New to NL Ring games: A-K suited pre-flop...

MagicRat · #1 04-17-2005, 04:49 PM

Party Poker $25 No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed) converter

BB ($25.15)
UTG ($26.55)
UTG+1 ($27.8)
Hero ($17.35)
MP2 ($49.97)
MP3 ($13.1)
CO ($29.4)
Button ($23.4)
SB ($41.41)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. SB posts a blind of $0.10. BB posts a blind of $0.25.
2 folds, Hero raises to $1, 3 folds, Button raises to $3, 2 folds Hero ???

I have lots of experience at Limit but have decided I want experience at No Limit Ring games too. This is like the 20th hand at the table and no reads although the table seems fairly passive. What's my play?? Thanks in advance...

wdeadwyler · #2 04-17-2005, 05:01 PM

Well you have one of the best three hands in poker, so unless you think he has kk, or aa, I would reraise him again. Make it say, 8 or 9 to go. The upside to this is he will fold alot of hands that are beating you. (unless he is really bad. The downside is that you are now pot commited, so if he just calls, you should be prepared to move the rest in on the flop regardless of what hits. The problem I have with just calling here is that you arent gonna hit 50% of the flops. So unless you are willing to bet out aggressively to steal when you miss, I do not think it works well in the long run.

zaxx19 · #3 04-17-2005, 05:05 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Well you have one of the best three hands in poker

[/ QUOTE ]

No you dont.

xorbie · #4 04-17-2005, 05:34 PM

If you raise this to $7 or $8, you are going to be pot committed with any bet on the flop, which sort of makes it pointless to take control of the betting. I would call here, and lead out on a K or A high flop. If you get raised on a K high flop, that's tough. If you get raised on an A high flop, just push it in and hope he doesn't have AA ([censored] happens). If the flop comes with two clubs and all unders, I'm probably pushing.

MagicRat · #5 04-17-2005, 05:44 PM

2 folds, Hero raises to $1, 3 folds, Button raises to $3, 2 folds, Hero raises to $5, Button raises to $15, Hero ???

For good or bad I had the mindset that Villain didn't think much of my raise and was trying to steal the pot and thinking I had one of the 3 best starting hands... [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] ... I decided to go back at him. Obviously my reraise wasn't enough! And then needless to say his reraise to $15 took me offguard. Am I done with the hand at this point?? Is my lack of NL experience showing yet?? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

theblitz · #6 04-17-2005, 06:31 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Is my lack of NL experience showing yet?? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
Your re-raise is very weak - it's only a mini-raise.
You have to use the "NO" part of no-limit and raise more than the minimum.

The hard part of getting used to NL is being prepared to risk large parts or all of your stack on a good hand. This is far differant from Limit where the maximum amount you can lose is fixed.

xorbie · #7 04-17-2005, 06:47 PM

I'm not sure you have enough of a stack to be done at this point. There's $10 in the pot and you have $12 left, so it's offering you almost 2:1 to call here. You only have to win about 40% of the time to make this +EV, so consider how often you are up against QQ, KK, AA or AK. Given your average PP25NL players, those are the hands I expect to see here. Against AK you are probably a slight favorite or even, against AA you are not looking too great, against KK you're about a 70-30 dog, and against QQ it's a coinflip.

I think it's a marginal call, but not a horrible one here, especially because this could just randomly be a donk with A7o maybe 5-10% of the time.

Rococo · #8 04-17-2005, 06:49 PM

Reraising to 8 or 9 is idiotic. It pot commits you while giving your opponent the opportunity to play optimally.

TheWorstPlayer · #9 04-17-2005, 08:04 PM

Just call the re-raise and check/fold the flop unimproved.

MagicRat · #10 04-17-2005, 11:18 PM

Well I (obviously) fell in love with my A-K right off the bat and since I was going to call anyway and it was only a few $$ more to go all-in, I came back over the top and did so.

Villain (easily) calls and flips over K-K (eek)!!

Lucked out and rivered the flush... [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

Boy do I have lots of work to do... [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]