A Challenge

[mackthefork]

[ QUOTE ]
To say that a 1BB raise is ALWAYS wrong is wrong. If I can steal someone's blinds by raising the minimum why would I raise more?

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course this is correct, but remember 'if' is the longest word in the world. I can't remember stealing many blinds with these raises, maybe when the blinds are a significant portinion of the average stack, but not in the early stages.

Regards Mack

[Ian J]

The only time I use the min-raise is late in a sng when the blinds are extremely high and I have AA, KK, or QQ. Other than that specific situation, I just don't like it. Does anyone else use it this way?

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Remember that the idea is to find the smallest raise that will give you the best expectation (fold equity + showdown equity). When you minraise, your fold equity goes way down *plus* you make it easy for the BB to call with a wide range of hands (among other things) which makes it harder for you to guage where you are on later streets.

[Phill S]

slag off this play, your welcome to.

if im dealt a big hand (AA, KK, QQ) late in the game in CO or button, i always miniraise (BB around 400+)(unless im very short and the raise itself is a big chunk of my stack).

it has three effects:
1, if im called im putting value into a pot im gonna be taking down on the flop
2, if the blinds have a hand (a big, sometimes even mid size ace, KQ) then theyll re-raise as they see it as a steal. i put it all in preflop and take it down that way.
3, if they fold, well i got the maximum, an all in would do the same

id like to think this is the only time i miniraise (im sure i don it now and again beyond this play). however one big thing to note is i dont paly at party. with less chips on the table, i dont think id make this play.

Phill

[The once and future king]

This challenge would be akin to me trying to see how often I could not stick red hot needles in my eyes whilst watching tv.

Why do you even want to mini raise?

To make it easier for you to keep disipline, donate 1$ to charity every time you do it. As at present this is what you are doing by mini raising- donating.

Of course in some cases mini raising is of course the right action, but it must be for a very good reason as such as the klingons example.

[mackthefork]

As i was reading this...............

[ QUOTE ]
To make it easier for you to keep disipline, donate 1$ to charity every time you do it.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is exactly what i was thinking..... [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[ QUOTE ]
As at present this is what you are doing by mini raising- donating.

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Very amusing.

Regards Mack

[DrPhysic]

Phill and Kurn,
Ref Phill's comments:

The two kinds of hands I tend to minraise with (probably far too often to be effective) are AA, KK, and 22 - 66.

May be wrong but I tend to agree with phill about the sleeper value of the big hands, the small pairs really need a cheap flop, and playing them in the same manner helps hide the big hands.

Probably still not the way to play these, I know that many of the better players use the same opening raise regardless of what they are holding if they choose to play at all, but it has been reasonably effective.

I guess it's time to learn to play some of these hands with the big boys. And I will probably screw it up a few times before I get a handle on the post flop play when you do that.

Doc

[Eder]

Well I doubt the mini raise is a mistake with AA other than a lot of people do this and might end up being a tell...the benefits of standard raising is deception...which might be of much more value than getting a few more calls by mini raising the bullets...jmo

[nogoodatpoker]

I used to use the buttons almost exclusively when I started at UB. The min raise and bet pot buttons were just too convenient. My solution was to type in every bet I made. Using the slider can give you "suggestions" - oh, it says 200 in the box, that sounds good - where, if you have to type the number yourself, you have to think about why you are making that particular size of bet.

[DrPhysic]

I have gotten some education, a couple of cheap shots, and only one taker on my challenge. So let's try it. No dumb bets all week, eh?

Doc