Just learning, bye bye stack twice, go back to limit?

[PokerNoob]

Both at party $25 .5 blinds.

In my first orbit, I get AKs in MP, minimum raise a couple of limpers, two coldcallers behind. Flop comes A 7 2, two clubs. I make a $4 bet, LP pushes all in (he's got me well covered). I call. Turn is a Q, river is a rag no club. He flips AQ. Typical?

A little later I sit at a different table. Play about two orbits when a very short stacked UTG goes all in for about $5. In MP I look down and see QQ. I call and get two callers behind. Flop comes J T 3 rainbow. I bet $7, one fold, LP raises an amount to put me all-in (he's huge stack). Turn is a blank. River is a blank. He flips JTo. UTG flips AA.

[gavrilo]

I Don't min-raise with AKs when I have limpers to you in MP. This doesn't accomplish anything. Raise it up, build a pot, charge them to outflop you. You are leading on the flop, you got sucked out on by a 3 outer, it happens.

I don't like just calling with QQ here, I'd have raised it up hoping to get it headsup with the all-in. And yes, sometimes they'll have AA or KK here, this happens too.

[prairieboy]

Welcome to the wonderful world of no-limit poker.

Hand 1: Calling a (large) all-in bet with TPTK is dangerous as you'll be up against 2 pair or a set a lot of the time. You'll be up against a flush draw or TPWK sometimes too. That's why knowing your opponents in no limit is so important.

If you don't have a read on your opponent, I'd probably lay down TPTK here.

Hand 2: Don't just call preflop, raise! My hand 1 comments apply to hand 2 too.

[mauisupaman]

I don't agree with laying down TPTK in that spot even without a read on the opponent. B/c the stacks are short on Party hands such as TPTK play much better since you can get all in early in the hand without having an opponent getting implied odds off of you. My second reason for not folding is that players on 25NL party will push with mere draws or will call all in with a draw.
A hui hou,
Adam

[PokerNoob]

Hand 1: Lay down TPTK even with the nut flush redraw?

Hand 2: Part of my thinking was that if UTG all-in actually had AA or KK, I wanted to induce lesser hands behind me to call and then go after them. I guess "tricky" play isn't a good idea.

[prairieboy]

1. I missed the flush draw.

For the sake of elderly readers like me, please use the /images/graemlins/club.gif /images/graemlins/heart.gif /images/graemlins/diamond.gif /images/graemlins/spade.gif icons. They look cool and are much easier to read.

2. With QQ, you can expect to flop an overcard almost half of the time, so it is very important to chase out any Ax, Kx hands that might be tempted to call a small raise. After you've hit your set on the flop, then you can think about trying to get cute.

[Wayfare]

IMHO, raise at least $3 and bet out if you are in EP no matter what falls. Most of the times they won't take the heat. If by the turn you have hit an ace or king, then keep on going unless the board is scary, and if you have not then reevaluate.

Obviously its a bit more complicated than this but you really can't min-raise AKs at party. 6x BB or more.

[Ben]

Your play wasn't that bad, but you will needs lots of tweaking of your limit game to play NL well. It's quite a different world you'll find.

The adjustments are somewhat difficult, but doable. The big question to see if you're ready for NL is actually unrelated to your play. It is: can you stand losing your stack two, three, four, or more times in a row using perfect play while being sucked out on?

The swings in NL can be tremendous and the damage you can do to yourself while on tilt is obscene. A good friend of mine built a $2,500 bankroll from $200 through solid NL play. One day, three hands in a row he was cleaned out by suckouts (nasty ones, like AA losing to KQ). He went on tilt and lost back $2,300 during the rest of his play that day.

Another friend of mine built from $300 to $8,000. Went on tilt and lost ALL the eight grand in a day. He even put in another $2,000 and promptly dumped that.

NL requires balls and brains of steel. It is NOT limit with an open bet-structure.

-Ben