1st Session--some questions

Hey Studs,


I usually only play hold 'em but I had some extra $$ and felt like a change of pace so I took a seat in a 1-4 Stud (.50 ante and $1 bring-in) game at Muckleshoot Casino outside Seattle on Saturday. I had a few questions.


When should you be happy with the dead $ and when should you let some people in for 4th street. I know this is very general but I am just looking for some general advice.


For example, one hand I had JQ/Q, someone brought it in for one, one caller, I made it 4 and everyone folded. (my Q was highest card showing). Was this raise correct?


I tried something different when I had 6A/A and was last to act before 4th. Everyone just called the bring-in so I did too. Then 2 people paired there door cards, one bet the max and the other called. I folded. Was this too tight? Should I have made it $4 on 3rd to take control of the hand?


Lastly, one of the hardest hands for me was one where I was the bring-in with 62/2 and caught a 6 on 4th for 62/26. Checked to me, I bet $4 on 4th, two callers, both with unpaired high cards. I catch a blank on 5th but bet $4 again, only to be called by one guy with 3 unpaired cards, not looking super straight or flush. I suspect he is on one pair and has me pegged for just about exactly what I have. Do I keep betting? He must have about 12 outs to beat me now, depending on the live-ness of his cards. Any advice on these baby 2 pairs?


Thanks.


KJS

baby two pairs are horrible hands. You did the right thing -- hit it early and hope they fold. If they don't and the pot is small, you may have to do the folding if they bet the max on fifth. If they are aggressive and would do this with just one pair and your pair cards are live, you could call but it's a crying call IMHO

Thanks MRB. I thought that was the right course. Thankfully my opponent was very weak--he showed down A High losers 4 times in an hour. We checked it down and my hand was good.


KJS

On the Q's hand I would raise the max and take the money. Give your opponents a chance to make a mistake by calling a max raise.


I would also raise to the max with your split A's. Once again give people the chance to make the mistake in this case of folding their drawing hands or multiway hands. If they all fold so be it. There will be plenty of times that they will call with weaker hands and your raise gets more money in the pot as the favorite.

A .50 ante in a 1-4 game is huge - that's $4 in antes on a full table! If you win only the antes 2-3 times an hour, you'll have a nice hourly rate for this limit.


TRLS

I thought so too. I was not prepared for antes at all. Thought I could play rock tight, watch the action and only get involved with very good hands. All the dead money made me get involved more than I anticipated but the competition was not very good so I cashed a nice win.


KJS

I thought everyone would say to raise in both cases. The Aces hand was just an experiment. I thought I might come in cheap, get the first action on 4th and get a nice checkraise in. The two people pairing foiled my plan. Next time I'll take the antes or try to get it heads up against a worse hand. Thanks.


KJS