game #8100856: Hold'em Limit ($5/$10) - 2002/04/06 - 16:52:01 (EST)

Table 'Phad' Seat #9 is the button

Seat 1: Aloysius ($110 in chips)

Seat 2: ME ME ME!!! ($148 in chips)

Seat 3: Goku ($231 in chips)

Seat 4: McGee ($211 in chips)

Seat 5: The hack ($130.50 in chips)

Seat 6: von Neumann ($128 in chips)

Seat 7: RDiaz ($393 in chips)

Seat 8: rik14 ($102 in chips)

Seat 9: Vinman ($243 in chips)

Aloysius: posts small blind $2

ME ME ME!!: posts big blind $5

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to ME ME ME!! [Ad 5c]

Goku: folds

McGee: folds

The hack: folds

von Neumann: folds

RDiaz: folds

rik14: raises $5 to $10

Vinman: folds

Aloysius: folds

ME ME ME!!: calls $5

*** FLOP *** [Ac 7s 7c]

ME ME ME!!: checks

rik14: bets $5

ME ME ME!!: calls $5

*** TURN *** [Ac 7s 7c] [Td]

ME ME ME!!: checks

rik14: bets $10

ME ME ME!!: calls $10

*** RIVER *** [Ac 7s 7c Td] [Ah]

ME ME ME!!: bets $10

rik14: raises $10

ME ME ME!! calls $10

*** SHOW DOWN ***

ME ME ME!!: shows [Ad 5c] (a full house, Aces full of Sevens)

rik14: shows [As Ts] (a full house, Aces full of Tens)

rik14 collected $89 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $72 | Rake $3

Board [Ac 7s 7c Td Ah]

Seat 1: Aloysius (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 2: ME ME ME!!(big blind) showed [Ad 5c] and lost lots of money with a full house, Aces full of Sevens

Seat 3: Goku folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 4: McGee folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 5: The hack folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 6: von Neumann folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 7: RDiaz folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 8: rik14 showed [As Ts] - full house, Aces full of Tens and won lots of Sandrine's (ME ME ME!!'s) money

Seat 9: Vinman (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

If you are confident that your opponent will almost certainly fold, then you should be betting with ANYTHING!


I like the thought of check-raising if you think your opponent is likely to bet into your percieved weakness.


In any case, you can NOT win by just calling. You need to be making your opponent make the tough decisions, not the other way around.


You will lose some. You can't be afraid of shadows. In hold 'em there is almost always a horrible possibility out there.


Bet, raise, re-raise, or fold on the flop. Depending on the game or opponent these are all possibilities.


Against a hyper-aggressive opponent that will bet with almost anything AA is a goldmine.


The looser an opponent the less outstanding a hand needs to be for a value bet.

Oh, you're talking about *limit* hold'em.


That's an entirely different kettle of fish. I'd defend my big blind with ace-rag against an open-raise from the cutoff seat without hesitation in *limit* hold'em.


You said "Pokerstars" without any qualification, and I assumed you meant the no-limit games they spread there. When I play no-limit hold'em, ace-rag hits the muck faster than you can say "trouble hand".

Assuming your opponent will attempt a steal with almost anything, you're almost playing against a random hand, in which case just having top pair is a very good hand. It's important to vary how you play, but I would often plan to check-call on the flop and check-raise the turn and then bet the river if called on the turn. Second choice would be waiting until the river to check-raise. Against some opponents you can check-raise on the flop, and check-raise again on the turn because they'll think your check-raise on the flop is a ploy for a free card. Your concern should be to get as many bets as possible in the pot. Sure, you'll lose some of these contests, but you've got to maximize your gains when you're a favorite.


Note this is assuming your opponent will attempt a steal raise frequently in this situation.

Charlie,


The problem with just calling on the flop and turn here is that most of the time you aren't going to flop an ace. Maybe you will flop a pair of x and now you want to find out where you are at with a checkraise early. Other times, you will flop nothing, but will play ace high for the best hand. If you play these hands fast (as you should), you are giving up too much by slowplaying your aces.


An attentive opponent (yes, they actually exist online) will notice what you are doing, and anytime you play quickly, he will know you are weak. So you need to vary your play those times you do flop aces. All in all, you are going to want to make a play at this pot many more times with ace high or a little pair than with just aces. Getting your opponent to fold on these occasions will prove more profitable than those times when you flop a pair of aces and slowplay them. Furthermore, opponents will notice that you play a small pair fast, and now you will get more action when you play aces fast.


You have a lot more bad hands than good in this game. You need to take down your share of heads up pots on the strength of betting power alone. This means those aces cannot be slowplayed often.


Mike