my new style for nl holdem....

I know my new style will have it knockers but let me just say since the 20th of december my bankroll had grown from 38$ to 205$ not a lot i know but it is growing,and all i am doing really is not raising prefold with the big hands AA KK AK,example today on a 10c/20c table i get pocket kings in the BB 1 guy in late position raises to 1$ i call and get a nice flop K 10 2 i check after a long pause
and he fires in a bet 3$ after another pause i call the turn card is another 10
FH for me kings n tens very nice anyway he decides a 5$ raise with the rockets is in order i move allin and pick up a nice pot.
A couple of months ago i was always raising preflop with the big pocket pairs
and always getting busted,in one session qq 3 times kk twice and 10 10 all earned me nothing..
So slow playing everthing is actually paying off for me at the moment so i guess this style is the one for me...your thoughts on this please.

well your style seem fine, BUT, in 5 & 10 cent games they will call you with anything,(( even if their cards have no numbers on them )) just to make a hand. In bigger money games players dont do that as much, my advice is to try some $5. or $10. dollar games,>> buck

The reason you're doing so well (so far) is because your hands are very disguised. People can't put you on KK if you cold-call a raise preflop, and hence will pay you off when they have a decent enough hand.

The problem with your strategy is that you're giving the chance for other, lesser hands to see a flop, and possibly hit a hand that beats yours.

What happens when you call a raise preflop with KK with 3 or 4 other players, see a flop of 672 and are faced with a big raise and reraise?

You've now let marginal hands see a flop, and they could have you completely dominated. Not only that, but you're most probably going to pay them off too.

Raise preflop with your big hands to isolate, for value, and to protect your hand. If you don't believe me, keep playing them the way you are and you'll see the downside to your strategy. It's fine to maybe throw in a deceptive smooth-call preflop once in a while, but cold-calling with big pairs every time is going to hurt you big time in the long run.

You should never have one set strategy. The key is to mix up your game and play according to various factors, such as is the table tight or loose, what reads do you have on players, what is your position, etc. There is no one strategy that will win all the time in all circumstances.

I'm pretty sure though that if you try this at the higher levels your results might not be the same.

It's bad enough when you make a big raise with AA etc, get 1 caller and watch them suck out on you.

If you simply call AA etc etc the whole table will join the party.

Make them pay to see the flop. Winning a little is better than losing a lot

pocket aces only pay as much as your opponents cards allow them to. Make them pay to see the flop and chances they have a good hand increase as well, and thus their odds decrease. If you hold Aces and they hold AK, you will get paid. If you hold aces and they hold 8-4, they aren't worth any more than the blinds. Raise it up baby!

If you play it smooth and slow it either lets a marginal hand out draw you but at the same time it will keep sucking in the marginal hands to build the pot. So there really is no one right way to play any hand and its a matter of reading the individuals at the table and playing to their weaknesses.

I've think it may be wiser to raise preflop... If you just let some small suited connectors in the pot you could be in trouble when they suck out. I always think with a monster you should make the opponents pay to see the flop and even if you only take down the blinds its better than letting someone suck out on you.

I completely understand the theory behind raising preflop w/ AA : KK. But online, I have a problem doing that. It seems I make a 3-5X blind raise with those hands and someone will just go all-in to steal my raise. If I call - I'm all-in and I lost AA to KJ when a K and a J flopped out. If I fold, I just gave up that raise. If I'm position, it's easy to do, but out of position and ONLINE, I seem to get those All-In raisers.

My problem is knowing the amount to raise. Want to raise enough to get people fold the draw hands, but also not too much where I'm crippled and can lay the hand down if need be.

Out of position and ealry, I've tended to limp in or put up a medium sized raise...which ONLINE gets called by weaker hands.

Late in the tourney or as blinds go up - I'll raise more w/ those hands. I want to be able to get away and not lose all my chips on an AA : KK (which I have done a few too many times). If I raise too much, I can't get away from it.

I would gladly put all my chips in the pot with AA agains KJ every time. It's what you want to happen. If they suck out on you then move on but the vast majority of the time you will win. Don't let isolated incidents ruin solid poker play.

I agree... and if you dont bet PF, you will see a lot more hands like king jack suck out on you. If you don't win as a 4:1 favorite when you put your money in ahead theres nothing you can do but move on. You played the hand solid and got unlucky.

change gears brah. sometimes limp if you want, sometimes raise. im so disciplined i fold my kings 1 out of every 3 times i get them.

Ok i got the message thx guys,this morning i raised 10xbb only to see my rockets busted by J 9 off.This is a few hands later..

crans holdem 0.25/50c no limit (cash game) real money

k133 sitting in seat 1 with $44.25
gothenuts sitting in seat 2 with $38.70
richie_love sitting in seat 3 with $80.58
liquorice sitting in seat 4 with $9.25
dondo sitting in seat 5 with $54.70 (dealer)
huvudvy sitting in seat 6 with $38.36
ibreezeitb sitting in seat 7 with $114.79
jajatia sitting in seat 8 with $20.00 (sitting out)
arkeymedus sitting in seat 9 with $97.88
ulsterdrenge sitting in seat 10 with $30

huvudvy posted small blind 0.25c
ibreezeitb posted big blind 0.50

dealing cards to arkeymedus kd ks
arkeymedus raises $1.00 (notice this BIG raise twice the BB)

ulsterdrenge folded
gothenuts folded
liquorice folded
dondo folded
huvudvy called $1
ibreezeitb raises to $3.50
arkeymedus calls $3.50
huvudvy calls $3.50

dealing the flop kc 10s 7c

huvudvy checks
ibreezeitb bet $5.25
arkeymedus raised to $26.25
huvudvy folded
ibreezeitb went allin $106.54
arkeymedus went allin $68.13

dealing the turn card Ah
dealing the river card 10d

ibreeze mucks
arkeymedus wins $196.26

to the original poster: You're just playing scared imo. You're missing out on money when you're not raising the pot with a premium hand....not to mention you allow people to stick around when they should fold. Example today, playing .01 .02 NL holdem this happened:

I'm in the small blind: Dealt 3♠7♠

utg calls
fold
fold
call
call
call
fold
I call (pot odds here tell me i should call with just about anything as i'm getting 11:1 odds to call)
BB checks

Flop comes 3♥3♦7♣ I flop a boat. I check it checks around to guy in Mp. He bets 1.5x the pot. 1 caller, i raise 3x his bet. Folds around to mp, he pushes all in. fold behind him, i call.

He's got bullets...they don't improve. and i make almost 5$ at the penny table. His responce "wtf?! 37?!" and i simply said "had you raised pf, i would have been out of the hand and the probability of someone else having a 3 was not high.

The moral of the story is if you let people stick around for cheap or free...they're going to hit the flop and break you when you don't expect it. gl with your new style, but i do not see it working out for you in the long run.

ROFL. I'm so using that as my sig.

i missed you too styro.

As in the words of Mike 'the mouth' He's my hero

I can see the thinking behind this and ok its worked once but i expect going all-in with 72os might work if the right (or wrong) cards are out there

Surely the best way to limp (if limp you must) is when there aren't so many players in a pot with you ie. later position?

had some very nice premium starting hands this morning at ladbrokes,so after hearing what you guys had to say about taking out all the crappy hands with preflop raising 1 turned 33$ into 118$.
AA 3 times
KK twice
QQ just the once
raised on all of them between 5 an 8 times the BB and i was surprised at the action i got..some people just dont know when they should fold..
Thx for all your input guys my bankroll(420$ now) and me have taken to heart all your responses..thx again

you guys rock..

i tend to not really slow play big hands like big aceX's and big pairs because i dont want to put a lot of money in the pot that commits me but i like to play smaller pots and then pound on them when my big hand hoolds up. or seems to hold up. dont put in most of your money when you have to rely on luck. believe your system will work and it will be grand.
i rarely raise in the BB or SB when it is limped n and i have AQ AK QQ KK or AA because they never put me on a hand out of position, because i could also have 43 95 or so on

Good to see your big hands held up for you today but rember that people can still draw out on you even with just 1 or 2 callers, but the hand range you have to watch out for is far slimmer so no fearing the 7,7,3 flop (unless they had Pocket 7's or 3's) but still keep an eye out and if you think you may be beat try to keep the pot small.