Opinions on PF action

[GrunchCan]

Looks good.

In this spot - where there is just 1 MP opponent and you're on the button - you should raise with any PP you choose to play with. This is becasue you want to take your PP up against just 1 opponent. The worst possible environment for a small-meduim PP is having 2 or 3 opponents.

[detruncate]

From today:

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (10 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, UTG+2 calls, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, UTG+2 calls.

____________

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (7 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is CO with 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP1 calls, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, MP1 calls.

_____________

Both limpers were at least slightly loose and fairly predictable post flop. I also had tight players to my left (including the blinds in these hands), and my raises were getting quite a bit of respect. Ideal for isolation.

As you start to play tougher games, isolating and outplaying weak opponents post-flop becomes increasingly important. Keep an eye out for good opportunities to make these sorts of plays -- they exist, even at .5/1.

Like others have said, you want to play small/middle pairs HU or in a crowd. The middle ground sucks and should be avoided-- not enough company to make up your pf deficit wrt set value, and too many to hold up often enough UI. 88 is obviously quite different than 66/55/44, but you get the idea. Don't limp.

Put pressure on your opponents. Force them to make difficult decisions. Taking the initiative gives you two ways to win:

1) showing down the best hand

2) winning prior to showdown

Think about how hard it is to call a flop bet vs a pf raiser with a broadway card on board (especially an ace). Then think about how frustratingly often your opponent(s) fold when you actually hit TP in that situation -- it's true that there's one more bad card in the deck when you don't have it, but a lot of it is down to even relatively unreflective players thinking raise=big cards.

Remember that you don't have to spew chips post-flop just because you raised pf.

Nice raise OP.

[btspider]

[ QUOTE ]
against tight blinds this can be done with any pp.

[/ QUOTE ]

a bit much.. 66 is fine. 44/55 is a stretch.

[Rev. Good Will]

[ QUOTE ]
Raise 99 in LP with 1 limper and see how you get on.


[/ QUOTE ]

Why LP? I always thought those med-high pairs (77-TT) were best for raising UTG through MP to push players out of the hand.

[detruncate]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
against tight blinds this can be done with any pp.

[/ QUOTE ]

a bit much.. 66 is fine. 44/55 is a stretch.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah. Don't interpret these posts as advocating gonzo aggression. You pretty much want ideal conditions if you're going to move into small pair territory. A lot of the UI strength of these hands is their ability to flop at worst 1 overcard.