Frequency of "Making Plays"

DavidC · #1 04-26-2005, 07:28 PM

How often should you play your position / your opponents / the action rather than your cards?

--Dave.

Jazza · #2 04-26-2005, 07:36 PM

good question, i don't know

hopefully some one who knows will chime in, but i feel the good old 'it depends' comin

swolfe · #3 04-26-2005, 07:38 PM

whenever it will win me the pot

just2ska · #4 04-26-2005, 07:44 PM

it really does depend... i will typically steal pots from really tight players when i have position on them. Also... if you're playing with a laydown artist they will often fold great hands to you bets... for example

i was playing six handed .25/.50 blinds and raised 1.50 in SB with 10[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] to steal the blinds from my opponent who i know is very weak tight. This time however he called...

Flop is A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

check and he bets 1.00 into me...
I c/r him for 2 more on top he thinks for a while and folds
he later tells me he had a7 and thought he was outkicked.

if you end up playing against a player like this i really recommend making lots of moves on them. Most of the time they will fold. If they play back at you then most likely you're beat but this won't happen enough for it to be unprofitable.

just2ska

Ghazban · #5 04-26-2005, 07:54 PM

You should consider these factors on every street of every hand.

mythrilfox · #6 04-26-2005, 08:23 PM

I think a lot of this depends on your image at the table and the rhythm of the game. If you have been quiet a while you have a far greater chance of succeeding with a bluff than you would have otherwise.

When you play, always look for opportunities to take pots away. ALWAYS pay attention to what opponents may have, whether you're in the hand or not, whether you have trash or not. Say a guy open-limps in LMP, SB completes and you check in BB with 84. Flop comes A35. SB checks, you check, player bets. What is he betting here? Is he really open-limping with an ace? You can probably take it away from him.

Now say the same situation occurs, this time SB is a tricky/aggro player. action goes checkcheckbetraise. There is such a high probability you coming over the top ends it right there that you should try this everytime it occurs. Then you net 2 bets instead of 1.

A lot of problem with these types of players is if people hit nothing they get it into their heads "get out get out fold next hand ASAP." Not only is this poor for your game since you will not be paying ample attention to your opponent's actions, but you may miss out on some very nice opportunities to bluff.

When I mention the rhythm of the game, I mean you can't try to seize EVERY opportunity. People will start calling you down with garbage. If you know a guy bets half pot when he's weak and full when he's strong, and you check and he bets half pot ... let him have it every once in awhile. Don't push too hard. You should constantly be balancing your image as best as possible.

As for the types of players to go after, if a guy folds for 10 orbits straight and raises all of a sudden, there's a chance he could be raising with AJo and you could still take it away from him, but it's probably better to wait for another opportunity. You have to choose your spots very very carefully if you bluff the tight guy. Try to find those players that make continuation bets on nearly every one of their hands. If some semi-weak player opens from the CO and you're on the button you can call very liberally here.

Lastly, don't try it in full ring games very often at all. 6-max you can pull off a lot of nice bluffs.

Jeebus · #7 04-26-2005, 08:23 PM

often enough that it is hard to distinguish between my plays and my real bets.

btetreau · #8 04-26-2005, 08:39 PM

i'll try to 'make a move' every time that an opponent bets either preflop or on the flop in such a way that i can put them on a range of hands and then the board improves such that it probably does not improve their hand. for example:

i hold 77 in later position than villian who PF raises a little. i call. flop comes A63. villian makes a less-than-over bet and i call. turn comes a 6 or a 3. i'm betting that and betting it hard (without risking more than ~1/2 my stack) every time.

ok, so that was probably unnecessary; in general, i think a play should be attempted when you see a scare card fall on the opponents probable hand.

RED FACE · #9 04-26-2005, 08:59 PM

"i hold 77 in later position than villian who PF raises a little. i call. flop comes A63. villian makes a less-than-over bet and i call. turn comes a 6 or a 3. i'm betting that and betting it hard (without risking more than ~1/2 my stack) every time."

Isn't your flop call scarier than the turn 6 if he has the A? It's either a battle of A kickers or you're sp'ing a set.

When the 6 pairs on the turn can your opp reasonably put you on say, 67s? Given your preflop call and flop call isn't a set of 3's then more likely/believable?

AKQJ10 · #10 04-26-2005, 09:03 PM

[ QUOTE ]
You should consider these factors on every street of every hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course, but at risk of stating the obvious you should also consider your cards on every street of every hand. So the OP's question is based something of a flawed premise, unless you take it to be more nuanced.

(Sorry, I just bought Harrington, so in classic contrarian fashion i'm bound by the need to convince the world that your cards really are important, even if Dan lists them 11th of 11 items.) [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]