Your opinions please

[bsk1999]

Last night, Party $25 NL. $.25/$.50 blinds and I'm UTG+1. I get Q /images/graemlins/club.gifJ /images/graemlins/club.gif.

UTG folds and I make it $3. Everyone has been respecting my raises, and quite a few times will just give me my $.75 and move on. I get one caller though, who has made it known he thinks he is a good player.

Flop comes AJJ (suits unimportant)
I check he bets $5, I wait and call, try to slow play a little.

Turn is J woo hoo.

I check, he bets $5 again, I call.

River is an 8.

I bet $10, he calls, I didn't think he would call a bigger bet, and if he would have, then he probably would have reraised me is my thinking.

I obviously winn, and he mucks his hand and procedes to berate me for raising with QJ suited in early position.

My question, anyone else raise in this position? I can see, when my raises are respected, that a caller might actually have a hand, and I'm behind, which is why I shouldn't raise, but please let me know what you think.

[Zag]

I certainly wouldn't do it very often, and only against more aware players than you are likely to find on Party $25 NL. This is definitely a "mix-it-up" play and not something you would do for value. You aren't giving up a lot with this raise if you are just called, but you are probably in big trouble if you get reraised. Would you lay it down in that case? If a reraise is only made by AK or AA-QQ, then laying it down is probably the right answer.

These "mix-it-up" plays are only valuable if the opponents are aware enough to notice it, and you play against the same people a fair bit, and they will remember it when you make the same raise with AA or KK, and maybe decide to reraise with AQ. On Party, none of these is true (though you still might get a reraise with AQ, but it will have nothing to do with your having raised once with QJ).

From early position, I would limp with this hand in a passive game, and fold it in an aggressive game. With position, I would call a raise, or gladly make an attempt to steal the blinds. But I would hardly ever raise with it from early position.

What did the other player have? I doubt he could beat AK, which is the most obvious hand to put you on. Probably with the third J on board he would tie with AK. Did you say "Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of stacking these chips." I think the comment is even funnier online, but that's just me.

[bsk1999]

Thanks for the post Zag, and yes, it was a mix up play. Just a few hands earlier I had made a raise to $4 and the player to my left said "Not AK again", and I got one caller, flopped my K and bet it. So I knew the table was catching on to my raising standards.

The dumbass tried to convince me he had a pocket pair, to which I agrued if that were true, it had to be either KK, or TT or less. If it was KK, it was him own damn fault for not re-raising preflop. He never did tell me which pp he had, but it really didn't matter to me.

The greatest part of this whole thing was when I showed 2 /images/graemlins/spade.gif5 /images/graemlins/spade.gifafter a $3 raise from the button. This got the whole table riled up and I got 2 callers the very next hand when I went all in with QQ. Tripled me up, and upset the table even more. Gotta love it though.

[Jon Matthews]

No way would I raise those cards based on their strength, that's a weak hand. But, if you consider it a steal raise (not really worth it here) or a trap raise then it's not too bad however trapping with QJs isn't the most straightforward thing to do unlike with, say, 52s when you get a low board.


However if someone berates you for it, just say you felt like raising! They can't argue with that! And it was pretty much true here...


As regards the river bet, you should have pushed. It's more than likely he had Jacks full of Aces and there's no way he's laying that down - it would be a losing play overall to fear quads every time there's a board like that.


Jon

[ripdog]

I agree with the others here. I wouldn't make the raise very often. Where I deviate is on the river. I check and give hime a chance to bet into me again, although your raise isn't a bad play either. How deep was he? Are you certain that he would bet again on the river? What did you put him on? I have to put him on an Ace, which I think he'll bet again. As an aside, on UB you can go to the hand history and see what the caller had. Party doesn't have this? I'd have loved to find out what he had.

[crockpot]

i don't like this raise very much, although i might make it to vary my game once in awhile. if you're doing it to steal the blinds, 4:1 is an awful lot to lay on it. and if someone calls a $3 raise preflop, they likely have you badly dominated, so you will probably either need to hit a big flop or bluff at it out of position, which is not a desirable spot to be in. if you were in later position, the play gains a lot more value.

by the way, if you're at a .25/.50 table where your raises usually steal the blinds, go find another table. there are plenty of good ones here.

[1800GAMBLER]

I always isolate players who i see raising with these hands. So be careful.

[fireman664]

2 /images/graemlins/spade.gif5 /images/graemlins/spade.giffor $3 raise from any position makes my buddy list...lol /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Jon Matthews]

you can make a lot of money with a raised 52s if you play it right /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Zag]

[ QUOTE ]
I always isolate players who i see raising with these hands. So be careful.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can bet, Jay, that in the few occasions that I do raise with something like this, I'll do my best to let you see it. When you do try to isolate me with KQ or something like that, you'll be sorry.