Destined to lose or poorly played?

[Magician]

I see your point - but some BB's will re-raise thinking you don't have much and then you can stick it to them.

[Ignatius]

Depending on your opponent, completing (and then checking the flop), a standard raise or even moving in might be optimal here. A minimum raise is arguably the worst possible play as it will warn your opponent that you have a big hand (why else would you lay him 3:1 odds on the call), prevents him from bluffing and kills your action unless he hits the flop hard.

[elindauer]

Good analysis. I think you may be ignoring the actual stack sizes in the problem though. The BB has only 1K in chips, and the raise is to 300. He'll only have 850 left after calling the raise, hardly huge implied odds.

Which brings me to my point. Everyone seems to feel that it's a bad thing for the aces that the 68 called here. I happen to think that if you hold the aces here, you *want* players to call with any two cards. How many times are they going to flop a pair and get busted, figuring, with 850 in front of them and 600 in the pot, they can't afford to fold? Lots. If the flop comes 345, the 68 may call go all-in, thinking he has 10 outs if called, when he actually has 4. How many times is the 68 going to double through? A lot less. By making that small raise, you've caused your opponent to make a mistake, which is how you win.

IMHO.
-Eric

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Right, and Doyle also has you betting the pot on the flop and turn with rags. It's outdated and since he wrote the book the game has changed.

Huh?? This is exactly how guys like Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen and Layne Flack play.