Help with overpairs

I know holding an overpair at a ragged (or somewhat coordinated) board has been discussed a lot in this forum but I just want to share a problem that I have lately.

I am playing $25 $50 NL lately. Mostly 5 handed so theres lots of action, lots of preflop raising etc. I raise to 4BB EVERY hand that I play (suited connectors/suited aces etc.)usually in position and rarely cold call raises. Then I bet 3/4 on the flop and check/fold to any sigh of life if I havent hit.Its works great, I am always building my stack slowly even when I am not getting good flops and also setting up for a big payoff when I hit really good. Playing this really frustrutes mediocre/bad players, they never know what I hold and they want to play back at me. Problem is I dont know what they hold EITHER. I make my standard raise lets say with KK. then flops comes lets say 10 high with or without a flush draw. I bet the pot or sth and some one raises me (sometimes even moves all-in on me). I dont know what they have because THEY dont know what I have... I might have raised with 67s or AK or anything and they beat that on the flop. They might have 2 pair or a set. Or they might have TP and are just playing back at me cause I have won like so many pots uncontested so far and they are sick of it (this is how I make most of my mone anyway :P). I have no problem laying down AA/KK but many of the times I did I was shown TPTK or the guy won a showdown after I folded with TPTK. Reads are really important of course but sometimes times you have to put yourself in their shoes and figure out what does he THINK he beats and is moving in on you? What have you raised with/shown in the past (I like to show my good hands once in a while for that reason). Do you just call with AA/KK if its not OBVIOUS you are beat and hope for the best? I dont like to gamble that much...

Sorry for the long post, just thoughts running through my brain.

This was a problem I ran into a lot during my final days at 6max. It became more an more difficult to put my unpredictable opponents on hands and began to feel like I was just pokin around in the dark. If you've got an overpair and an opponent who you know will play top pair Ts strong (well, just not weak) then you've got to assume you're hand is best every time. You've gotta start dropping the hammer and overbetting the pot. My old rule of thumb was, "If they were just calling, you're safe."

-'rilla

Yeah but my point is that because I AM unpredictable TO THEM I can't really put them to TP or better...

Originally Posted by m3laNcholy

Yeah but my point is that because I AM unpredictable TO THEM I can't really put them to TP or better...

If nobody knows anything about anybody and you've got kings as an overpair. Bet the shit out of them.

-'rilla

ragged 10 high flop ?? i'll push and pay off the set/two pair .. you have 2 outs if your against a set and many more outs if your up against 2 pair.

Not much you can do. If it's a big (all-in especially) raise, honor it and fold. If you find out he just had top pair, make a note of it and watch out for the same situation to come up again. My feeling is that they will have two pair or a set often enough that this fold is usually a good one; you need specific reasons to call. If the raise is more moderate, try re-raising them and see how they respond. A lot of players in 6 max want to think they're making great reads and they put you on overcards (AK is a popular favorite) every time you raise pre-flop. When they make top pair on a jack-high or ten-high board, they think they have you. If you spot this type of player, you're going to have to throw in some calls to make them understand that you don't always have AK when you raise. And if they don't push (leaving you wiggle room to re-raise), you need to use that tool. Make them understand that you mean it.

I pretty much agree with you dale, happened to me yesterday. I have almost tripled up playing the way I described above (3 or so hours at the same table, same players) and there is this guy that is just dying to play back at me. I raise AA get 2 callers. Flop comes rags. I bet $4 he calls, other guy calls his last $$ and is all-in. I bet the turn and he goes all in for like half my stack. Board now has a flush draw and a possible completed inside straight so I think about is and fold. I didnt wanna risk the stack I had built up. He turns over K2 for a flush draw hits a K and takes the pot off the other guy's small PP. Some hands later I raise KK, he calls. Flop comes T88 I bet hard he calls. Turn is another 8, I bet his stack, he calls with his 10, I take his stack.

Just want to say that sometimes you might wanna wait for a better spot or at least until you can get a better read on someone.