GOING ALL IN

[rjohson]

Most of the books say you should raise and reraise with high pocket pairs from AA-JJ in any position, thats all well and good, But lets say you buy in at $300.00 in a
$1/$2 NL game and tou happen to catch pocket kings or queens or even aces if some one takes you all in for your whole satck of $300.00 and thats all you have should you make the call? i know it epends on your opponent and how many people are in the hand, but from a philosopical stand point, doesnt it make more sense to not gamble your 2 cards preflop because anything can happen, and just try to out play your opponets then trying to rely on coin flips???

[mvdgaag]

no... In a cash game, if you are favorite to win you should play.

[pokercounts]

If you have AA you have got to call here - the odds are strongly in your favour (barring the unlikely event of your opponent also having AA in which case its a split pot). KK I would think about carefully but would probably call unless I had noticed that my opponent had been playing very tight. QQ I would probably not call unless the table was shorthanded, or my opponent had been playing wildly.
Ultimately if you buy in for $300 and you find a situation where you read the odds to be in your favour, you MUST put all your chips in - you are sitting at the table specifically waiting for these kind of opportunities to arise, so if you can't bring yourself to take the chance of losing the lot, you can't play optimal poker.

[runout_mick]

[ QUOTE ]
even aces if some one takes you all in for your whole satck of $300.00 and thats all you have

[/ QUOTE ]


Um, maybe you could try not putting your whole bankroll on one table, especially if it's going to cause you to play this sub-optimally.

Just a thought.

If you do decide to sit, and decide to fold a hand you know to be currently ahead, you will lose lose lose.

Edit: Why bother playing if you're going to knowingly play bad? You're (literally) better off playing roulette. By a huge margin.

[lucky_mf]

I can see the logic of wanting to avoid near coinflips (for variance reduction), but aside from these situations you ought to be willing to go AI when your a favorite. Your never really sure if your a favorite though unless you have AA and an opportunity to get it in pf.

I am always willing to call a pf all in with AA and KK, but QQ is very situational (your flipping with AK and a dog to AA and KK - all hands people reraise AI pf with).

Lucky

[rjohson]

good answers: with that being said, as far as favorites are concern., if im holding say AK AQ Aj kQ etc is there a way i can know what chance i stand againts any givin particular hand? most books dont recomend playing small connecters or small suit connecters, but i heard danny negronal say that you cant get paid off big time with these hands? whats your thought on this?

[swingdoc]

[ QUOTE ]
good answers: with that being said, as far as favorites are concern., if im holding say AK AQ Aj kQ etc is there a way i can know what chance i stand againts any givin particular hand?

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.gocee.com/poker/HE_Value.htm Basic chances of winning


[ QUOTE ]
most books dont recomend playing small connecters or small suit connecters, but i heard danny negronal say that you cant get paid off big time with these hands? whats your thought on this?

[/ QUOTE ]

You need an edge to play successfully at any table. Normal edges include position, better starting hands and being a better player. In order to play worse cards successfully (45s, etc) you need a different edge (i.e. position). These hands can be wicked profitable, but they're also far more difficult to play. Until you've proven to yourself that you're a winner, stay away.

Edit: In REALLY loose, passive games these are good cards to play. i.e. when 2/3 of the table limps in on most pots.

[Albert Moulton]

[ QUOTE ]
But lets say you buy in at $300.00 in a
$1/$2 NL game and tou happen to catch pocket kings or queens or even aces if some one takes you all in for your whole satck of $300.00 and thats all you have should you make the call?

[/ QUOTE ]

First, if your whole stack is on the table in one hand, then you are improperly bankrolled and it will be almost impossible for you to make money. You will eventually hit enough "variance" in the cards to drop your entire buy-in despite doing everything correctly. You need at least 10 buy-ins to play comfortably, and I would recommend 20.

You can't play scared. And you can't expect to make money if you go broke as soon as you hit a couple of bad beats.

If you have aces, then you should call.

If you have kings, then there are rare cases where you might find a fold, but usually you have to make the call. Phil Gordon says, "The fourth raise is always aces," and he's probably right. But in 100bb-stack poker, you're usually all-in before the 4th raise, so you usually just don't know you're up against aces often enough to fold kings profitably preflop in that kind of a cash game.

If you have queens/jacks/tens/AK/AQ, then this is usually an easy fold unless the raiser is a maniac and you are finally taking a stand since his hand range is so wide that you might very well be up against J7s or something.

[ QUOTE ]
i know it epends on your opponent and how many people are in the hand,

[/ QUOTE ]
No, not if you have aces in a cash game. You get the money in because you have the best possible hand preflop and you should be willing to get the money in when you know that have the best hand.

[ QUOTE ]
... but from a philosopical stand point, doesnt it make more sense to not gamble your 2 cards preflop because anything can happen, and just try to out play your opponets then trying to rely on coin flips???

[/ QUOTE ]

Aces vs any other two cards is not a coin flip. You have an advantage. Let's say you have less than a 50% chance to win all in vs 4 oponents where everybody has $100.

pokenum -h ac ad - qs qh - js ts - 4d 5d - 7h 7c
Holdem Hi: 850668 enumerated boards
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
Ac Ad 351180 41.28 498483 58.60 1005 0.12 0.413
Qs Qh 134378 15.80 715285 84.09 1005 0.12 0.158
Js Ts 127096 14.94 722567 84.94 1005 0.12 0.150
5d 4d 136339 16.03 713324 83.85 1005 0.12 0.161
7c 7h 100670 11.83 748993 88.05 1005 0.12 0.119

So, in this case, you lose $100 58.6% of the time. But you win $400 41.28% of the time. If you fold, then you win nothing and lose nothing.

So, your expected value from this hand in which you lose more than 50% of the time is still quite positive.

-100 * 58.60% = -58.6
+400 * 41.28% = +165.12

-58.6 + +165.12 = +106.52.

So, if you make this call every time over 100 times, then you will expect to win, on average, $10,652 vs the $0 you would win if you simply folded every time.

[MingoJingo]

In cash games if you hold KK, raise and some guy reraises all in preflop, they've got the Aces. I'm sure it's happened to all of us in a tourney or seen AA vs KK.

If you are one holding the AA, I'd call everytime. But I'll certainly fold the KK in a cash game in that situation. In a tournament I'd be inclined to call unless it's bubble time or I have the guy covered.

[lucky_mf]

[ QUOTE ]
In cash games if you hold KK, raise and some guy reraises all in preflop, they've got the Aces.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't find this to be a true statement at all.

Lucky