railing the FT at the Foundation Semi

[bennymacca]

sorry if this is too long

That is a huge compliment, thanks heaps benny the cunt, I am touched. Sincerely.

Quite frankly I was both intimidated and excited to have played on your table, I have learned so much from you (and others) that it was great to actually get the chance to play on your table.

thankyou, that means a lot

I have to ask, I did notice you never limp? if you play you raised each and every time. (I lie, I think I saw you limp one maybe two times.)

Personally I found that really frustrating.. because I had good hands, but I didn't want to throw away 2-3x blinds on the chance I might hit, rather than just having pocket Aces or Kings.

this is the point

when i am in late position, and it is either folded or limped to me, i will either raise or fold, basically never limp. most of the time, people are limping with marginal hands, like KJ or something like that. (sometimes they might set a trap with a huge hand, but rarely).

so by raising, it puts pressure on these players to make a decision for a lot of chips, when they are out of position, with a marginal hand. lets say they have QJ and its a J high board, and they limped and then called a raise preflop.

now they have to act first. if i raise them, what then? it becomes a tough prospect because i could have AJ, a bigger hand than that, or air. playing out position is extremely hard.

so something like A9 i would fold instantly in early or mid position, but in late position i would raise with it nearly every time if there is no action before me. this allows you to win a lot of pots preflop, or on the flop when noone hits and it gets checked to you.

One person called you and I felt that frustrated you a bit?

that was my own fault, i got tilted because people were limping and then putting their whole stack at risk after my raise, with marginal hands like KJ, AT etc. it was unlucky that i seemed to have a slightly worse hand every time this happened.

in general however, it is always a good play to put pressure on people, to put them to a decision for all their chips. on that particular day, they always seemed to come up trumps. this got me frustrated, and i need to learn to control this better.

My only line of thinking was I noticed how frustrated you got by being called when you did raise and you seemed to concentrate so much on what other chipstacks there were on the table. It seemed to be something that could have been exploited (if someone was a good enough player).

Not sure I follow what other people chipstacks have to do with your play? (If that question makes sense).
I personally never take notice of what is around, is this something I should be reconsidering when I do play?? What is the benefit to knowing other chipstacks around you?

knowing the effective chip stacks is one of the most important concepts in poker i think. it determines your bet sizing on every street, and gives you an idea of your fold equity.

basically, if someone has a huge stack, then they will easily call a 4bb raise with marginal holdings, because if they flop a good hand, then they can get paid off, and if they miss it doesn't cost them too much of their stack.

but if someone has 7bb and i raise to 4bb, then this puts them to a decision for most of their chip stack. it makes it a lot harder for those people to call the raise, and so your fold equity is higher. i.e they will fold lots of the time.

so on that table, i was raising with a wide range of hands, things like A9, QJ, 89 etc. because these other people were limping too often, and by me raising, they were basically in a decision for all their chips. it just turns out that they always seemed to have be dominated, i.e A9 into AT, or QJ into KJ. thats just poker, but it frustrated me, and this affected my game.


opponent's stack size also affects betting on later rounds. i.e if you think someone is on a draw, then betting so that they have to put their whole stack in makes it more likely they will fold. however, maybe by betting slightly less, they will call, and then all of a sudden find themselves in a situation where they are pot comitted.

[Nevah play JJ]

But why?
Is it Blind and Ante stealing?

You might be chip leader by miles, but honestly, it takes maybe 1-2 hands with significant sized betting to lose that lead.

Isn't it just better to play your hand alone? bet solely based on your cards?
or is it better to sit back and just wait until the cards come to you?

[bennymacca]

But why?
Is it Blind and Ante stealing?

You might be chip leader by miles, but honestly, it takes maybe 1-2 hands with significant sized betting to lose that lead.

Isn't it just better to play your hand alone? bet solely based on your cards?
or is it better to sit back and just wait until the cards come to you?

blind and ante stealing does come into it, but it also conceals the strength of your cards.

if you only ever raise with QQ, KK, AA, AK then it becomes very easy to play against you, because its easy to fold.

but if someone is raising a lot more, its hard to know whether they have a monster hand, or are just making a play. and it becomes hard to know which one that is.

this means you are more likely to get paid off when you flop your big hands.

its a fine line though, raising too often is obviously just as bad as not raising enough.