EARLY GAME DOUBT

[bianconi_10]

I often find myself in those awkward spots where i feel like i lose a lot of Chips because i either Play too passive or too aggressive. i feel like my Hand is too weak for a huge 3bet, has no decent Showdown value multiway and is too strong to call and Play for set value.

with 'too weak to 3bet' i mean that People would call any 3bet in the early stage if i raise to 5-8bb and raising 10+bb with JJ seems a bit OOL

when i Play microstakes on pokerstars I see it very often that someone is Opening in EP 3-4bb and gets 3-4 caller. what should we do with PPs like 99/1010/JJ or decent hands like AQo/AJs/ATs? is it too tight to just call or too aggressive to 3bet?
if i 3bet and get more than 1 caller, i feel very comfortable Multi way post flop. is it just me?

Scenario:

early stage of a MTT
Everone is 100bb Deep
UTG opens 2.5bb
3 caller
i have JhJd in the sb

should we Always 3bet or just call here?

let's say i 3bet to 7.5bb and get 2 caller
Flop Comes Qs Tc 7s
how should we continue? c/f? c/c? r/f?

 

[gryphon3005]

I think in Pstars micros a TAG approach is best early on. The key is when to be aggressive in the play of the hand. The plays you describe are what we all face....big 3 bets rarely get folds from those players already in the pot. That's just the nature of micro poker. Play conservative pre flop when you have a good hand. Then, when the flop comes you can decide on how much aggression you want to use. A lot of the micro players leak their chips away by calling pre flop and then folding to a bet when they don't catch.

 

[kowrip]

I've learned that free rolls / micros / low stakes play a lot differently than the higher buy-in games. I would not 3-bet JJ in a micro/free game unless the only ones left in the hand were me and the original raiser. Otherwise, you are just asking for trouble because, as you said, you are likely to get multiple callers. There is a > 50% chance that a Q, K or A will hit the flop and you will be in a really bad spot. A much better play is to just call and see if you can get a low flop or a set. Now, if I'm playing in a $200 buy-in tournament, I'd most likely 3-bet the JJ in a heartbeat because I know my raise would get a lot more respect. Playing the low stakes is mostly about getting into pots as cheaply as possible and trying to hit a monster hand to get paid off.

 

[Woburn]

I think in Pstars micros a TAG approach is best early on. The key is when to be aggressive in the play of the hand. The plays you describe are what we all face....big 3 bets rarely get folds from those players already in the pot. That's just the nature of micro poker. Play conservative pre flop when you have a good hand. Then, when the flop comes you can decide on how much aggression you want to use. A lot of the micro players leak their chips away by calling pre flop and then folding to a bet when they don't catch.

I agree. This is exatly what I want wrote.

 

[matiorzi]

In freerolls/microstakes I rather play flops and dont try to build the pot unless my hand is really strong. In your case, 3bet is ofcourse an option, but sizing you mentioned is way too low. Like u said raise to 2.5bb plus 3 callers, you are on sb so if I 3bet I would go not less than 15-17bb, otherwise you give your opponents too good price to call. Calling is an option too, but its disaster to play JJ 5 ways out of position. Plus you shouldnt worry that someone has you beat, first raise has the strongest range, first caller might flat AA or KK to induce behind, but its unlikely given how deep you are. So those 3 callers are either garbage hands or hands that you beat.

 

[sirrupetot]

U should use bigger bet sizes when 3bet or sq ...if u just call there then probably will be a family pot with 6-7 players all the time and than u can't do nothing.

 

[AJantwan]

The unfortunate reality is that 1) at lower stakes, people do call wider, and 2) poor play by others can have a negative impact on you.

So for example, if you shove, and someone incorrectly calls, in a heads-up case game, that always benefits you. In a multi-player tournament game, it doesn't have to -- the benefit can be to others.

So yes, you have to take into account that people will mistakenly call you. Just because it's a mathematically -EV move for them to call you doesn't mean it's a +EV position for you.

At lower stakes, people's willingness to gamble means that you are forced to play in games with more variance. It becomes more of a gamble for you too. :/

TAG is the best way to navigate this early on. Especially the T part.

 

[XxDeckers]

in my opinion, if you are playing deep you usually raise to 3-4 bb, but you will always have to keep in mind the call ranger of your opponents only so you could be profitable