B/F on River .... why?

[Oink]

@ OP

To really understand the concepts of river play you should pick up Theory of Poker and read the chapter on river play. (And rest of the book of course)

Reading the forums on 2p2 is fine as well but a lot of posters will advocate plays assuming most readers are familiar with concepts explained in TOP so you run the rsik of misundersatnding and thus misapplying the advice you read. Reading TOP and other books on poker is really going to improve you learning curve from reading 2p2.

[b1grich]

wow Zeldark ... that really put it in perspective for me

thanks also to you Oink, i have heard on this forum that is a thing to read and i sometimes visit the Poker Theory forum, i'll make sure i pick that up

I'm just switching over from NL b/c i can't handle the swings and for some reason just can't get ahead in the game, I have played some limit now and then but it was more of a pass the time thing. The funny thing is I made some money goofing off at 5/10 limit. I have been reading the FAQ posted and some of Ed Millers stuff. Going to have to go pick up his book SSL sometime soon.

Anything else you would like to throw at me right now: any more good books, starting BB to sit with, starting roll(BB)??

Thanks Again.

[RemyXO]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm just switching over from NL b/c i can't handle the swings

[/ QUOTE ]

If you are looking for less variance in LIMIT, you are probably in a wrong place.

Sit with at least 30 BB. Reload if get below 20. 300-400 BB starting bankroll.

[halpgr]

It took me a while to progress from bet/call to bet/fold, like Aussie describes. It seemed weird when I first started doing it but eventually it becomes natural and you do it as a standard action.

A good situation to learn to apply it would be against loose passive players who never bluff and will call, call, call, call, call, call, ... with a draw or small made hand but will raise the turn or river with a big hand - where a big hand is 2 pair or better.

Say you open raise at 10 player table in middle position with AK. A bad loose passive player cold calls in the CO. Button and sb fold. BB calls.

The flop is King/rag/rag. bb checks, you bet, CO calls, BB folds.

The turn is another blank. You bet, CO calls.

The river is yet another blank. You bet, CO raises. You can fold here because CO does not bluff and never raises the turn or river with less than TPTK.

It was still correct to bet this river because CO will call with lots of hands you beat but will not bet a hand you beat on the river if checked to. You're more often ahead than behind on this river so bet/fold is your most profitable move long term.

[Xylocain]

A thing to note the b/f is that it should not be used too often as it will encurage [observant] people to take shots and bluff at you (they dont have to succeed very often to make it a +EV play for them). You will be making a huge mistake everytime you are folding the best hand against a bluff raise. And it will take a lot of perfect b/f:ing to make up for that.

Also, it is to be used when you are OOP and intend to call anyway, but you are not sure that you have the best hand. By b/f you want to prevent your opponent to check behind with his weak hands that you beat and bet his strong hands.
but I guess that has been said already.
-d