likely dominated

moneyloser · #1 07-30-2006, 06:27 PM

Suppose you open raise from middle/late position with A9 but got reraised. Everybody folds to you. Your hand is likely dominated. When you are dominated your odds to lose the hand are something like 3 to 1 (they are in fact a little lower). Now your odds for calling looks like 3.75 to 1 (1 bet from SB 2 bets from BB, 4 bets from you 8 bets from the raiser, and it cost you 4 more to continue = 4:15 which = 3.75 to 1) giving you the odds to call against any pocket pair except AA and also giving you the odds to call if you are dominated. Should you really venture a call? If you flop an ace you might get into a lot of trouble. Your odds to catch a 9 with no overcard are somehow low. If you get a 9 with overcards you have a tough decision. A real good flop for you would be two pairs, but the odds to get that kind of flop are obviously much lower than 1 for 3.75. So my question here is what do you do when you have such good odds but such a dangerous hand to play? And why?

AaronBrown · #2 07-30-2006, 06:42 PM

It depends on your game, of course, but I wouldn't say you are likely dominated. AA and AK are certainly possibilities, but your A gets rid of half the possible AA and a quarter of the possible AK. AQ, AJ and AT are not usually reraising hands. You aren't in bad shape against a high pair, and there's always the possibility that the other player is optimistic or bluffing.

The trouble, as you point out, is this is a hard hand to play. If you flop an A, you worry about AK. If you flop a 9, you worry about QQ. If the flop is all low cards, you still don't know what to do.

However, it's also hard for the other player. He doesn't know much about what you have. So the answer here is do you like to play dangerous hands for both players, or do you prefer to sit them out and play the easy ones. At the higher levels, most of the money comes from being willing to play dangerous hands, and trusting that your poker skills are better than the other players. At the low levels, it makes sense to stay away from dangerous hands and take the easy money. It's up to you.

huggybear96 · #3 07-31-2006, 06:46 PM

I guess I should start off by saying I'm a TAG player.

If the player that likely had me dominated was a weaker player, I would most definetly call. I would probably try a continuation bet, that is if I didn't out flop him and the texture of the board allowed me to do this.

If I didn't have a read on the player, or just generally speaking, I would probably fold. I don't like to play weaker aces. I've just gotten into trouble too often with these kind of hands. Especially to a re-raise...I just couldn't see me calling. It would be an all-in or fold kind of situation.

burleyboy · #4 08-01-2006, 07:58 AM

I agree, depends on the sort of game you are playing. There are many many players out there who will re-raise less than an A. The smaller stakes the more common this is.

If an Ace come on the flop you will have a good idea if your opponent has A in his hand by his reaction.

I would say it's worth one more bet to see the flop then take it from there.