How to Interpret Min-Raises

[SplawnDarts]

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I had no reads on the min-raiser because it was a new table that had started up about 10 minutes prior to this hand. This was the first significant hand that either of us had played.

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What does this have to do with anything?

All of the strategies I suggested to read him are perfectly applicable starting on the very first hand you play with him.

[SplawnDarts]

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So what are we to do? What is the defense against the minraise? It seems to me that that the minraise is a play that people can only make when they have a very strong holding, in which case, if the opponent pushes, he makes a mistake, and if he calls he makes a mistake, unless he's got a draw to a better hand. So 2 of the 3 repsponses to the minraise are probably a mistake. It seems that calling (if you have a draw to the nuts or the near nuts) or folding are the better options, better than reraising/pushing.


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A minraise is usually either air or a monster. So start by figuring out which it is. In this case, since villain would have a very hard time minraise bluffing in that spot, it's probably a very strong hand.

Step two is to nut up and learn to [censored] play poker. If you're going to play big bet poker, you're going to have to learn how to read people. It's as simple as that. Your posts up to this point seem to indicate that you don't even understand what it means to read someone.

[johnnyrocket]

its a tough spot, at higher levels usually a monster and an interesting play, i wouldnt look into it deep in 1-2NL live and push back with your jacks

[mvdgaag]

In this case push. Most of the times minraises are to get value from monster hands. A lot of people use them to build a pot or semibluff on a draw and also as a cheap bluff combined with using them for monster hands. Only very bad players, which are easy to recognise will sometimes minraise because they don't know anything about odds and outs or fear stronger hands and want to raise but not too much in case they lose. You won't run into these last players very often. Some players minraise before the flop with any calling hand, I think to build a bit of a pot and to screw your and my statistics?!? Anyways, I'd push

GL

[e_phemeral]

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If you're going to play big bet poker, you're going to have to learn how to read people. It's as simple as that. Your posts up to this point seem to indicate that you don't even understand what it means to read someone.

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Not sure where you get this. All I said was I had no reads on how this player was playing because this was essentially the first hand that I had seen him play. I know how to read players based on tells, etc., and make determinations of whether they are strong/weak. But to complete the process of "reading" a player is to watch him over a period of time and match the physical tells to how the guy is actually playing his cards. Based on his minraise and my "read" of him, for what it was worth without having seen him play any hands to this point, I thought he could have a monster or a just a big draw.

It later turned out that this guy was basically a nut peddler. If he was in a hand and raising, he always had the nuts or near nuts. He ended up clearing a large chunk of change off the table because he essentially got smacked with the deck over the course of 8 or 9 hours and really never got unlucky. His hands held up, his draws got there. After I saw him play for a while, I knew this and stayed away from him unless I had big hands.

The point of my post was just to find out how people analyze min-raises. It sounds like you have to look at minraises as either indicative of monster or total air and then proceed based on your read.

[mvdgaag]

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The point of my post was just to find out how people analyze min-raises. It sounds like you have to look at minraises as either indicative of monster or total air and then proceed based on your read.

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Yes, only very bad players will minraise with a medicore made hand.

[IzanDV]

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The point of my post was just to find out how people analyze min-raises. It sounds like you have to look at minraises as either indicative of monster or total air and then proceed based on your read.

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Yes, only very bad players will minraise with a medicore made hand.

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They will also raise because they dont know what to do(this is more true online than live). They want to look active, but dont want to bet big. Against a strong player you need to take a deep breath and think it trough, against a waek player who will make this kind of play i would happily stick in a raise.

[yenman]

good push... he usually is not going to have a set here most of the time. So you are up against the nuts... what can you do...

anyways I think a min-raise from loose passive is a lot of strength. Remember the LAP is waiting to pickup a real hand to play back at you. they are usually not gonna raise you on draws. the lagtard low limit maniac will be bluffing / drawing / betting on thin values most of the time. Go ahead and push for value or fold if you are lbuffing. the maniac is generally impervious to re-steal lbuffs and not really concerned with stuff like putting opponents on hands.

personally I hate the min-raise myself. If I find an opponent a LAP that only minbets when he/she is really strong. I will go ahead and bet my draws in to them as it will always give me odds to call and stackem if i hit. As for Lagtardos that min-raise, I will lead really big hands and draws in to them and re-push their min bet. I will generally not bet second strength hands like middle pair into them. But, I will like bet AJ or a flush draw in to a JJ5 board against a maniac. they will easily stack off with mediocore hands here...