Min. bets postflop and beyond

I've been seeing this a lot in the micros. It happens in both preflop limped and raised pots. For instance, in a .01/.02 NL game, someone will raise preflop to about .08 and get 3 callers (making the pot about 0.24). Postflop, a player (NOT the raiser) will bet .02. Two things will then happen: either everyone calls, because even if you whiffed completely, you're getting incredible odds, OR someone will re-raise to, say, 0.20. People fold and the bettor calls. I've seen this repeat all the way down to the river where the min. bettor will fold, showdown with a wide range of hands (anything from TPGK to bottom pair or Ace high), or fold to the postflop re-raise.

I'm having trouble interpreting what this min. bet means. I thought maybe it's a "feeler" bet to see where he stands, but calling down to a showdown kinda contradicts that. I also thought maybe it's some type of pot-building attempt by someone on a draw, but I haven't seen much evidence of that. Perhaps it is an attempt to provoke a re-raise, giving the min. bettor an opportunity to 3-bet or shove, but I have seen less evidence of that than anything else.

How would you interpret this type of bet from an unknown? How would you play against it with a good hand - or nothing? When I first started seeing this, I'd re-raise regardless of what I held, but I was getting called time after time. Lately, if I whiffed the flop, I'd call the bet, and if I have top pair or better, I'll raise.

Best would be to ask these retards themselves, but their brains can't process human speech or even if they can they can't articulate enough to explain thought processes.

LD1977 said:

Best would be to ask these retards themselves, but their brains can't process human speech or even if they can they can't articulate enough to explain thought processes.

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Lmao. Yep. Just wondering if anyone else has come across this. It is such a horrible bet in all situations, but I was trying to interpret it from the point of view of the person who uses it.

Maybe they're just too lazy to use the bet slider...

I think the best way to ask them is to repop it to 4X the min bet.......

AugustWest said:

I think the best way to ask them is to repop it to 4X the min bet.......

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What's funny is the pot would be like $0.24, they bet $0.02, I raise to $0.20, and they snap call. So I can't really figure out the logic behind these min. bets.

Treat it as a check and either raise if you were gonna bet or call if you were going to check (assuming you have at least /some/ equity - an overcard for example).

However, I tend to raise them whether I was going to bet or check and get called down by all sorts, so it's probably best to simply do what I initially said and think about value first, especially at 2NL.

I've noticed that this has become a trend lately as well. It's not just a few people who are doing it. Cafeman explains how to play vs this exactly. Just ignore the bet as if it didn't happen and play the hand as you would vs a check.

Good advice. I'll proceed that way from now on.

This thread is hilarious. The bet is so awful that we just ignore it. I wonder who is sitting behind their computer making this dumb bet.

I just pray the poker gods are smiling on me and when i finally flop big enough I don't bet 4x the min raise. I usually pot it. On the turn, I'll put about 35% of my remaining and chips. Any guesses on the river? Yep, if you're min betting I'm all in.
Min bets that are 10% of the pot or less are essentially a check.
If you have a super marginal hand. Just call it down. You bottom par might just be good.
Also another thing I have seen it to mean is they have pp 22,33,44,55, and they are afraid if they check you're going to bet them out of the pot so watch out for those small innocuous cards on the river

Also, make sure you make notes when you see what they show down.

I just made this incremental note on a single tabling donkalonk:-

F: mindonk = underpair & complete air.

Here's a hand I just this minute played against that guy.

poker stars, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

CO: $50 (100 bb)
BTN: $53.43 (106.9 bb)
SB: $50 (100 bb)
BB: $41.44 (82.9 bb)
Hero (UTG): $205.53 (411.1 bb)
MP: $51.77 (103.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with T A
Hero raises to $1.50, 4 folds, BB calls $1

Flop: ($3.25) J 3 K (2 players)
BB bets $0.50, Hero raises to $3.50, BB folds

Results: $4.25 pot ($0.28 rake)
Final Board: J 3 K
BB mucked and lost (-$2 net)
Hero mucked T A and won $3.97 ($1.97 net)


Didn't need to raise as large as that obv, bit of an error, but I knew he was weak so with my GS+over I'm obviously raising all day long.


EDIT: I was opening anything playable from any position in order to iso him, before the preflop police come on board and say, ooo ATo is a little loose from UTG. No it isn't when you've got a drooler to you right.

Cafeman has the right idea. Treat it like a check.

However, in HU pots, if you notice that an opponent has a tendency to pre-select their actions (such as fold-to-bet), min-bets can buy you some pots that you don't want to spend a whole lot of money trying to buy. This is especially useful against players that are playing a lot of tables and in later stages of tourneys.

Opening ATo UTG in 6 max isn't really loose is it?

AugustWest said:

Opening ATo UTG in 6 max isn't really loose is it?

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It would be considered loose to some yeah.

Its player dependent. In most cases I see it as a "feeler Bet" and so the proper response to it is to communicate to him that hes beat by raising and then barreling down (Some call this bluffing =).

Occasional I get trapped by a donk with a monster, most of the time its that he min donk's with many hands and I just happened to get caught.
Sometimes a player rarely does it without a good hand. Be sure to take a note of what happens the first time a player does this. That should help you navigate through the games better.

"feeler bet"

"I feel like an idiot".

Anyway, some of these muppets tend to ALWAYS fire this once or even twice and then massively overbet river if they only get called before (since their miniscule brains interpret simple calls as signs of weakness, dunno how that exactly works but OK). Ideal stuff when having a great hand plus you get a very confused fish who has zero idea what to do next.

If the are giving u great pot odds to stick around, then stick around if you have draws or overcards. Raise them when you have a strong hand. If they seem like they actually can fold, then start bluffing when they min raise.