(razz) Why do they bet here? What should I do?

[ChipsAhoya]

Hmmm, lots of action in this thread since I last checked.

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think that anyone is suggesting that everyone who plays $1/2 is a poor player. There are, however, a lot more poor players than good players at that level. You're a lot better off assuming that an unknown player plays poorly than you are assuming that he plays well.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the case, at least for myself. It's like in SSHE; you make more money by adjusting to the fact that your average competition is bad. Certainly there are good players at lower limits, but barring a read in the post "oh, seat 8 is good, I saw him..., etc." better advice is given by making adjustments to the "average" opponent at the level. A 1/2 opponent may be loose and not paying attention, an average 10/20 opponent might be a tight player, and the typical 50/100 player is probably very agressive. No offense is meant towards any lower level players on here by making an assumption that will benefit them in the long run. I usually put in my post what I would also do at a higher level, too; you can see that I did in this post. I may be more interested in a 30/60 hand than a 1/2 hand but I take each post as seriously as it wasn't too long ago that I was in the 2/4 and 3/6 HORSE games learning razz. (Taking shots is good if you think you can handle them...)

[ QUOTE ]
I reread SOP yesterday and actually Sklansky recommends that I bet here and/or raise this guy, because my 3 card hand is definitely better than his, and I will be in position for the whole hand unless he pairs. That's something I hadn't considered too closely until recently.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is what I said and SG and I were disagreeing about; which, to get back to his point, yes, I guess you do only have 5 pair cards now, but those 5 cards cost you the entire pot unless he bricks even worse than that, so I feel that getting an extra 54% on a bet now for sure is worth passing up the chance to get, what, 60% on a bet that is admittedly twice as big later, although that's mitigated by the fact that he might not bet into you and you may not be the favorite on 5th.

You can be giving your hand away if you raise this, but only if you only do this w/ A23K. if he has xx8Q; since I like to add deception through aggressive play, I will do this w/ anything up to 567K (barring dead cards, etc.) so a thinking opponent cannot automatically put me on 3 wheel cards. Another benefit to this "extra" but reasonable aggression is that I can check-raise more often.

-ChipsAhoya