Preflop all-in (No limit Hold'em theory and practice)

[CesareBorgia]

I'm probably missing something very important here.

You are in a pre-flop situation in which your opponent is all-in. You figure the situation to be such that he has to have either a high pocket pair AA-JJ or any AK. You are the only person left in the pot other than the opponent who is all-in.

According to "No limit Hold'em theory and practice", page 208, table 1 and page 209, table 2, it is correct to call with a pocket pair AA-TT or with AK.

Now, what I do not understand is that it is correct to call with TT. TT has slightly less than 20% of winning against AA, KK, QQ or JJ and against AK it is a coin flip. However, these percentages are no different for any other pocket pair lower than TT. Pocket deuces also have slightly less than 20% chance of ending up on top against AA-JJ and against AK it is also a coin flip.

What am I missing here?

[mr_hanky]

Perhaps because TT takes away some straight possibilities from AK type hands?

[binions]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm probably missing something very important here.

You are in a pre-flop situation in which your opponent is all-in. You figure the situation to be such that he has to have either a high pocket pair AA-JJ or any AK. You are the only person left in the pot other than the opponent who is all-in.

According to "No limit Hold'em theory and practice", page 208, table 1 and page 209, table 2, it is correct to call with a pocket pair AA-TT or with AK.

Now, what I do not understand is that it is correct to call with TT. TT has slightly less than 20% of winning against AA, KK, QQ or JJ and against AK it is a coin flip. However, these percentages are no different for any other pocket pair lower than TT. Pocket deuces also have slightly less than 20% chance of ending up on top against AA-JJ and against AK it is also a coin flip.

What am I missing here?

[/ QUOTE ]

You are missing the pot odds. At 2:1 you can call the tightest of ranges (3% AK + AA-JJ) with TT. At 3:2, however, you fold JJ against that range. This is because TT has 33% equity against that tightest of ranges (ie 2:1 pot odds or 1/3 chance), while JJ does not have 40% (ie 3:2 or 2/5).

By the way, the chart on 208 is not advice on when to call. It is the range you put your opponent on when deciding whether to call given the pot odds.

[Pauwl]

I assume you're referring to the example where you are being offering 2:1 pot odds. Your break even equity for that bet would be 1/3 or 33.33333%. TT has an equity of 33.654% against JJ+,AK. Making it above the break even equity against that range.

99 has an equity of 33.168% against JJ+, AK. While this isn't much less than your equity with TT, it does fall below your break even equity and makes the call -EV.

The call with TT was very marginal, so any loss of equity can make it bad. In this case, with 99 your opponent can make a broadway straight with AK easier without the two tens missing from the deck and so he wins with AK slightly more against 99 than against TT.

[CesareBorgia]

Given the pot odds, of course... That's what I meant. That's why there's multiple columns in table 2, right? My point was that TT can't be very much better off than 99, 88 etc. when the pair is up against either a higher pocket pair or up against AK. Reading your post, I see the point.

Thanks!