Re: fish bait
Aaron: [ QUOTE ]
Are you suggesting this tactic as an alternative to a raise, or as an alternative to checking?
[/ QUOTE ] I'm suggesting this as an alternative to check/raising with a made hand and as an alternative to check/folding or check/calling with a drawing hand. Again, I can only try this from early position.
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My feeling is you want to use all possible weapons. Every bet you make should be open to at least two interpretation by your opponents. Thus if you only check or raise with stong hands, you give away information. So you need a minimum-bet semi-slow play.
[/ QUOTE ] yup, this is exactly the point of this play. This play also has a couple of happy side-effects when it misses. If I make the minimum bet and it gets called around, the pot may have as much as doubled in size. This means that it takes a larger turn bet to get me off of a drawing hand, and when I have a made hand it means that I can get a weaker hand to call an even bigger bet than the times when I miss a check-raise.
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Another thing I like about this play is it misrepresents the type of your hand. A straightforward player makes a minimum bet in early position with a medium-strong hand, or a very good drawing hand. So your opponents expect face cards, or a hand with multiple straight and flush possibilities, or maybe Ace/medium card with a flush possibility. If you do this with three nines, they're going to misread the turn and river cards, allowing you to stay in cheap when the odds are against you and pump up the pot when the odds are for you. Then, when your next minimum bet is a straightforward one, they'll misread you again.
[/ QUOTE ] I think the main advantage to this type of play is that it forces my opponents to define their hands while I have to give away essentially nothing. If I make the minimum bet into you and you have a set, you're just going to raise to isolate, and I can get away if I want. It should also slow my opponents medium hands way down since they will be reluctant to re-raise with several left to act. Tighter players will fold here.
Tom and Will:
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Try doing this when I have a draw and you are going to win a small pot or lose a big one.
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and
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On your first try when you are setting the trap it could give your opponent another card for cheap and he could make his drawing hand. Then when you raise him again as your trap, he could come over the top of you with the better hand and make you lose a lot of chips and maybe even mess up your overall scheme.
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I think the key to this play is to have all of the previously mentioned conditions in place before attempting it. If I make a set on the flop and my fish bait gets called through, then I'm getting very focused on what the next card is. If it completes a draw, then I swear under my breath and slow down a bit to see where I stand. If it doesn't (and most of the time it wont) then I continue as planned.
If we were both on the same draw, then I'll have to play poker with you on 4th and 5th street to see who wins this one. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
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