Cold calling with AJs and KQs

[AlexM]

Ed Miller advocates cold calling with AJs and KQs when you're next to act after a UTG raiser in a tight game. Insane or no? How does he not have you dominated most of the time? It seems very much like this is very obviously wrong if you're playing against someone with your exact same preflop standards.

[KitCloudkicker]

where does he advocate this?

[AlexM]

[ QUOTE ]
where does he advocate this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Small Stakes Hold Em page 80. Against a raise in early position, play AA-TT AKs-AJs, KQs and AK and raise: AA-TT, AKs and AK.

[egocidal]

AJs and QKs are better than a lot of the hands most people open UTG with, seeing as they have no real clue about position. If someone is going to call two bets cold they will call 3 bets cold, and you will have position on the UTG raiser. Raise it unless you know something about UTG.

[KitCloudkicker]

[ QUOTE ]
How does he not have you dominated most of the time?

[/ QUOTE ]

probably because this isnt true in Ed Miller's opinion.

[AlexM]

[ QUOTE ]
AJs and QKs are better than a lot of the hands most people open UTG with, seeing as they have no real clue about position. If someone is going to call two bets cold they will call 3 bets cold, and you will have position on the UTG raiser. Raise it unless you know something about UTG.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most people where? .15/.25? Also, he advocates cold calling, not reraising. Maybe this is just something where I should pay attention and do it if they have a greater than 8% preflop raise, but that's less that half the players.

[egocidal]

I mean in my general experience, which is mostly at 4/8 and 6/12 live, I will reraise AJs and QKs almost 100% of the time after an UTG raiser. And maybe that's a mistake on my part, I just can't stop undervaluing live player's hands [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[mikeca]

[ QUOTE ]
It seems very much like this is very obviously wrong if you're playing against someone with your exact same preflop standards.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes it would be, but the assumption in Small Stakes Hold Em is that you are not playing against someone like that. They are also assuming that you will not end up heads up against the raiser, so the pot will still be multi-way in spite of the raise. AJs and KQs are good hands in a multiway pot.

This is generally true in B&M small stakes games. I doubt this is true in online games anymore above the microlimits.

[StrictlyStrategy]

[ QUOTE ]
I mean in my general experience, which is mostly at 4/8 and 6/12 live, I will reraise AJs and QKs almost 100% of the time after an UTG raiser. And maybe that's a mistake on my part, I just can't stop undervaluing live player's hands [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not going to say it definitely is because I don't know their standards but against someone who's limping in 85% of the time this is pretty bad. Especially in a 4-8 game where one bet and 3 bets preflop are basically the same thing to the other 9 people at the table.

[AlexM]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It seems very much like this is very obviously wrong if you're playing against someone with your exact same preflop standards.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes it would be, but the assumption in Small Stakes Hold Em is that you are not playing against someone like that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seems like a wacky assumption.

[ QUOTE ]
They are also assuming that you will not end up heads up against the raiser, so the pot will still be multi-way in spite of the raise. AJs and KQs are good hands in a multiway pot.

[/ QUOTE ]

But these are the "tight game" standards. Of course, he defines that as 3-5 players when really tables are more like 3 players on average, but still.