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View Full Version : are min. raises ever acceptable?


housenuts
10-15-2004, 05:22 AM
in SNGs that last a long time sometimes the blinds get to 200/400 or 300/600. Are min. raises at these levels acceptable since it is a large portion of the other guys stack to call 600 more hundred?

it was down to 4 of us. i just min. raised (600 more) with A7o on the button. BB had about the same size stack as me. i didn't think he would call with a poor holding. instead he re-raised all-in. what do you do in this situation? i had to fold. did he see my min. raise as weak or did he have a good holding?

eastbay
10-15-2004, 05:42 AM
[ QUOTE ]
in SNGs that last a long time sometimes the blinds get to 200/400 or 300/600. Are min. raises at these levels acceptable since it is a large portion of the other guys stack to call 600 more hundred?

it was down to 4 of us. i just min. raised (600 more) with A7o on the button. BB had about the same size stack as me. i didn't think he would call with a poor holding. instead he re-raised all-in. what do you do in this situation? i had to fold. did he see my min. raise as weak or did he have a good holding?

[/ QUOTE ]

You'll never know. That's part of the problem with minraises.

I think it's acceptable this late in two instances. The first is when you know the guy at least sometimes uses the check/fold button. If he does, you can take his blind with minimal risk with a minraise.

The second is when you want him to come over the top, and you expect he'll do that, but fold to all-in. In other words, when you have a monster.

eastbay

housenuts
10-15-2004, 05:47 AM
wow. 300/600, what am i talking about? haha, the blinds in this one just were at 400/800 and i just busted out 2nd, 1 minute away from 600/1200. that was completely ludicrous considering our chipstacks.

AleoMagus
10-15-2004, 09:15 AM
If I recall correctly, there are many professional players (MTT) who actually consider the min-raise a powerful weapon and will often use it, even when on a short stack.

One example of such a player is Chris Ferguson, who is perhaps most known for this type of play.

The rationalle runs something like this.

a) A min raise can force a mistake from a player with weak holdings by making their decision marginal. A min raise from the button (for example) can easily get a call from someone holding pure garbage in the blinds. A large raise will force an easy (and correct) fold, whereas a min-raise can force an error, especially later in the hand where a player feels committed when they are holding absolutely nothing.

b) A min raise keeps flop play and play in later rounds a part of the hand. Good players want the most opportunity to use their skill and this means outplaying opponents later in the hand. No matter what the math says, pros tend to answer a lot of hand discussions with options that allow seeing flops and allows for play on the flop (and later streets). Their rationalle is that this way they can outplay opponents and get every possible ounce of their skill advantage (like forcing a guy holding garbage to abandon bottom pair on an Ace high flop when he should call you).

That said, I have never min raised in my life and consider it to be a mistake 99% of the time when MOST people do it. I just allow for the fact that it is a part of high level play and that some top level players consider it a viable option.

One last point, you already mentioned. If you know a player can be stolen from with a min raise, then that may be all you need to do and that is a good thing. Again though, I don't do it if I know I just have to call a re-raise anyways.

Regards
Brad S

Edit: I just noticed that you are a UVIC student and living in Victora Also. Do you ever play on Discovery st? Are there games taking place at UVIC?