Post Flop Strategys

I seem to be struggling at the moment and it appears to me i dont really have any post flop strategy unless i obviously hit. For example i get dealt AK raise 3xBB and get one caller. flop comes down 2 8 10 so i check and the other guy lobs in a pot size bet, i tend to fold now.
Does anybody have any good post flop strategys or tips, iv read about small ball last night and found that it only really works in late position which is what its meant to i think lol.
Any help would be good
Jurn

I'm having the same problems even though I'm primarily a post-flop player and very strong heads up. I think it depends on whether or not they are really interested in the pot.

If you haven't made a pair and playing AK then you only have about 8% to make a pair by the turn or river.

This is my own problem when playing TAG. You might try C-betting and leading right out on some flops. Something that works very well is also to check and then bet the turn.

If you deal with a very aggressive LAG then I recommend raising with a range such as 10-9 and if you get low cards and he bets out then you have something to work with.

But its a difficult against a crafty opponent. Typically you want a small pot with a small hand thus checking or floating -- calling might work. You might also try psychological warfare by re-raising say 2x the pot size. If he calls or re-raises then just fold but keep this mind because you can use this to build a bigger pot if he's the type to re-raise you -- then you can use that against him when you have a big hand.

These are strategies I use heads up to try to see how my opponent reacts but with several players I typically just fold because it will cost too much to get a good read on the player behavior.

Also be sure to check on some flops you hit too.. thus he wont know if you are drawing or hit. They get burned a few times if you are crafty and get lucky and you have a lot of options.

But its my own problem because Ive got burned a lot playing pocket aces and kings too.

First of all playing small ball and being bad post flop is generally worst idea ever, in order for small ball to work right, you MUST be an excellent post flop player, now let me explain why, as you have read about small ball, this strategy might seem easy but only few are actually succesful with this strategy since it takes a lot of practice to master it. I mean think about it, if someone at your table constantly playing pots constantly betting, wouldn't you think that guy is some loose donk and start making moves vs him and start raising, well thats exactly what this stradegy supposed to do, also a lot of the bets are very passive and to many players tend to chase online so if you are not good at reading people which is harder online than live. This stradegy requires a lot of multi level thinking, you have to know when to 3 bet bluff 4 bet bluff, this is not ABC poker, I mean its obvious anybody can try playing by this stradegy but not everyone will be successfull at it. I suggest you stick to just playing tight poker and play what i call "pre flop" or "ABC" poker until you are experienced enough to play those multi level thinking games.

Exactly but come to think of it adding small ball to TAG base is what has helped me to be a letter player. I just realized this -- this is what made the difference. You're exactly right that what happens if you play a lot of flops then people start playing back at you and that is exactly what you want them to do when you have a big hand.

I think this is where the real value of it comes in is in getting people to call your premium hands. This has 2 effects: it increases the value of your premium hands because people don't believe you have them and #2 you will lose more times with your premium hands because more people will call and chase but you should make more money.

The greatest benefit to small ball online is that people will see you as a maniac but the trick is you never put a lot of money on your hands -- thats why its call small ball unless you hit a big draw or you are really raising with a premium hand.

Position is very critical in this because you want to be on the button -- you cant do this anywhere else really because you might get sandwiched between 2 raisers. You also cant do this with any raises obviously.

What might happen is that the blinds will start to shove. That presents you with both a problem and opportunity to re-shove over them.

Small ball is best played on the button with big draw hands like 10-9, J-10, QJ, and almost any king k-5 and better and any suited ace. But you can also be raising of course your aces and kings the same way.

You also have to kinda know your opponents too.

Where you should not use small ball

* If you are getting plenty of calls on your premium hands
* If your opponents are very aggressive and you can just float them

Best to use small ball or maniac style against tight aggressive players. The good thing is if they raise you then you know you're beat and they never know what you have.

You might spend say 25% of your stack but if you can someone to stack off when you have the nuts then it pays for itself. Also you might pick up a lot of small pots that you can use to chase draws which is what I like to do.

Its very difficult to play this style on anything but single table. If I multi then I'll change up my range but I mostly am just value betting. The other problem is when you flop something lke the flop comes kk57 and you have k-5 then your opponent will often have the k-7 or k-8 that beats you in many cases. So you dont want to get too involved with these hands.

whats ABC poker ??

Good replys guys thanks, i only read about small ball yesterday and tried it out, it was ok but people just seem to call you with nothing and u get beat against like A high or something. I really dont know what to do post flop i think my pre flop game is fine but i dont know when to chase or not, i know about my outs but really dont know if somebody puts in a pot size bet or something like that.