betting strategies

[Bruise Pristene]

hi I have found myself in NL preflop with AA, and am never sure what to do. I tried raising big but everyone folded and I only won the blinds! I then tried just calling, or betting small and loads of people stayed in an people got lucky on the river and have beat me whats the best way to play when you have that killer hand?

[guesswest]

Re: betting strategies I'd say it's all very dependant on position, and how much you know about your opponents, and what your own table image is. Also how valuable the blinds are - if you're in a tournament with huge blinds it might be a good result just winning them, and in any game it's a better result than losing. One popular way of playing aces in early position is the limp hoping for a raise. Whilst that play has value in tournament play I'm not a big fan of it in a cash game, or when the blinds are low in tournament play. In the first instance it runs the risk that nobody will raise behind you, and with the SB and BB in play a flop or rags could easily be dangerous - you have no idea where you stand. If it is raised behind you and you then reraise it, it's 100% obvious that you have aces or kings and any player with a brain is going to fold to your reraise. I'd say if you play early aces like that and the original raise sees you playing against 1 or 2 players only the call is a better play. I suppose my basic thought is this, aces are the best starting hand but they're still just that, a start - put in a reasonable but not transparently huge raise and hope for action, you might be defeating yourself trying to be too clever doing anything else - if you just pick up the blinds, at least you still won. And value raise hands like suited connectors/mid pairs etc so you do get action on your monster hands. My thoughts anyway :)

[Bruise Pristene]

Re: betting strategies thanks for your thoughts, what do you mean when you say "the limp hoping for a raise" ? is the limp a technical term?

[guesswest]

Re: betting strategies Limping into a pot, like calling the minimum/unraised bet, so if the blinds were 20/40 and you just put 40 you'd be limping. :)

[laidbackbloke]

Re: betting strategies I just wrote a big reply to your question bruise ................ then lost it because my computer is shit:( ............... I'll get back to you:lol

[Bruise Pristene]

Re: betting strategies thanks for the efforts anyway laidback. :ok would still be interested to hear your thoughts. I'm realising poker is a complicated game. I find it too hard to keep tabs on 9 other players as to how they bet/fold/call and what they have etc:wall

[philossify]

Re: betting strategies Hi Bruise, as ther others say it all depends on position,the other players, size of stacks etc. In early position at start of low entry MTT's I tend to just double the BB, medium position I'll quadruple it and late position I'll go all in (at the start of an MTT theres often some muppet around who'll stay to the all-in and voila you've doubled up). Later on I'll adjust for all sorts of factors.

[Arjonius]

Re: betting strategies IMO, another factor to consider is what you're trying to accomplish at the time. If you're satisfied to take the blinds, make a normal raise and hope you get a caller. If you're in a position where it's important to get more, then you can try limping or making a min-raise. Of course, the more people stay in the hand, the greater the risk you'll lose the hand, so that has to be weighed in as well. Simply going all-in can work, especially against muppets as one person already noted. The potential problem with this is that if you get multiple callers, you chance of winning is eroded depending how many live cards they have.

[Bruise Pristene]

Re: betting strategies so do i understand this right? I always thought it was better to have as many people as possible in a hand if you have decent cards to up the pot. but its actually better a lot of time to "raise" a few people out in case they get lucky on the flop/river, is that right? i know it will depend on circumstances.

[mrmuzeman]

Re: betting strategies Yeah mate just because youve got a nice starting hand you definitely DONT want everyone with you. If 10 people were in the for the flop and you had AA means you have the best chance of any one person winning still. Yet its now only probly only a 25% chance of winning overall which means you probably wont win. With a hand like AK for example you raise because you dont want many opponents in with you. Remember when you raise say 3 big blinds and get 2 callers its like getting 6 people just calling the big blind in terms of how much is in the pot. Difference is now youre against less opponents giving you a much better chance of winning. :ok Its also important for a hand like QQ. This is very suceptible to being beaten by mulitple opponents IMO. You HAVE to raise to force out people with raggy aces and kings (A3 and K9 etc). Being the pre flop raiser also gives you added strength because people fear your hand and what you have. This often means, if your 'in position' (on the button) then they check to you and you can get to see a turn card for free by checking as well if need be.

[Bruise Pristene]

Re: betting strategies thanks muzeman, if your playing no limit, would you say there is a standard % of your stack to raise in these situations?

[staffy]

Re: betting strategies I would alwys raise with AA usually 4 or 5 times the blinds especially in a cash game. If you get no callers great you win the blinds so you therefore get free blinds next time and may pick up another winning hand during the next hand. If you get a caller even better you know you have the best starting hand and have some more money in the pot. If the flop then looks dangerous I will then bet or raise quite a lot to get the other person/people to fold. If they want to chase a flush or straight then you will either win big or lose. But you will win more than you lose in the long run with players chasing.

[mrmuzeman]

Re: betting strategies Raising and how much is very much a subjective thing to be honest, theyre really isnt a 'correct' amount to raise. If there was and say everyone raised 6xBB with AA none would call cos theyd know what youd have etc! However you must IMO if you are going to raise pre flop, MUST make it 3xBB minimum. In general I think 4xBB is good with AA but it depends on your table and how loose it is etc. If you know full well people are not afraid to gamble and call bigger raises then go ahead and raise 8XBB with your AA. Just make sure whatever you do you take control of the hand so people fear you and what you have :lol Also with AK and AQ etc I wouldnt go overboard with the raise if you are going to raise. Also I have to say in general your raises should be between 3 and 8xBB.