Plan of attack with Mid Pair in Blind Battle?

[Nate tha\\\' Great]

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Yeah, I'm talking about the rest of the hand. Against someone competent, you'll really be pushed pretty close to your pressure points on the turn/river when you've just been checking and calling. Basically, if he has AK, then you'll most frequently make 3 SB if you check and call (the "automatic" bet on the flop and generally one bet big on the turn/river) versus 4-6 SB if you check-raise. Conversely, if he has TT, then you lose 5 SB if you just calldown the whole way versus 7-8 SB if you check-raise the flop and calldown any raises.

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When I wrote that I was actually thinking of leading lots of turns. But as I think about it, in practice he may find a fold with AK-AJ and that kind of sucks. I still think check/calling, donking the turn, and balancing it with other hands is best in theory, though.

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I think those hands (especially AK) get shown down an awful lot unless some draws get completed on the board that mean he can't beat a semi-bluff. Besides that, there are some hands like KQ that you really wouldn't mind him folding on the turn.

[disjunction]

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Yeah, I'm talking about the rest of the hand. Against someone competent, you'll really be pushed pretty close to your pressure points on the turn/river when you've just been checking and calling. Basically, if he has AK, then you'll most frequently make 3 SB if you check and call (the "automatic" bet on the flop and generally one bet big on the turn/river) versus 4-6 SB if you check-raise. Conversely, if he has TT, then you lose 5 SB if you just calldown the whole way versus 7-8 SB if you check-raise the flop and calldown any raises.

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When I wrote that I was actually thinking of leading lots of turns. But as I think about it, in practice he may find a fold with AK-AJ and that kind of sucks. I still think check/calling, donking the turn, and balancing it with other hands is best in theory, though.

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I think those hands (especially AK) get shown down an awful lot unless some draws get completed on the board that mean he can't beat a semi-bluff. Besides that, there are some hands like KQ that you really wouldn't mind him folding on the turn.

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Ok, then. So I guess my claim is that the flop checkraise does nothing that a check/call/donk doesn't do, but the checkraise does give him an extra chance to get a third small bet in when you're behind.

I was worried about donking the turn, as opposed to leading after a checkraise, not because of theoretical considerations but rather because I don't know how he'll react to the donk and thus I can't make a good plan. It seems you have this under control, though, so if you have this read I think I like the turn donk.

[milesdyson]

Nate,

would you say that playing this hand aggressively vs. passively is slightly more +ev (because the lose:win ratio gets lower) and also comes with slightly more variance (because we're talking about more bets)??????

[Nate tha\\\' Great]

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Nate,

would you say that playing this hand aggressively vs. passively is slightly more +ev (because the lose:win ratio gets lower) and also comes with slightly more variance (because we're talking about more bets)??????

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It's absolutely higher variance but given this particular board/opponent I think it probably earns you a couple of bucks.

[milesdyson]

i'm watching family feud right now and god people are ugly.