How to avoid crushing suck-outs over and over and over....?

[uliv1ce]

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Hand 1) I'd do the same as you.

Hand 2) You KNEW he was on a draw? Really? Mini-raises are often made by players holding a small pair (like 3's) where they'd love to take the pot down before the flop. A set of 3's here would not have been a surprise. That said, if you have top 2 pair, why not bet the pot? Or at least 3/4s? Half just seems like an Ace-rag bet where you're "hoping" it's good. He might've made the move because he thought you had a weak Ace and could push you off of it. As a fallback, he had the draw.

All that being said, I've had about the same luck in those FPP WSOP qualifiers, so what the heck do I know? lol [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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I'd like to give Brann a few gold stars, a pat on the back and a big 'thank you'. His post was exactly the kind of strategy comment I was looking for. Particularly the discussion about the size of the bets I was placing (and yes, I did "know" [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] ). I began to think about it and realized I was not adjusting my bet sizes to either the way the table/tourney was playing nor to the fact that it generally takes "more" to push in an on-line tourney than face-2-face.

After reading his comment, I began to adjust upwards my betting and, low and behold, the number of suckouts by opponents have dropped dramatically. I've been able to get very, very deep into the tourney's now and think I may have overcome this particular issue. I've found I need some additional strategy help for a different kind of situation, so I'll post a new thread on that one.

Again, Brann...thanks very much. You've helped me! And, thanks to the rest of you for your help as well. There is real value here!