i like to min-raise my monsters from EP...

[bholdr]

...it seems like a good way to make somebody pot-comitt themselves with dominated holdings.

example: around the bubble i get AA or KK UTG, and make a one big blind raise... often, thinking i'm weak, somebody in LP with something like AJ will re-raise (on a semi-steal, not really wanting a race but figuring they're ahead if it happens) for a healthy chunk of their stack with something like AJ or KQ, or a non-premium pair. It seems to work often enough to pay for the times that they limp and hit something big. of course, these are $20 and $30 tourneys, and the players are generally weak...


thoughts? is this a big no-no?

which situations to use it in/ which to avoid? it seems to work well when A: i am not the big huge stack at the table, and/or B: the blinds are getting signifigant (say, BB is 5-15% of the avarage stack)...

[AlexHoops]

A min raise EP has always screamed call me, I have a monster. Maybe thats just me. Late in a tournament when the blinds are way up a call in EP does the same.

[flyingmoose]

I never do this. Generally those players with AJ and KQ are going to shove anyway, and you're giving good odds to anyone with a big enough stack to bust you.

The weak players' shoving isn't a function of your "tricky play" making them think you're weak. They shove because they've been single-tabling for 3+ hours, saw a decent hand and fell in love with it before the action in front of them went down. You could have shoved and they probably would have talked themselves into calling.

[top2pear]

Does it still scream "call me!" when the minraise has become the table standard opening bet? What about when that same minraise opener has won each of the last 7 pots (i.e., the table's tight)? (seriously asking for opinions, not criticizing the initial opinion)

The min raise sucks no matter what, no matter when. It is usualy one of the tells I use to find out who the donkeys are. Smooth call or raise 3x to 4x.

[beenben]

The problem is you're not making it expensive enough for the BB to fold. He could call with anything just to see the flop and if he hits the flop hard (two pair or set or better) you're going to think that you still have the best hand and lose a lot of chips.

I don't recall if I posted the hand here or on RGP but I min raised from late position when the blinds were high late in a $10 rebuy on stars, and the BB called me with some xxxx hand like J4o and took it down. The feedback I had from other players was that the min raise was a bad idea.

[lotus776]

This is somewhat a slow-play. Essentially you're taking the value of the hand and downplaying it hoping to give off the impression that you're stealing. But with all slowplays there is the chance you will be drawn out on. I min raised on the bubble with pocket aces and got 2 calls. The borad had another ace and I check to real 'em in. The turn came some nothing card and another dude went all-in. I didn't think for very long before I called and he showed down 98s to catch his inside straight on the turn to beat my trip aces. But, more importantly my play would have worked almost 10.5 to 1 times, so you can see that I would have grosed so much more cash that the one time I got sucked out wouldn't really matter in the grand scheme of things...I would make the exact same play all over again if I had the chance.

[Kaeser]

[ QUOTE ]
This is somewhat a slow-play. Essentially you're taking the value of the hand and downplaying it hoping to give off the impression that you're stealing. But with all slowplays there is the chance you will be drawn out on. I min raised on the bubble with pocket aces and got 2 calls. The borad had another ace and I check to real 'em in. The turn came some nothing card and another dude went all-in. I didn't think for very long before I called and he showed down 98s to catch his inside straight on the turn to beat my trip aces. But, more importantly my play would have worked almost 10.5 to 1 times, so you can see that I would have grosed so much more cash that the one time I got sucked out wouldn't really matter in the grand scheme of things...I would make the exact same play all over again if I had the chance.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm gonna have to disagree with you here. If I flop trip aces against a solid player I'm rarely ever going to slow play. If he's got nothing (which is likely considering I have most of the aces) then your not getting anything out of him anyways. If he has a medium/strong holding like a set or 2-pair then you'll get action anyways and he's practically drawing dead. And if he has a draw then he might call anyways which would be a mistake if your betting right.

Obviously against a chronic bluffer/maniac I'll give more consideration to slow playing.

I think this is very read dependant based on your table settings. I don't like min-raising from ep personally with monsters as everyone has this notion that "you must have a monster since you min-raised"(although I sometimes like to min raise in epwith with a-q suited or a-j suited at a tight table).

I'd rather raise 2-3 times the big blind at a semi-loose-passive table, 3-4 times at a more aggressive-loose table, 2-4 times at a tight-passive or tight aggressive table, and at very loose-aggressive tables, I will THEN limp in ep. Reason being is that I can assume someone else is going to raise, a few others will call hopefully and then I'll be able to either push or bet hard (depending on many different factors).

Again, this is just what I personally find to be effective, you are free to criticize these ideas if you see flaws in my reasoning.

[NorthernGuy]

I don't like it. It screams to me of a strong holding, and I'll stay away from it without a premium hand, especially if I've seen the player do it before. If I'm in the SB or BB, you're making it cheap for me to call with a smaller pair, looking to make a set for a big pot.