Ax crap hands and pocket pairs against continuation bet

lets say i have Ax suited and I play it hoping for flush but flop an A. Where would you typically value bet this? And if you get called do you continue or slowdown? Would A9s be a good spot to value bet this? I have had A8s and down and have been getting outkicked.

Also, I need to know if its worth throwing in a big raise when lets say you have 88 in the pocket, and your heads up with an opponent who raised 3x the bb preflop.

Flop comes something like 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

Pot is $7 and and opponent bets $4. In this hand I checkedraised but only to $8. How much should I have raised? And also, is this move worth doing with these pocket pairs?? How many times will your opponent have a pair in this scenario?

bump

I usually throw the pairs that dont hit a set away even when facing a weak CB like that. I've seen too many weakish bets with AA/KK etc. They will often call your raise on the flop anyway and you will be playing a huge pot with a small pair and no idea what your opponent has.

[Bosox]

This is very position dependent. If you're in position and facing a weak bet like that, raise your 88 on that flop because you've probably got him owned. You can't live in fear of OP's because they're the minority of what your opponent will have. You also need to do more than just double because that gives your opponent decent odds to hit his overcards. All your raises should be over 2.5 times your opponents first bet. If you're out of position here and facing a CB, your raise will need to be slightly more since you would much rather take down the hand right there.

As to your question about aces, again position is king. To note, i'm 6max oriented. Certainly bet them in position whether you pair them or not. Out of position, you can sometimes bet them out (against very few opponents) when you don't hit, sometimes just check/fold them when your don't hit. Almost always bet them out when you do hit. If you do get called betting paired aces out of position, against an opponent unlikely to raise you just because he senses weakness, you can often bet fairly low on the turn to keep the pot size small. I might even check/call the river in that case to see if he will check behind or bluff a draw/mid pair. It all depends on the level you play at - you can get away with being more passive at lower levels but you will make more money at any level by showing aggression against your opponents weakness (when he calls or bets small).

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This is very position dependent. If you're in position and facing a weak bet like that, raise your 88 on that flop because you've probably got him owned. You can't live in fear of OP's because they're the minority of what your opponent will have. You also need to do more than just double because that gives your opponent decent odds to hit his overcards. All your raises should be over 2.5 times your opponents first bet. If you're out of position here and facing a CB, your raise will need to be slightly more since you would much rather take down the hand right there.

As to your question about aces, again position is king. To note, i'm 6max oriented. Certainly bet them in position whether you pair them or not. Out of position, you can sometimes bet them out (against very few opponents) when you don't hit, sometimes just check/fold them when your don't hit. Almost always bet them out when you do hit. If you do get called betting paired aces out of position, against an opponent unlikely to raise you just because he senses weakness, you can often bet fairly low on the turn to keep the pot size small. I might even check/call the river in that case to see if he will check behind or bluff a draw/mid pair. It all depends on the level you play at - you can get away with being more passive at lower levels but you will make more money at any level by showing aggression against your opponents weakness (when he calls or bets small).

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I play only 6 max as well, 50 NL right now. The problem I run into is when I have that A and I throw in a pot sized bet and get a call. I almost freeze here and slowdown bigtime because I figure I could be outkicked. Problem is people could be calling with lots of hands, and when they have these hands I leave them open to draw on me when I slowdown after betting my weak ace. And I also feel by checking the turn, this leads me open to a bluff by my opponent on the river like you said. It is a very tricky situation.

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Pot is $7 and and opponent bets $4. In this hand I checkedraised but only to $8. How much should I have raised?

[/ QUOTE ] you're offering your opponent nearly 5:1 to draw to his overcards, and considering you dont want to see a T,J,Q, K or A this is too little. I raise to 14$.


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And also, is this move worth doing with these pocket pairs?? How many times will your opponent have a pair in this scenario?

[/ QUOTE ]Obviously it depends on how often the opponent likes to raise it up pre flop, but i think in many situations your opponent will CB this scary flop often enough for the raise to still be correct (unless the pre flop raiser is UTG an real tight with his PFR's or rarely bluffs for example.)Your opponent probably folds any worse hand to a raise, but you can't just call against many opponents because you will have no idea where you are. So yes i think this is often a reasonable play.

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I raise to 14$.

[/ QUOTE ] If I raise.