Preflop hands question

[bouh]

I wonder how weak is my preflop action. if someone raise 4BB before me and I have AQ (or AJ) I will fold it. Only way for me to call him is if I have AK, a PP or if many called the raise a suited connector. I Wonder if I AQ is a good hand to call a raise or not. I saw many people raising their middle PP or even KQ AJ in middle or early (on .5/1 table) and so I wonder if starting to call those raise with AQ (AJ or anything else) can be a good thing or I should skip to my standard (which aren't working good lately ;o ).
If I hold AK in Late position and someone raised 4BB I will call it and not raise it. Should I reraise more with AK ?

So I am curious to know what is your preflop action.

[josie_wales]

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I wonder how weak is my preflop action. if someone raise 4BB before me and I have AQ (or AJ) I will fold it.

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I think that unless you have a specific read on your opponent this is not necessarily a bad idea. Especially with the AJ. Some opponents will raise with some quite interesting hands.

But, for the most part they are a couple of hands that are regularly dominated. Even if not, and you flop an ace, and the preflop raiser bets big into you, the hand is all of the sudden very difficult to play.

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Only way for me to call him is if I have AK, a PP or if many called the raise a suited connector

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With AK, you should consider a re-raise....Not a call. You have position on the raiser, and by raising here, you (1) get more money into the pot and (2) make the hand a lot easier to play later.

Depending on the PP, a re-raise may be in order as well. Or a call depending on stack sizes, number of players in and number of players still to call.

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I saw many people raising their middle PP or even KQ AJ in middle or early

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Very good. Sounds like you have a read on a few of these fellas [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] If that is the case, you can adjust your play accordingly.

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If I hold AK in Late position and someone raised 4BB I will call it and not raise it. Should I reraise more with AK ?


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If by 'more' you mean more than 'never'....then yes [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Josie Wales

[fsuplayer]

If the player who raised raises all sorts of hands, then reraising with AK is a great idea. You will almost always get it heads up and he probably has a dominated hand.
I too used to just call with AK, but now if I have position and a read, I will sometimes reraise with it. The great thing about this play is that once you reraise, you are the attacker and you can steal the pot when a ragged or semi-ragged board falls, as you have made you AK look like a high PP to this opponent.

That aside, your preflop play looks very solid.
As far as AQ is concerned, I usually only play it to a raise if I have position and I have a read on the player.
And I am much more likely to call if it is suited, (esp. with other callers).
That being said, I think that throwing away AQ to a raise on Party every time is prob. not maximzing your winnings, but neither is playing it to a raise everytime.
The situation and opponent must be right for it.

FsuPlayer

[bouh]

Thx for the answers.

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Depending on the PP, a re-raise may be in order as well. Or a call depending on stack sizes, number of players in and number of players still to call.


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would you reraise with a PP below KK or QQ ? I know sometimes you can reraise with something like TT to change your play but my question is more about what to do in general.
I found myself calling a raise too much with a low PP lately. I am not sure it's a so good thing in the long term.

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I saw many people raising their middle PP or even KQ AJ in middle or early

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Very good. Sounds like you have a read on a few of these fellas [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] If that is the case, you can adjust your play accordingly.


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Well the read I get it when they go to showdown [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] it's not so easy to know if the guy hold 66, AJ or AK preflop when he raise 4BB. You can get some read on some opponents but not on every one. specially on .5/1 table where you see a lot of differents people. It's not like on higher table I think.
That is why I wonder is calling a 4BB raise with AQ is a huge mistake (I think AJ is). Having position on him, I can still raise him if an ace flop to know where I am. People with KK or QQ will bet in the Ace on the flop so I need to test them.

[bouh]

I forgot to say I play on (the best site [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]) pokerstars, not on party. So the hand selection may be more important I guess.
I know for sure I won't call a 5BB+ bet with AQ but 4BB seems to be the standard raise there and it can be anything from lots of people. Any little pocket pair (suited connector sometimes) and even AA. I find this 4BB raise difficult to read because most people tend to only use it so it doesn't give much information on what your opponent is holding.
You say throwing away AQ on party to a raise is a prob, would you say the same for pokerstars ?

[fsuplayer]

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I forgot to say I play on (the best site ) pokerstars

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Best site for what, tighter tougher games?

If you are playing alot online and what to make some money, Party is best way to go, by far.
Unless you want higher limits than they offer, then I would choose a Prima skin like the Gaming Club.

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You say throwing away AQ on party to a raise is a prob, would you say the same for pokerstars ?

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It depends more on the player than anything else, but what I mean is that if you throw away AQ (esp. suited) to every raise, you are losing something.

FsuPlayer

[schwza]

I would say cold-calling (or reraising) with AQ is better on Party than Stars. If you overplay your top pair and lose your stack, it's not a disaster on Party.

That said, AQ is a hand I never cold call with (unless suited). I'll sometimes 3-bet with it planning on folding to a reraise, and if there's no reraise I'll play assuming he doesn't hold AK (unless he does something to convince me otherwise).

Against the relatively few players who a) raise too much and b) fold to reraises I'll reraise with a wider range of hands, but AJ would not be the first I'd add to my list - it'd be AK, AQ, big pairs, and sometimes stuff like 56s.

I don't think I've ever cold called AK - that's always a raise. One reason is that I'm hoping that AQ, AJ, or KQ reraises and I can get all-in before the flop. (Note getting all-in preflop with AK is both more likely and more favorable [cause you're not up against AA or KK so often] when it happens on Party compared to Stars).

[fsuplayer]

Getting in all of your money preflop with AK may turn a small profit at the lowest level games, but if you move up levels at all you will be losing money. Players at the higher games will no longer call all ins or move all in with AQ, AJ, KQ etc.
I sometimes see guys moving all in preflop with AK... often reraising a reraiser! This is not only a play with huge variance, but a losing play at that. I like my chops when those type of players are at my table.

I like the idea of moving in with AK in the later stages of tourneys, (esp. with good players at my table), but in a cash game, you will be losing money quickly in the long run.

FsuPlayer