Miniraising preflop

[yvesaint]

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yves -- I'm not going to give away my specific opening requirements from various positions. But if I open with T9s or ATo, I'm getting close to the button.

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http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...e=3#Post3918187

T9s opened UTG in 6-max game

[catlover]

Keepit -- My criterion was: if I think it would be correct for the big blind to fold most of the time against a miniraise from the given position, I didn't see any need to try anything bigger. I felt that from the hijack, the BB should already fold most of the time to a miniraise, given my range, but by the cutoff this was no longer the case.

[catlover]

I was thinking of full ring when I wrote that. In 6 max, UTG is only 3 off the button. From that position, you need to start opening with hands like T9s some of the time. This is not an excessively wide range. According to PT, my VPIP is 17% from that position when it is 6-handed. Which means that when I raise from that position, half the time I will have a hand in the top 8.5%, strengthwise. Which means that a reraiser behind will run into me with a big hand plenty often.

[chuddo]

no sorry catlover. i just found the logic and reasoning in your post so incorrect that i did not think it warranted any more of a response.

more importantly i think there are many important factors in the big picture of playing a solid game which you either fail to understand, or you blindly disregard to support your opinion.

not trying to be that big of an ass, it is just that i think we may think so differently regarding a number of fundamentals of no limit holdem that it makes it impossible to to simply discuss an individual topic such as this.

hope it works out for you. good luck.

[BobboFitos]

Im going to start being "one of those people who dont divulge everything," but I've started to minraise some hands pf, and I must say, the results have been astounding. Those of you who are so blatently against it are being close minded, and on the other spectrum, those who onlyminraise are just (if not moreso) as daft.

It's a tool to incorporate into your arsenal, I recommend testing it out.

[chuddo]

bobbo, not saying im against it 100% at all, and i don't think anyone is.

but every serial preflop min-raiser i have known has not been close to good enough post flop to keep from getting rolled by solid players.

[BobboFitos]

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bobbo, not saying im against it 100% at all, and i don't think anyone is.

but every serial preflop min-raiser i have known has not been close to good enough post flop to keep from getting rolled by solid players.

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I agree with you here [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Those who only minraise tend to be very weak players postflop (and preflop, as it's easy to exploit their "strategy"!)

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From the point of view of getting rid of the big blind, obviously a bigger raise will be more effective. However, my experience is that the difference is very small. If they have garbage, they will throw it away in either case. If they have a good hand they will play. There a few intermediate strength hands that they will play against the miniraise but not against the big raise. However this is not a horrible thing because these hands are on average weaker than my average raising hand, and I have position on them.

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Do you really want to see a miniraised flop in position against 22-77? In my opinion small pocket pairs are why it's so important to raise big with your big hands. With AK, you want to be able to play a flop like A-2-6 very aggressively, and you simply can't do it with the same assurance if the BB was able to limp in for less than a tenth of his stack.

[catlover]

No, if a little fairy told me the BB had 22-77, I would raise bigger.

But usually they don't. For instance I just won a nice pot because I miniraised UTG with AKo, the big blind was kind enough to call with K8s, and king flopped.

And then there was the time I miniraised with QQ, the big blind called with QTo, and we were lucky enough to catch the case queen and a ten.

Obviously this sort of thing can go both ways. But since I have the narrower hand range, more often than not it will be in my favour.

I disagree.

In the situation I described, you have TPTK against concealed trips. In the situations you described, you have TPTK versus TPNK, or trips versus two pair (an unusually perfect flop for you.)

If I'm going to be on the losing end, I'd rather be in the second situation, because it's a lot easier to get away from top pair if your kicker is bad. The trips vs. two pair case is going to be awesome for the trips no matter what happened with the preflop raising.

You should also ask the little bird about Ax and maybe Kx, both of which will make your AK pay dearly when two pair flops, and both of which will often call a minraise from the BB while folding to a real raise.