High cards vs pockets

[Jacki Burkhart]

I'm going to assume you're talking about being short stacked or later in the tourney when the average M is very low.

Because by and large if you are deepstacked you should try to never be all in until you have the nuts or a really really profitable spot.

So....assuming you're in a low M situation you can shove with either pocket pairs or high cards if your position is favorable. tiny pocket pairs go WAAAAY down in value in early to mid pos so I would muck 22-66 most of the time unless micro stacked.

In general I prefer shoving with the pair, and calling somebody else's shove with the high cards because calling with say 88 you're hoping for a flip, you might be crushed. calling with KQ most of the time you're flipping occasionally you're dominated.

 

[RNG]

I think you should play similar with all hands buts its fine to develop a strategy and i think its a good idea to go all in with only pockets. But if you're shortstack, are you playing with the same strategy? With 10bb, you have to shove everything, not just pockets.

 

[Phoenix14]

how long do you think its going to take your oponents to figure out that raises are high cards and shoves are pockets ? If you do this with any pocket pair any observant opponent is going to crush you with his top 60% of pocket pairs.

Um, how long is one even at the same table at a tournament?

 

[Phoenix14]

This mentality is totally wrong.

How? any pair heads up is almost always good to go.

 

[Phoenix14]

I think you should play similar with all hands buts its fine to develop a strategy and i think its a good idea to go all in with only pockets. But if you're shortstack, are you playing with the same strategy? With 10bb, you have to shove everything, not just pockets.

True that. I usually tend to get enough though.

 

[houtlijm]

when i have a lot of chips i try to play them the same way. when midstacked i limp or fold with low pockets. shortstacked these low pockets are all in or fold to me

 

[Unfinished Business]

As far as playing big hands-high value non-pairs and pairs of any size goes, the problem I repeatedly run into is that I play these aggressive but not aggressive enough and get two callers usually, especially in the beginning stages of MTT's because everyone and their lost dog is trying to double up. When I have to play 3-handed post-flop with a small pair or something like AJ or AQ, the strength of my hand really takes a downturn, and I usually end up getting sucked out or have to fold once the flop comes out. I've been finding it very difficult to get any action if I go all-in preflop with a whale of a hand but when I don't, I get played back at and end up losing the hand to some trash hand. This is happening in freerolls, as right now that's all I play. I'm guessing that is a big part of the problem. People have nothing to lose so they just play awful hands and run the good hands down.

 

[Misdir]

? re: randomness: in the casino where I play, they have drawings for money, cars, points, etc.. There is a older woman who has had her name drawn eight times money, the car and whatever. Is this randomness or is she very lucky? I play there often over the years and have never had my name drawn for anything? Is that being unlucky or randomness?

 

[The Nuder]

I've been finding it very difficult to get any action if I go all-in preflop with a whale of a hand but when I don't, I get played back at and end up losing the hand to some trash hand. This is happening in freerolls, as right now that's all I play. I'm guessing that is a big part of the problem. People have nothing to lose so they just play awful hands and run the good hands down.

I find with freerolls, which is what I mostly play at the moment, if I can get past that initial spurt of everyone wanting to build a stack then it settles down.

You can pretty much guarantee on 888 that for the first few hands of a freeroll there will be a few people going all in so there's no point calling unless you are preped to go all in too. Then when this activity dies down there are people at every table with a big stack. They'll use this to bully you so you're still in the same situation.

If you can weather those storms things tend to settle a bit. The further into the freeroll the more settled it gets. I think I play best when I play really tight, over time it seems to work against loose aggressive players. But I have to remind myself to do this - and having some predetermined structure, which shifts with my position and stack size, does help with this.

I also think it's too easy to remember the negative hands. I know I had AA beaten twice yesterday by garbage - but I probably also had my share of luck too although I couldn't tell you the specifics. This is probably just high card infatuation. If you look at a printed list of odds some of the differences mathematically are miniscule yet when someone loses a hand they often behave as though they've literally been burgled.

 

[kanselau]

over 100k hands pocket 22 is never going to be luckier than AA, no matter who holds the cards.

last nite I was on a tabe for 6 hours , Is that enough ?

 

[kanselau]

Um, how long is one even at the same table at a tournament?

6 hrs long enough?

 

[The Nuder]

how long do you think its going to take your oponents to figure out that raises are high cards and shoves are pockets ? If you do this with any pocket pair any observant opponent is going to crush you with his top 60% of pocket pairs.

This is quite a far fetched suggestion. Firstly they've got to suss on to your strategy. Not as easy as you're making out. Just because you only call on high and pocket pairs, doesn't mean you're winning every hand and you muck losing and winning hands where possible.

Then for the "crushing with top 60% of pocket pairs" you've got to pull a pocket pair whilst he also pulls a higher one. This can happen anytime with any strategy - nowhere does the strategy suggest playing like a total donk with pocket 3's etc.