[Roadstar]

Thanks Grunch - that was extremely helpful. I must stop this limit hold'em based ram and jam mentality on the flop [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I can understand why you advocate a call. But if you can help me understand this: after villain's raise and if you think you're ahead, doesn't calling essentially mean at this point you're giving him a free card to draw out on you? i.e. he could have for example KQ.

Assuming we call the flop raise what is the plan on the turn (and then river)?

If it is a safe card (like a 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]), do we 3/4 pot it here again? If it is a [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]? a J?

Thanks!

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Hi, Roadstar. Welcome to SSNL. Limit and no-limit are wildly different.

Preflop was terrible. Actually, I'm surprised you were able to raise to 0.85 since that's less than a min-raise. 4x+1 in this case would be $2, not $1. $2 is a good amount to raise preflop here.

One of the differences between limit & no-limit is how important it is to be conscious of your stack size. On this hand your flop raise left you with only ~$11 in a pot that would be ~$38 on the turn if your opponent called. You realized this, only too late, when you said, "I think I'm committed to this pot now so I go all in." You're right - you were potstuck. But you should have known this would happen before you made your flop raise. What difference would it have made? Well, if you're going to 3-bet the flop, you should just push then and there so you don't have to fool around with a dinky stack in a big pot. You can consider this to be a cardinal sin in no-limit; much like getting all-in is a cardinal sin in limit.

Another difference between no-limit and limit is the importance of pot control in no-limit. Your flop 3-bet made the pot grow almost uncontrollably. Not only would you be committed to all future action, but so would your opponents. Sometimes it's best to keep a lid on the pot, especially when you don't have the nuts. You very well could be way ahead. But you could also be drawing to two outs or be nearly even with your opponent. In this hand, I like to call the opponent's flop raise and play poker from there. I don't want an out of control brush fire; I want glowing embers I can throw gas on later if I want.

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