Checkraising a flush draw - am I on crack?

[Harv72b]

I saw above that you generally call with any two suited in this situation. I would much rather call with 72s than A9s. Hell, I'd rather call with 72o than A9s.

[earlytimes1]

to those advocating a PF fold, what aces will you call with HU against a TAG raiser from early position? my default is AT+ if suited, AQ+ if offsuit, but I often find myself uncomfortable in these spots.

[RED_RAIN]

[ QUOTE ]
to those advocating a PF fold, what aces will you call with HU against a TAG raiser from early position?

[/ QUOTE ]

If
UTG - AQo or AJs, Maybe AJo or ATs if player is bad enough
UTG+1 - AJo or ATs, Maybe ATo if player is bad enough

And these may not be calls but instead 3 bets.

Position is soooo meaningful in poker and this is so underrated by most.

[AlienBoy]

You can fold here pre-flop without loosing sleep over it. Your call is 3 to 1 (assuming no rakeback), with weak (practically non existent) implied odds, and reverse implied odds on top of that.

Flop: Make like a Laundromat and FOLD. Fold here 100% of the time.

Turn: Check raise is spew, but calling is okay getting 4.2 to 1 for your draw. Why check raise? do you really think you have any fold equity here?

River: Check fold is GOOT. But just think about how you spewed 4 to 4.5 BIG BETS on this hand.

If your rate is 2BB/100 that means you just burned 200 hands of profit. Or put another way, you just burned through $40 to $45, enough for a Filet Minion at SW at the Wynn.

AB

[Yoshi63]

Hmm, I clearly do not have a great understanding of which hands to call 1 raise with from the BB. I will generally call with any PP, any suited connectors, and most non-suited connectors. If the pot becomes multi-way with additional callers, I will generally expand my range to include small cards with 1 or 2 gaps, possibly 3 if suited. The hands I almost entirely avoid calling with (HE or family pot), are hands like K3o, Q4o, J4o ect... and usually even if they're suited.

Can someone comment on this, maybe broadly explain the theory behind when to call and fold your BB? In general I am a tight player from the blinds, folding most hands to just 1 more bet. However, just because I may be playing a correct % of my hands, doesn't mean I am choosing the correct ones to play.

[Harv72b]

[ QUOTE ]
Can someone comment on this, maybe broadly explain the theory behind when to call and fold your BB?

[/ QUOTE ]

Red Rain pretty well covered it just above. Against a typical player's EP raising range, A9s just plain sucks. You're dominated by a stronger ace quite often and if he's got a PP then you're probably drawing to just your ace (and getting nothing in the way of implied odds, since that's such an obvious pair to hit and you're going to be scared to press when you do hit it). Every so often he's got KQs or KJs or some change of pace hand, sure, but again, if you outflop him you win a small pot, if you don't, you probably check/fold.

And that's what it basically comes down to when you're looking at a heads up pot out of the BB: put your opponent on a range of hands, and throw away your hands that are likely to be dominated without a second thought.

[bernie]

Preflop: Fold.

If this were from LMP I might see the flop.

Flop: Fold.

This looks like it's from a shorthanded table, not a fullgame with a raise from UTG.

b

[AlienBoy]

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm, I clearly do not have a great understanding of which hands to call 1 raise with from the BB. ...SNIP...Can someone comment on this, maybe broadly explain the theory behind when to call and fold your BB?

[/ QUOTE ]


Read Small Stakes Hold 'Em. Assuming you have, it's important to note that there is no real "IF/THEN" logic for poker - there are many variables - but here are some concepts to consider:

Whether of not to call one more small bet in the big blind in a raised pot, the general rule is: call for anything you would limp in on the button with.

But that is an over simplification in some ways. TO get to the root of it, think about your pot odds and implied odds.

In the above hand, you had A9s - A9s is a medium strength hand, but its strength is mainly in terms of making a nut flush in a large, multi handed pot. It looses most of its value heads up - you are only going to make your flush 3% of the time, so you need several players in the pot when you call, in order to have the implied odds to call down with this hand.

Let's look at pocket pairs:

What is the pre-flop raise range of your opponent? Your equity with a pocket pair against AK or AQ is basically equal, but of course, 22 is crushed by AA unless you hit a set.

When you play small pockets, you are probably playing for set value. You are 8 to 1 to flop your set - preflop, you are getting 3 to 1. If you flop your set, and you check call the flop, and then check raise the turn, (and the opponent calls the check raise) you are getting 8 to 1 in pot AND implied odds combined.

So you can see that even playing a small pocket pair is marginal heads up here, though it IS a pre-flop call I'll make from the BB, if for no other reason than to prevent people taking shots at you while in the BB.

(It might be noted in live games here in LA, if UTG raises, and all fold, UTG and BB frequently chop, taking their bets back, due to the flop and drop rake).


An additional consideration is that while you are closing the PF action, you are out of position for the rest of the hand. What do you want to be playing against a LONE opponent OOP when that opponent has already shown strength?

Heads up, you want to be playing strong pairs and top pair hands. Be wary of domination, and stay away from the speculative holdings when heads up. Weak suited aces and suited connectors are worthless heads up.

On the otherhand, if there a callers after that raise then you may have odds to call.

Say UTG raises, and 2 players cold call that raise. Now you are getting 7 to 1 instead of 3 to 1. Plus the implied odds, you can easily call preflop (closing the action) with A9s or any pocket pair, and suited connectors.



Hope this clarifies it a bit.

AB