A good spot for calling IP pre-flop?

Hello again friends!

I got to thinking earlier about my game. I play micros FR with numbers of about 14.4/13.5, pretty much raise/fold pre-flop.

I gather that there too are spots where calling a raise IP can be more +EV than auto folding hands like AQ, AJ, and KQ to a show of strength in front of us. I believe there might also be case for calling PF-raise IP with AK too as apposed to the usual 3-bet?

Could I apply the same strategies to the suited versions of these hands. with similar results?

I guess making these kind of plays relies on us being confident that we can out-play villain after the flop. What kind of stats should we be looking for before we flat call IP. Would you guys recommend making these plays from the HJ, CO, B or even the blinds as here we surely have the best position.... atleast pre-flop!

I figure a high PFR with a similar steal % and large C-bet frequency could be a good place to start?

Thoughts, Ideas?

Frank.

lots of questions, only answer one i have time to answer right now is dont do this from the blinds. blinds are almost always 3bet/fold if we are hu against one opponent.

You're absolutely right, but I believe a high fold to 3-bet statistic is also a good reason to call IP with hands like AKs/AQ/ect.

Lets say a player raises a lot of pots preflop, but folds to a lot of 3-bets. When you 3-bet him with a hand like AJ or AQ, you're essentially turning it into a bluff because they're unlikely to call with worse. So usually the better play is to 3-bet with our junky hands and total monsters, and then call in position with stuff like AQs that will hit a lot of flops and dominate a lot of the hands in his range.

And I do agree with the above poster that you should be pretty tight from the blinds, and you should be more inclined to 3-bet rather than call.

And lastly, usually the only players that raise wide pre and fold to a lot of 3-bets are laggish regs in steal position. If you've got a reg on your immediate right, you should probably practice better table selection, so that you have a fish on your immediate right.

Now what you should do Frank, is pick a hand where you think calling in position might be best, and post it in the hand analysis forum to get other's opinions on a specific situation.

I would probably 3-bet in blinds, but again the problem stated you were in position. I like to let position help me keep the pot smaller and mostly flat call. Especially if I know villian will mostly c-bet post flop. I would probably raise his post flop bet about 50% of the time whether I hit or not. He's got to be bluffing a fair piece there and its worth the $ to raise.

As you get better at hand reading, and therefore post-flop, you can start to call IP in good spots where you feel you have an edge. until then 3-bet or folding is better.

Good spots to call IP are against someone who folds to lots of 3-bets and you have something like AQs. If you 3-bet and he folds 90% of the time then he's only going to continue with a much stronger range than you, and most of the time it will be a 4-bet you will have to fold to. If you call, you can play pots against JJ-22, AJ, KQ etc IP which is a great spot. As long as you hand read well and don't get yourself in to trouble, you'll make a lot of money.

When you have a loose CO and you're OTB is a good spot too. He's going to be raising wide, but folding to lots of 3-bets. You can call wider with hands like AQ-AT 99-QQ and completely own him post-flop.

Thinking some more and leads nicely to another point.

We shouldn't have a set 3-bet range or calling range because it's not very exploitative of our opponents. If he folds to 90% of 3-bets, we can 3-bet hands like 76s profitably IP, cause he'll fold so much and we have a nice hand post-flop. If he calls lots of 3-bets, then we can value raise A10 and KQ and get the fish in a 3-bet pot looking for stacks.

We should always be asking at each decision point, what is the optimal decision at this point in time. Eventually we can move on to what are the optimal decisions I want to make throughout the hand, but this is a good start


This should explain better:

Move Beyond the Hand Chart: 3-bets & 4-bets preflop in No Limit Hold'em Cash Games

I generally play Raise/ Fold preflop but I do make an exception; On the button I will call a standard raise with pps 77-22, Suited Aces AQs-A2s and Suited no-gap connectors KQs-65s. The only caveat is: make sure neither of the blinds are LAG's who like to squeeze alot, otherwise you might be forced to fold or call a 3-bet with a modest holding.

The big issue I have with calling on the button is since I did not show aggression preflop is I tend to play fit/fold on these hands as I am not confident/ experienced enough to float c-bets yet with regularity so if I don't flop 2 pair, a set or a very strong draw (OESD or 4 flush) I lose interest in putting more money in the pot.

Maybe a veteran/ regular could add postflop play to these hands.