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Old 12-21-2005, 01:34 PM
Pokey Pokey is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 570
Default ($11) HU SB w/AA: when to raise?

I'm not actually looking for advice on a particular hand; rather, I'm trying to figure out how to think about this problem.

Say you're down to heads-up play and you are dealt a monster (AA in particular, but I figure the advice would apply to KK or QQ reasonably well). What factors influence whether you push, raise, min-raise, or call? Here's my thinking:

1. Blinds. The larger the blinds, the more likely I would be to push. With big blinds, people are less likely to release their hands, and even if you do just pick up the blinds, that should be a reasonable addition to your stack.
2. Relative stacks. The closer the stacks are to even, the more likely I would be to min-raise, rather than push. Once the stacks got to 75/25 or more skewed (in either direction), I'd be pushing AA every time.
3. Opponent's aggression. The more aggressive my opponent, the more likely I would be to min-raise or limp, hoping to let them do the betting for me.
4. My aggression. The more aggressive I'd been playing, the more likely I would be to bet or push. At that point, the aggression wouldn't be a big surprise to my opponent, so wouldn't represent as much strength.
5. Most recent one or two hands. If I'd gotten a bad beat on the last hand, I'd be more likely to push. If I'd given a bad beat on the last hand, I'd be more likely to limp. "Release your hate, young Skywalker."

Are there other things I should be considering here? Other important issues? Basically, I consider AA in this situation a very good bet, and I'd like to get maximum value for it by getting as many of my opponent's chips into the pot as possible.
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