MAILBAG II

Friday, August 19th., 2005 (By the PokerStrategyKing)

From time to time, I will devote a strategy column to emails that I receive from players that read my articles and have questions about their play. Today, I am going to share with you an email I received from Jack in Lincoln, NE in which he asks about my opinion on his pre-flop raising strategy.

Dear PokerStrategyKing:

I really enjoy your articles. I have one question to you. Would you advise calling with all pairs even with when facing a raise?

I play online quite a bit and I will call a raise with any pair as long as the raise is less than
10% of the opposing players stack. My thinking, with a monster hand like AA or KK that he is raising; when I do hit my set I am taking his whole stack. So I hit my set statistically 1 in 8 times and call any raise with any pair as long as its 10% or less of a players stack. I make most of my money on the no limit tables doing this. My basic strategy is to raise the same with every hand as to not giveaway my hand. AA, KK - raise 8 times the big blind and if someone has raised before me I usually put them to the test and reraise 3 times the amount they have put in or go all in. With AK, AQ - I raise 8 times the big blind if no one has raised in front of me. If someone has limped or no one has entered the pot I will raise 8 times the big blind. If the pot has been raised before
me, I will only call if I have a decent read on the player.

With Queens or Jacks I raise 8 times the big blind if no one has raised in front of me. If someone has limped or no one has entered the pot I will raise 8 times the big blind. If the pot has been raised before me, I will call and play cautiously post flop if I don't flop trips or my pocket pair is not higher than the board. AJ is tricky and has gotten me in trouble. I usually limp in or call the big blind. I throw away to any raise before me and usually fold it if a raise comes behind me.

With the rest of the pairs, I call the big blind and maybe raise 1010 and 99 in late
position if no one has entered the pot. I will call a raise up 10% of the raising players stack. Post flop I know where I stand if I hit my set or not, or my pocket pair is above what the board shows. I usually move tables quickly after I double my
stack up, because most players will learn how you play and its hard to get action on raises after they learn you play real hands and push with them.

- Jack (Lincoln, NE)

First of all, great letter. You've hit on some solid strategies here that can be instantly implemented to win more money at online poker. Firstly, I noticed that you said, "My basic strategy is to raise the same with every hand as to not giveaway my hand." That is absolutely the right way to do it and I often employ this technique myself, because it keeps your opponents guessing at what you're holding.

You also brought up a great point about the value of hitting trips when you wrote, "When I do hit my set I am taking his whole stack." You can take this concept even further. In online poker, implied odds are a more important consideration than in offline poker. Reason being that most of your opponents are loose-aggressive. When you make a significant bet, your chances of getting action are much higher than in your
average home game or club.

Because of this I like to limp-in with suited connectors because if I hit my flush or
straight I'm very confident that I'm going to win a huge pot from someone.

However, you need to avoid the tendency of chasing your outs and calling big bets with draws, it just isn’t profitable. For every draw you chase and hit, you lose many more. You should try to bet your draw like a semi-bluff and if you get raised, get out of the way.

As for your comments regarding pairs, it sounds to me like you're describing cash games and not Sit and Go's. When I play a cash game, my strategy is about the same as yours.

The biggest difference for me is that I hate getting up and moving tables so frequently. I've found that when players begin losing money to you, they often go on tilt and keep losing to you because they want their money back. And of course, that's when you get all the money since they're on tilt and angry that they can't seem to break you.

Te best thing to do is show an occasional bluff or even get busted on a bluff... that way they remain confused about my style of play and they’ll try to catch me and pay me off when I actually do have a hand.

OK, back to pairs. When I'm in a cash game, I will call small raises with pocket pairs, in hopes of busting my opponents. Tournaments are a different story though. In case games, you can play the odds and with a 1 in 8 shot of hitting a set, you will take down huge pots. However, in tournaments, you can't always afford to put your chips in the middle. You can’t rebuy after you’ve lost. You must survive to the money. If you don't make it to the top three players in a 10-man Sit and Go, you're not in the money, which means you've failed. In your average Sit and Go, you'll probably only get a pocket pair once or twice before the field gets down to three players. So what I've found is that it's often better for me to limp with my pocket pair and hope for trips. If someone makes a decent raise, I'll usually muck it unless I'm the chip leader.

What do you think about these comments? Write to me and you too may be included in a future mailbag.

Until next time, may the chips fall your way.

(For more poker strategy and tips, please visit the PokerStrategyKing’s website at www.pokerstrategyking.com )

 

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