[uliv1ce]

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A thought most people tend to forget:

Try not to call yourself off into a coin flip without great pot odds.

I.E. We call with AK because we hope to dominate weaker Aces. We call with AQ for the same reason. If we know an opponent has pocket pairs, don't put your money in without overpairs or two strong live overcards(suited connecting overcards)...50/50 shots with 55/45 pot outs are technically +EV, but since you can never be sure you're a coin flip pre-flop, you need to only *call* when you can be sure you're crushing the range of the raiser either through domination or just flat out giving him a 2-outer for his set.

I hope that rambling made sense; this same ideals is why I frequently push my suited connectors in the blinds, because good tournament players(and most bad ones later in a MTT) will fold ace rags because it's not strong enough, and if I run into AK, I'm not dominated. Domination is the key thing I *always* try to avoid when I'm pushing my small stacks. I'd fold A2 before 34s depending on the table and my image.

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Ok, so good advice and I do try to do that most times. The situations I describe, however, I am in a dominating position (usually 3 or 4 to 1) and the opponent has to hit a suckout card to win...and he does!

Happened again last night...I have AA on the button. Table folds to me and I raise 3X BB. BB Raises all in with KJ offsuit. Gotta call, right? He hits 4 spades by the river to dump me with his Ks.

So, from what I'm reading, I think I am doing the right thing, but am just on an unlucky streak (anyone want to take a space shuttle ride with me? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] )

Thanks for the advice...it is much appreciated.