Some beginner 5CD Questions...

[Larry David]

Assume most of the questions are against the standard 5CD player that we are all finding at PS. These are the players that are new to the game like I am, but are trying to improve and aren't total morons. Obviously a fish walks on pretty often that will call or raise waaaay too thin and the answer is obvious.

If I raise with position at a standard table for PS with 2 pair and my opponent draws 2 or 3, then opens after the draw; Should I fold every 2 pair unless the player has shown me a reason to call here? Also, should I only value bet Aces up (and should I with even that?) behind him unless the player has shown me a reason otherwise? So far I have not made one successful two pair call against the standard player and if I bet they either fold or have a better hand. I am just wondering if this is some variance I am experiencing or if you do the same?

After about 100 hands of my first time playing I have come to some conclusions / questions which are probably mostly wrong so please correct me/ give me advice:

1) Two pair is usually worth raising pre-draw for value and then checking behind or check folding un-improved post-draw except against the players that call extremely thin.

2) When facing limpers, they usually stink and are limping with any pair and I should follow my same open principles as my 3-bet principles? This one may get a little more complicated, but it seems so far that against limpers, it is still worth raising 2 small pair?

I should probably look up some equity charts for hands drawing against multiple opponents to answer these questions for me, but looking for some general experienced players guidelines as well as other beginners experiences so far.

3) Is it ever correct to switch what you are drawing to based on position and number of players in the pot? For example; As[Ah(4h3h9h)]?

4) This is similar to number 2, but when facing raises from players that don't limp and play pretty standard, are there some general 3-bet / fold guidlines behind them? I never cold-call so far and I feel this is correct? I will still usually re-raise them with AA or KK. I have also been re-raising successfully with QQA and QQK.

5) Early on, I was keeping my kickers on hands like QQA and QQK, but have found myself throwing them away as of late. Is it better to go for that higher two pair for showdown value or to a better chance for trips to raise them out of their seats? A lot of my opponents are putting in 3 and sometimes even 4 bets post-draw with low-medium trips.

I guess my biggest problems so far are when to value bet post-draw and calling when I should be folding post-draw. It is going to be getting trickier as I move up limits as well because I notice the bigger limits are playing much more aggressively and I will need to learn how to deal with 3-bets/4-bets. I understand that how many bets I should be willing to put in with various trips, flushes, straits, and FH's is going to depend a lot on my opponents, but it seems to far that pretty much any FH is going to be cap worthy against pretty much anyone?

I am sure I am leaving some things out that I had concerns about, but any advice is greatly appreciated. Also, so far I have been trying to do the math on my own with the windows calculator so if anyone knows of good equity sites please let me know [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I'll check the FAQ's one more time and make sure they aren't posted there. Forgive me if most of my questions are answered in them.

[Tom Bayes]

Good post. You seem to be thinking about the right things for a new 5CD player. Here are some half-assed answers while I'm playing.

1. Yep. You want to come in raising, since you probably have the best hand. 2 pair, especially anything below about kings-up, is a bitch to play post-draw. You just have to observe your opponents and figure out who needs to be called down because they bluff a lot and who it's safe to throw anything less than aces up away against. The answer is "IT DEPENDS", but you will be check-calling and check-folding a lot with unimproved 2 pair.

2. I raise most limpers with any 2 pair, but you've got to be willing to drop the hand post-draw when the action demands it. There are some players that are chronic sandbaggers who love to limp-reraise with stuff like low trips or even those who wait until postdraw to show strength. We actually like these players, because they give us free chances to beat them. It drives those "cagey codger" old nits crazy when you raise with KK, they smooth call with 444 and you outdraw them.

3. Yes, although I'd rarely ditch aces unless I was quite sure that making even aces up would not be good. Those unimproved aces win a surprising number of pots against mediocre opposition! I'm more likely to break a pair to draw at a flush with something like queens or jacks.

4. I'm not as aggro as you with the 3-bets with KK and AA type hands. It's possible I might be leaking some EV to reduce my variance.

5. Keeping kickers is mainly something to do occasionally to confuse your opposition. If you do keep a kicker once in a while, make sure you draw 2 to legit trips sometimes as well. I have lots of players with the note "Draw 2=pair with kicker" because they never vary their play.

I don't do this, but there is a school of thought where you never draw 2. So you would never keep a kicker and you always disguise trips if you follow this line.

Knowing who to value bet against and who to call down and when to put in that 3rd or 4th bet is really the meat of the game, once you are playing reasonably well predraw (which it sounds like you are doing). It's constantly a dance against good players because they will try to keep you off guard by playing hands in different fashions.