TightInn
12-31-2004, 04:43 AM
Playing with worse cards than your opponent was explained a few times in Harrington on Hold 'Em and Daniel N. always says how important it is to be able to do this, and even tight players can gain certain EV with this from your blind. Rather than lose it every time it would be nice to be able to come in and play with somewhat worse cards.
This is a situation I struggle with, though, and perhaps some of the better players here could help me out. I'll go through a couple different scenarios and ask what you are looking for in the big blind and what the general game plan is if you miss or hit your flop or suspect your opponent missed or hit his flop.
Let's assume in these scenarios that you are playing a typical pokerstars $20 MTT buy-in crowd but haven't played but a few hands with these opponents and don't have any great reads unless otherwise stated.
Situation 1:
Blinds are 25/50 and you have a stack of $1500, which is a bit above average.
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 150, Mid1 & Mid2 call, Mid3 folds, cutoff folds, button calls, small blind calls, and it's on you.
Preflop:
Now, the pot is laying you 700-100 or 7-1 odds. It's multi-way. Will you play a hand where 2 pair is one of the few strengths of the hand? How about just middle-connectors? Suited one or 2 gappers here I think are a must play, but what do you do with K8 or Q9 type hands where you might be dominated? What if they're suited?
Postflop:
If you hit a draw with 8 or 9 outs what are you going to do (assume you expect the preflop raiser to bet out 2/3 to the full pot if you don't beat him to it, though he may raise)? How about top pair with a weak kicker or middle pair and a fairly good kicker?
Situation 2:
Blinds are a bit higher: 100/200 but you have $2500 here. Average stack is $1900, which is what the button player has.
Say it's folded to the button, and he raises your big blind to 700. SB folds and so you are offered 2-1 odds here. Let's say that you know the button, though. Let's say either he or the cutoff will raise your blind about 90% of the time that it's folded to them. They've seen you fold twice, call once, take a stab at the pot and fold, call once, take a stab at the pot, get raised, and reraise, and reraise preflop once (a reasonable variety).
What kind of hand do you need to defend with a call? What hands will you raise with? What will you do if reraised?
How will your preflop and postflop play differ if the button/cutoff is very loose-aggressive who may well call an all-in as a 45-55 underdog to send a signal or something, or will usually reraise to a bet on the flop, etc? What are your plans on the flop if you miss/hit/miss but doubt he hit? How will this differ if he's tighter?
Also, do previous limpers make much of a difference?
well, this was a lot in one post but I think it's a very big concept that doesn't have much material on ..
This is a situation I struggle with, though, and perhaps some of the better players here could help me out. I'll go through a couple different scenarios and ask what you are looking for in the big blind and what the general game plan is if you miss or hit your flop or suspect your opponent missed or hit his flop.
Let's assume in these scenarios that you are playing a typical pokerstars $20 MTT buy-in crowd but haven't played but a few hands with these opponents and don't have any great reads unless otherwise stated.
Situation 1:
Blinds are 25/50 and you have a stack of $1500, which is a bit above average.
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 150, Mid1 & Mid2 call, Mid3 folds, cutoff folds, button calls, small blind calls, and it's on you.
Preflop:
Now, the pot is laying you 700-100 or 7-1 odds. It's multi-way. Will you play a hand where 2 pair is one of the few strengths of the hand? How about just middle-connectors? Suited one or 2 gappers here I think are a must play, but what do you do with K8 or Q9 type hands where you might be dominated? What if they're suited?
Postflop:
If you hit a draw with 8 or 9 outs what are you going to do (assume you expect the preflop raiser to bet out 2/3 to the full pot if you don't beat him to it, though he may raise)? How about top pair with a weak kicker or middle pair and a fairly good kicker?
Situation 2:
Blinds are a bit higher: 100/200 but you have $2500 here. Average stack is $1900, which is what the button player has.
Say it's folded to the button, and he raises your big blind to 700. SB folds and so you are offered 2-1 odds here. Let's say that you know the button, though. Let's say either he or the cutoff will raise your blind about 90% of the time that it's folded to them. They've seen you fold twice, call once, take a stab at the pot and fold, call once, take a stab at the pot, get raised, and reraise, and reraise preflop once (a reasonable variety).
What kind of hand do you need to defend with a call? What hands will you raise with? What will you do if reraised?
How will your preflop and postflop play differ if the button/cutoff is very loose-aggressive who may well call an all-in as a 45-55 underdog to send a signal or something, or will usually reraise to a bet on the flop, etc? What are your plans on the flop if you miss/hit/miss but doubt he hit? How will this differ if he's tighter?
Also, do previous limpers make much of a difference?
well, this was a lot in one post but I think it's a very big concept that doesn't have much material on ..