Preflop/flop raising strategy (longish)

[GiantBuddha]

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You might be c-betting in the wrong spots btw. If you have position and you raise preflop with AQ, TAG BB calls, and flop comes K Q 5 rainbow, do you c-bet? You probably shouldn't.

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why? that looks like a good cbet spot to me.

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Because you're getting called by everything that beats you and folding out everything you're ahead of (except JT)? FWIW, I usually c-bet here and either win immediately (with the best hand) or get check-raised and call myself an idiot. I think c-betting the wrong flops, for the wrong reasons, is a big leak. And I think I just learned something.

[Sounded Simple]

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You might be c-betting in the wrong spots btw. If you have position and you raise preflop with AQ, TAG BB calls, and flop comes K Q 5 rainbow, do you c-bet? You probably shouldn't.

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why? that looks like a good cbet spot to me.

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I think no worse hand calls and no better one folds. Also the holding isnt strong enough to value bet, if your ahead your not getting much more than street of value but if your behind villan is almost certainly getting betting the turn and/or river.

Also the texture of the flop is bad, it hits all sorts of stuff from the villans range like AK, KQ, AJ, JT... he aint folding those.

On the other hand you might snap off a bluff on the end.

[Sounded Simple]

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With the exception of the 2x BB range, I like your raise sizing guidelines. I dont think that minraising is ever a sound strategy. This is a good post and I posted something about this a while ago, generating some good discussion. You can see it here.
I play somewhat robotically because I 6 table and need to start considering varying pf raise sizes in order to become less exploitable as I move up.

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I think never minraising isn't a sound strategy.

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When do you like a minraise threads?
I never use it myself but I was thinking on an agressive table with something like a low PP to build a pot but discourage raises?

Never hear much of it on here.

[diebitter]

good spots to minraise - to a c-bet, when you're in position.

[Sounded Simple]

Haha - I use that one, cheap way of saying "I have a monster... LDO" when really 44 had whiffed.

I think treads meant pre-flop though.
What about a super cheeky minraise blind steal vs villans who use the "fold to any bet" buttons.

[threads13]

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Haha - I use that one, cheap whay of saying "I have a monster... LDO" when really 44 had whiffed.

I think treads meant pre-flop though.
What about a super cheeky minraise blind steal vs villans who use the "fold to any bet" buttons.

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I was referring to preflop, but yeah I will minraise on the button sometimes. Also, sometimes I minraise in early position with certain hands when I have aggressive opponents behind me. I don't like setting them up to take advantage of their position.

So, any hand that is worth a raise in EP can be a min-raise when the situation is right. Also, sometimes I will minraise in LP to either build a pot or to put pressure on the blinds without inflating the pot.

[RapidEvolution]

I was thinking of minraising in EP for a couple of reasons

a) Keep the pot small since I'm going to be OOP postflop
b) retain value of my smaller PPs.

For example if I raise UTG to 4 BB with 66 and get raised to say, 12 or 14BB, my hand's lost it's set mine value and to be honest, I'm raising it more for disguise/set mining than to play a big pot OOP with it. I have to fold and curse myself for raising it in the first place.

But if I raise to 2BB, I can stand getting raised to 6 or 7BB (I'm calling for 4 and [assuming 100BB stacks] villain will still have 90+ behind.

If I have a big pair here, either I'll get called and be able to play for a small/medium pot without too much pressure, or I might get re-raised and either shove, or 4bet to make a pot that'll be easy to commit to postflop. I've been playing around a bit with it today and have found the maneuverability to be really refreshing. (For some reason, it's also upped my vpip and pfr, but we'll see if that carries over a long stretch).

[Sounded Simple]

So minraise (when you have really good reads) with...

AK - Playing smallball in the hope that someone with KQ or AT gives you action?

Low PP - Hope for a multiple loose/passive callers creating a big pot then BAM if you hit?

AA/KK - Against a manic stealers for 4-bet possibilities? (Otherwise be prepared for a small pot and be careful)

Let me know if any of thats right!
BTW - Would you do this at micros?

[RapidEvolution]

Sounded Simple:

AK: Yeah...this is pretty much what you're hoping for no matter what the raise size is, right?

Low PP: If you take the blinds down, fine. If you get 3bet, you have a better shot at getting odds to set mine than if your original raise had been 4BB. If you get callers and hit, that's awesome and you can make some money. The thing is, if you win someone's whole stack, you've earned 50x your original investment (as opposed to the 25x you'd get had you raised more)

AA/KK: Yeah [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] You may have to play it passively if you find yourself OOP against a group, but I'm just not of the thinking that 1pair hands (even if they're overpairs) should be played for huge pots.

I've been testing these ideas at micros and have found that raising smaller has upped my vpip and stealing and I've also had fewer issues committing myself to pots I didn't want to.
Of course, the hand sample is small, but I'm thinking more when I play, which is always good.

[holdem2000]

Pay more attention to who is in the blinds, your LP ranges should change dramatically based on how often you can successfully steal.