Originally Posted by tugger
I normally enter a room with $2, 100 bbs, and reaload up to $2 if I drop below $1.50. Is it better for me to just enter with $5?
Buyin for $2 - $5 is fine. $2 is 100bb, and once you get past the I believe 5nl will be the most you can buyin for on any non-deep table (pokerstars doesn't have deep tables). So it's helpful to get used to playing with 100bb. Buying in for more is okay too as some bad players buyin for more, and it's always good to have players that you have an edge on covered.
This is exactly the kind of spot that got me open shoving pre flop with aces. I seem to play them badly post flop. I think I convinced myself that the four pots aces win is less than the one pot it loses, but of course that's not true. Maybe over a period of a week it is, but not over a period of three months.
Aces are going to show a profit for you. But just because it's AA, you can't no longer estimate your equity against villains range. If postflop, you don't have the needed equity to continue, then it will be -EV for you to continue. If you do have the needed equity, then it will be +EV. Just like all other hands.
I'm going to take on board this raising for information thing, because it's something I do quite a lot, especially with top pair or overpair on the flop. If this is something you're all horrified at, then it must be with good reason. I guess when I do it it's with the intention of tightening his range, and sometimes also to represent more strength than I have, such as with the aces here. I suppose I was trying to tell him I had the queen, as well as asking him if he had one.
First things first, you typically want to play against the widest range possible. When you are getting value, you want him to put in money with as many worse hands as possible If you are intending to bluff, you want to make sure his range is wide enough that he has enough better hands to fold to make the bluff profitable. To "raise" with the intention of tightening his range one to a raise that beats you is absolutely what you don't want to do.
Here, if you believe that he will fold everything but a Queen/33 to a raise, then raising is terrible. That's because when you raise, you are building a pot that if he continues in, you are behind. And that when he folds, you had the best hand. As you can see, that's no good.
Now if he would have continues with worse hands often enough, then that changes. But you weren't raising for information in that case, you were raising for value.
Also, the "rep a stronger hand" thing does not apply here. Why would you want him to think you had a Queen here when you have AA. If he thinks you have a queen, then he will play in such a manner that he only puts in money with better hands. Which means that with AA, you will only get action from a better hand, and all worse will fold, same as above, and is no good.
This is the same logical problems my dad still has and he's playing 25nl. He will raise preflop, then see an Ahi flop, and insta cbet 100% of the time. When I ask why, he says "I need to rep the Ace". Which makes good sense when he has air hands because villains will typically play straight forward and fold a fair amount of better (2nd/3rd pair) hands thinking he has a pair of aces. However, it's terrible logic when you have a hand like KK on Axx flops, because if you are repping the ace, and villain thinks you have it, he will play perfectly against it, and therefore you betting KK there is bad. At least the reasoning was. Instead, bet if you think worse hands will call and you can get value.
And the call option... I just thought I was losing, and therefore chasing two outs, which is not something I want to pay to do past the flop. I need to remember I have showdown value as it is with aces, and that I'm catching bluffs and weaker pairs over a billion hands, giving my hand more equity than just 10%, which is what I thought I had when I folded.
You thought you were losing when he donked for $0.14c on the flop? If you thought you were losing, then why in the world would you raise, and put in more money? If you thought his range for donking the flop was Qx/33, then the correct play would be to fold.
But I assure you, that isn't his range. he will donk 1/2 pot with alot of other hands, so his range could be something like Qx/33/44-JJ/A3/FDs/KJ/etc. And against that range, we have the needed equity to call. A raise will be bad if he only continues with better, and folds worse. But if he continues with enough worse hands (FDs, 44-JJ, etc), then raising is fine as we are building a larger pot against a range we are ahead of.
So call him down, and if I'm beat I'm beat, right? Don't raise for info, and raise more if I must raise. And buy in for more?
Don't just call him down, and if your beat your beat. That's a terrible way to look at it, and can lead you to losing money unnecessarily. Like I said, just because you have AA doesn't mean you automatically have to go to showdown. If you fail to assess villain's range on every street, and how your hand plays against that range, then you are losing money. AA is not an exception.
When he donks the flop, you need to ask yourself numerous questions. Start with things like:
1) What are my pot odds?
2) What range of hands does he do this with?
3) How does my hand fair against that range?
4) Do I have the needed equity to call?
4a) If so, then folding is incorrect.
5) What does he do to a raise? What range does he continue with?
5a) Do I have enough equity against that continuing range to raise?
Those questions must be asked and answered on every street, with every decision you face. Among other questions. To neglect doing that is going to lead to suboptimal, and probably losing, play.
