the upshot of all this is that you should only play junk hands as much as is necessary to maximize the value of your premium hands. playing them to “hit big” is a terrible strategy, and you’ll just end up bleeding tons of money in the long run. when yan calls your preflop raises with such hands “perfect,” they are really only marginally profitable. so don’t get carried away. play these hands, use them to improve your image, but view them as a lesser part of your arsenal.

paul

paul

Thanks for the comments.

1) There are two breeds of calling stations, from the limited sample size and description I would categorize most people as calling stations preflop and weak-tight players post. What is important is not the pre-flop raise with 23o, but the fact that Gene has the button with a mediocrely playable hand.

“Perfect” may be an overstatement (and sort of tongue-in-cheek), but raising is a much better play than calling and, given the juicy limpers, folding. Gene did get lucky in that he hit the straight and that his opponent had something to go on, but most of the time he is going to be in position heads up against a passive player postflop, and it doesn’t really matter than what he has, as long as Gene is not spewing money like a maniac.

2) You raise again because you are on the button with a very playable hand. This hand preflop is really in the same situation as hand 2) except it is much better and not as much a pure bluff as 23o.

I think you are implying that I am raising to hit the board with a flush and then getting value, and then shutting down. In which case - no, because that is a horrible way to play a hand like 47d. Maybe half or the value of 47d comes from post-flop bluffing value, again when you raise and get 1 or 2 callers, when they check to you on a dry board, and you fire to take it down, or raise when you hit a straight or flush draw or whatever. Playing “hit or fold” poker is losing long-term, especially if you plan to move up stakes.

As played, since the SB minraised I’m calling only to hit twopair or better, but that is justfied by the yummy pot odds a minraise preflop gives us, as donkeys happily do over and over again.

And hand five, who the hell gets excited with paired aces against a probable flush? Novice players, at best. I’d play the 47s, for sure, but, again, how do you justify a raise? What are the odds of hitting the flush and not facing a higher flush?

A really important thing you are missing are stack sizes, by the way. Next time you play you should keep in mind what the stacks are. You have to play things differently if you have 60 big blinds versus 200 big blinds.

Hand 1) calling is fine. I raise sometimes depending on stack size (here is where it matters. If you are deeper I raise for isolation/value/payoff more when I hit a set, maybe around 100 big blinds), but I assume you aren’t very deep (since it is a 50 blind buyin game?) so calling is perfect. Flop call is basically neutral I think. I think you are ahead roughly 2/3 to 1/2 of the time. To be honest, I probably let it go on the flop since I don’t like the higher cards in the deck falling. If I call, it is usually to take it away on the turn with a raise, or just raise the flop myself as a bluff. Now his check on the turn doesn’t give you much information. Betting the turn is also very netural - you can check behind or bet, whatever. River is hilarious, because when he gives you that odds you have to call for information.

Hand 2) preflop is perfect, unless you’ve been raising all the time. I raise bigger on flop, and bigger on turn to get him allin. You miss out on the money from a single Ah on the turn if you don’t shove.

Hand 3) I already talked to you about this hand =) to be honest it isn’t all that terrible because this situation doesn’t happen very often, and you did get value, but I think the other lines I told you about gives more value.

Hand 4) So this hand is a little different. Look at the flop and look at how dry it is - there are almost no draws except TJ. So here, calling the flop may actually be the best move. Suppose your opponent had TT or something. If you raise the flop he might just fold. But if you call the flop, the pot is going to be 92, and there will be exactly about $98 more in his stack, giving a perfect pot size on the turn. Don’t minraise, by the way. Also, in live play you are almost certainly beat when he reraise shoves flop - this is also why you don’t want to raise really dry flops like this, because when he shoves you have a tough decision! Now, if the flop is 9hTh6c, note how good raising is all the time - it gets hands to draw, it may get a frisky draw to shove on you, etc. I dont’ really think the call is bad, since he might have KK (badly played, but whatever) or AQ or QK too. Unless you know this guy to be really tight, calling is fine. It is good that you called expectign to be beat most of the time, but the pot was so bad.

Hand 5) great raise preflop. Now when SB raises min and you get a caller you have to call, as long as you are smart enough to fold even when you hit a 7. As played, there is not a really good flop raise amount. If your opponent is a calling station though, shove. even if it is an overbet he might call you with AK or a single Kd. You want him to pay as much as possible for his draw, since you don’t want any diamon to hit.

Hand 6) ugh, just fold preflop. You are out of position, your hand sucks, you can raise to steal but it isnt’ really worth it. Even raising is better than calling here. I think you value the blinds too much and in reality that’s where you probably lose most chips in the long run. Think about it. Say someone raises preflop every hand (this sounds about correct). Every time you call in the big blind you are protecting that one blind with 3 more blinds, but most of the time you are folding right after the flop! Just let it go. As it played, you have to call. Give you hit 2pair, he can have overpairs all the time, and it was a good read that it is very unlikely for him to have the other 2pairs or a straight because most people don’t raise preflop with thos kind of hands. After he shows you the hand, peg him as a decent player who knows to raise with suited connectors, say “good hand” and move on.