when does it end?

[matix]

i finally got into playing with some real money with that 10 free bucks off royal vegas.. ive been playin the 5/10 cent games so i'm hoping as i move up in limits, things change a bit.

i mostly hate it when people have AK and are slowplaying thier pair the whole friggin way through, not raising till the river. is this gonna change and if so what limit?
its happened several times now within a few hours. maybe im just a sucker or something...but its pissin me off [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
any way to prevent this from happening?? i can't tell any signs whatsoever, and its not like someone is raising before hand either so they can just tag along under the bet. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[SheridanCat]

I feel your frustration, brother. But people who play AK like that will get theirs in the end. Hitting AK and then playing passively will cost them money. Just limping habitually will also cost them money.

You're not seeing it because the sample size is small and you've gotten unlucky, but you really do want people to play it like that. Look at it this way, you're probably saving bets by them not coming alive until the river.

We have no idea what you've played against these people, so there's no way to give any real advice. Perhaps you've been playing junk and deserve to be hammered; post some hands in micro-limits and see what people have to say.

Will it get better? No, it won't. But you can.

Regards,

T

[aargh57]

They are playing premium hands passively on every street until the river. This is saving you money. You on the other hand are (hopefully) playing them aggresively. The same guy that will limp with AK will cold call your raise with 67o and continue to pay you off till the river. Of course he'll then suck out with runner runner 6s when you flopped you're A, but I digress. All kidding aside, you will show a bigger profit on your AK then he will. I know it's frustrating but you'll get used to it.

[Dangergirl]

As you move up to higher limits you will still see people slowplay big hands all the time. It used to frustrate the hell out of me but now it doesn't. Just play aggressive and let them slowplay all they want. It's something you will just have to get used to.

[Jeoke]

Don't worry about it man, like everyone else has said they will pay you off in the long run. That use to piss me off too but now I laugh and lick my lips because I know the next time I get a good hand he will be there to pay me [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[AngryCola]

While this practice does make it more difficult to 'read' your opponents, you should be happy they do it. Their method of playing these hands gives a good player an easy advantage.

You will be allowed to limp and take flops in the blinds more often, and play with less of a disadvantage (with most limping and blind hands) than you would have had if your oppenent with AK had raised before the flop.

Of course, sometimes you will end up paying these types of players off with dominated hands which you would have folded before the flop, if they had raised. But this type of situation doesn't negate the overall advantage you ultimately gain by them playing strong hands weakly.

[K C]

Let's take a look at what might be happening though. What is it that YOU have that has you betting into this guy? The problem may be that you're overplaying your hand in a lot of spots.

The second thing is that raising on the river with TPTK isn't necessarily a bad play at all. And it often is the best play actually. If you know that your opponent tends to fold to raises, but will bet a lesser hand than you have, this is the way to extract the most money out of the hand, providing that the board isn't giving you too much concern regarding getting drawn out on. And getting the most out of the hand is what it's all about.

So how do you defend against this? You want to be wary of it, and bet better cards into this person. The other thing is to consider using this tactic yourself when appropriate, so your opponents can get pissed off too [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

KC
kingcobrapoker.com

[slickterp]

the problem is, that these people are probably doing the right thing at .5/.10. since there are so many people who will bet out w/ hands that aren't the best hand (including you) then they can sit back and let other people do the work for them. you need to ask yourself "if i have this hand that i think is that good, what is he calling me with over and over?" alot of the time it will be a draw, etc that the other guy is trying to hit or just hope wins. sometimes it won't. just take notes on the people you have seen do this and keep it in mind when they are just calling every bet you make.

[Dave H.]

If they know that someone else will get their bets in for them and that, therefore, they need not show their strength, AND they are tricky, it's not a bad idea.

However, those are big IFs and, very often, because they let too many people stay in the pot, they will be outdrawn and YOU may be the one outdrawing them!

If they are mucking their losers, you don't get to see how often they blow their AK for not having raised. You only get to see their winner AK.

[matix]

KC I see what you mean and I have made the mistake of overplaying my cards for more than they’re worth, but I usually realize when I’m doing this. The times I’m referring to are when I will be sitting MP with my KT and he will be before me with AK. There are no PF raises, and the flop comes K x x.. Everyone checks. He checks and I bet. I think it’s reasonable to think I have the best hand at this point since no one is showing any strength. My top pair and decent kicker seems to be good at this point. I know this guy is losing money in the long run by not getting $$ into the pot by betting preflop, then on the flop... him not betting till the river and calling my bets just allows others to draw for cheap. I know this situation doesn’t happen often enough to worry about, it just happened right away when I jumped into the real money games, and it happened on several occasions in a concentrated amount of time. So I’m probably not going to worry about it.

Slick how is minimizing profit the right thing? It seems like the retarded thing IMO. I agree there are times when going along for the ride is the best way to go about it (like you and dave said), but I wouldn’t get annoyed by that. I think that’s smart playing and that way would maximize profits if there were enough people betting and calling. But like I said in the original, there are no bets in front of them there is nothing to just draft under to hide his hand and that’s the reason I think slowplaying these hands are stupid.

As long as I’m making the cash over these guys in the long run I guess they can keep doing it. I won’t complain any more.