Nice 1 Benko! I noticed another key difference between our hands which seems important. You checked from the bb preflop.
With premium hands, I raise on the limpers about 60% of the time with low blinds and 90% of the time with high blinds. My basic line of thought is 1) raise for value, 2) limit the nr of players and most importantly 3) try to win the hand preflop rather than play out of position. This seems sensible, however, two things become apparent. Firstly, with three limpers, winning uncontested preflop seems unlikely. Secondly, checking as you did allows for better pot control. My preflop raise built the pot up so early, that by the turn my options were reduced to all in or nothing. In your case, limping pre gives you more wiggle room on the later streets. Interesting!
Good observations, Roland. Based on the first eight hands, I didn't think a pre-flop raise was going to take down the pot so with the suited ace I decided to check and see a flop (would probably have raised anyway with AKo). Once I checked the river and encouraged a possible bluff, Player 3 seemed LAG-gy enough that I had to call his river bet even though I thought there was a good chance he would show JT for a straight or trip queens.
Nice post and comments by both. I can add that my recent experiences in cashgaming with checking in BB with AKs and AQs has proved more successful than raising pf. With multiple limpers, raising rarely takes down the dosh straight away (unless you make it a ridiculous amount), so I've opted for the pot control strategy - allowing me to either walk away or take down a nice pot.
I think my lack of attention to pot control may be one of my many leaks. With my tag style, I usually am focused on gaining as many chips as possible on the few hands I play. Thus, my tendancy to raise or reraise preflop with premium hands. Can you suggest a good read dealing with pot control?
Nice 1 Benko! I noticed another key difference between our hands which seems important. You checked from the bb preflop.
ReplyDeleteWith premium hands, I raise on the limpers about 60% of the time with low blinds and 90% of the time with high blinds. My basic line of thought is 1) raise for value, 2) limit the nr of players and most importantly 3) try to win the hand preflop rather than play out of position. This seems sensible, however, two things become apparent. Firstly, with three limpers, winning uncontested preflop seems unlikely. Secondly, checking as you did allows for better pot control. My preflop raise built the pot up so early, that by the turn my options were reduced to all in or nothing. In your case, limping pre gives you more wiggle room on the later streets. Interesting!
Roland GTX
Good observations, Roland. Based on the first eight hands, I didn't think a pre-flop raise was going to take down the pot so with the suited ace I decided to check and see a flop (would probably have raised anyway with AKo). Once I checked the river and encouraged a possible bluff, Player 3 seemed LAG-gy enough that I had to call his river bet even though I thought there was a good chance he would show JT for a straight or trip queens.
ReplyDeleteNice post and comments by both. I can add that my recent experiences in cashgaming with checking in BB with AKs and AQs has proved more successful than raising pf. With multiple limpers, raising rarely takes down the dosh straight away (unless you make it a ridiculous amount), so I've opted for the pot control strategy - allowing me to either walk away or take down a nice pot.
ReplyDeleteI think my lack of attention to pot control may be one of my many leaks. With my tag style, I usually am focused on gaining as many chips as possible on the few hands I play. Thus, my tendancy to raise or reraise preflop with premium hands. Can you suggest a good read dealing with pot control?
ReplyDeleteProfessional No-Limit Hold 'em: Volume I by Matt Flynn; Sunny Mehta; Ed Miller (Paperback - July 20, 2007)
ReplyDeleteIt's about cash games but still incredibly useful.
Thanks benkogambit
ReplyDelete