Questions on Preflop Plays Recommendations in SSH

[kerria]

I'm a beginning player reading Small Stakes Hold Em to learn which starting hands to play. In the tables of preflop recommendations on page 80-83 of the book, the following seem strange and I worry they might be printing errors. Could anybody clarify my doubts?

AQ - In loose games, the book recommends to reraise against a raise in early position, but not in late position. Aren't you more vulnerable in early position, so shouldn't you be more conservative?

AT - In late position, the book recommends to raise in tight games, but not in loose games. I thought you should be more aggressive in loose games.

99 - In loose games, the book says to reraise against a raise in early position, but not in late position. Again, it seems more logical to me to be more aggressive from late position.

I basically just want to be sure I'm not learning anything wrong. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

[CallMeIshmael]

Here's my take on it... I'm by no means an expert (sorry Vern)

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AQ - In loose games, the book recommends to reraise against a raise in early position, but not in late position. Aren't you more vulnerable in early position, so shouldn't you be more conservative?

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You are more vulnerable yes. But, the fact that you have reraised makes it more likely that the hands behind you will fold. This is nice for 2 reasons:

1) You are more likely to get the button
2) (more importantly) Your hand (AQo) doesn't do well in large multiway pots. It prefers shorthanded pots, where one pair type hands do well. This reraise helps you get that.

[ QUOTE ]

99 - In loose games, the book says to reraise against a raise in early position, but not in late position. Again, it seems more logical to me to be more aggressive from late position.

[/ QUOTE ]

Basically the same thing. 99 does well in shorthanded pots, where it hopes to win unimproved, or very large pots, for set value. Ed has probably determined that, in these loose games, reraising here tends to get you shorthanded more often than the call.

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AT - In late position, the book recommends to raise in tight games, but not in loose games. I thought you should be more aggressive in loose games.

[/ QUOTE ]

Big offsuit cards (especially the weaker ones like ATo) don't play well in large multiway raised pots vs multiway unraised pots, because they don't do well on the later streets.

Reading these articles might help you understand why:

http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/current/joyce0405.html
http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/current/malmuth0405.html
http://www.internettexasholdem.com/~internet/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=6682

[kerria]

Very helpful and makes good sense. Thank you very much.

[CallMeIshmael]

no prob.