Teach me to play LAG

[riverboatking]

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I think this kind of bluff

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i don't know why everyone is so set on assuming this is a bluff...while in this particular instance villian may have had an ace, the fact remains that when playing three handed like this often times hero is ahead here.

[etizzle]

well, i think its fair to say the purpose of the bet is always a bluff.

[riverboatking]

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well, i think its fair to say the purpose of the bet is always a bluff.


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you'd be surprised.
just because most 2+2ers would never call here with a worse hand, if you ever actually played shorthanded deep-stacked NL you will see a lot of value betting with hands you wouldn't believe.

so while it may sometimes be a bluff...often times it won't.

[etizzle]

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if you ever actually played shorthanded deep-stacked NL

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a) i often play shorthanded deep-stacked NL.
b) they arent deepstacked
c) i dont think bruiser expects to ever get called with a worse hand here. If this is "often" getting called by JJ in your game, then i need to book a flight to LAX.

[riverboatking]

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c) i dont think bruiser expects to ever get called with a worse hand here. If this is "often" getting called by JJ in your game, then i need to book a flight to LAX.

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if bruiser is never raising here w/ a bluff then he A)won't ever get called by a worse hand and B)shouldn't be playing 3 handed NL.

let me ask you this:

you call a standard raise in position with KJ suited...flop a gutshot and call a pot size bet on the flop looking to make a move on the turn...now the turn comes and gives you a flush draw to go along with your gutshot...you feel you've got pretty good folding equity if the guy has something like KQ or JJ on down...are you going to just call and try to make your hand or take a stab at the pot?

if you only raise in this spot with the best hand you aren't going to be very hard to play against.

[etizzle]

what i'm saying is this: in this specific case, although bruiser may have the best hand, he will never be called with a worse one.

of course bruiser should be making this move from time to time with K high, 9 high, whatever. In this case he happens to have a pair of Qs, but in terms of his chances of winning this particular pot his cards do not matter. Except that if he gets called he may have some outs.

[Ulysses]

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well, i think its fair to say the purpose of the bet is always a bluff.

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Sometimes when the turn card is drawy, he can get called by a worse hand here if the game is juiced.

But there are other reasons to raise. If you just raise here w/ big hands, that becomes easy to play against.

If you call and he has crap, you give him a free card to improve if he's gonna give up.

If you call and you are not auto-calling river, you give him a chance to bluff you on the river w/ his KJ.

And so forth.

Basically, listen to rbk. I do not think he is saying this is a value raise, just that there are many reasons to raise and your hand is often good.