Thoughts on AT?

Donohuge

Playing this hand seems to be a real leak of mine. I've looked over some hand histories and it's constantly loosing me money unless I make broadway. I rarely play it UTG but even in position with no action before me I still struggle with it. Should I just eliminate it out of my range completely? I feel more comfortable playing JT!

GREGHOGG

In Response to Thoughts on AT?:

Playing this hand seems to be a real leak of mine. I've looked over some hand histories and it's constantly loosing me money unless I make broadway. I rarely play it UTG but even in position with no action before me I still struggle with it. Should I just eliminate it out of my range completely? I feel more comfortable playing JT!
Posted by Donohuge

No, it's easy to get hung up on a certain hand but A10 can be a good value hand, particularly in late position. just have to be careful when an Ace hits in case you are outkicked, also avoid calling 3 bets with it imo

sam64

Eliminating it from your range would be a horrific decision mate. At 4nl (which I gather is where your having difficulty with a10 from previous post) it is a simple game due to the large vpip% + no. of stations who call down 3 streets with 1 pair hands etc. Fold EP as your likely to be oop to more than one person due to the amount of callers at this level. LP your hand is strong - relative to the game - youll get flatted by all the Ax hands which you crush and a tonne of shiiiite, be in position and can take value. Insta fold to 3bets unless its ridic pot odds, theres no such thing as 4bet bluffing at 4nl i doubt. 

Donohuge

In Response to Re: Thoughts on AT?:

Eliminating it from your range would be a horrific decision mate. At 4nl (which I gather is where your having difficulty with a10 from previous post) it is a simple game due to the large vpip% + no. of stations who call down 3 streets with 1 pair hands etc. Fold EP as your likely to be oop to more than one person due to the amount of callers at this level. LP your hand is strong - relative to the game - youll get flatted by all the Ax hands which you crush and a tonne of shiiiite, be in position and can take value. Insta fold to 3bets unless its ridic pot odds, theres no such thing as 4bet bluffing at 4nl i doubt. 
Posted by sam64

So due to the high VPIP, when I'm in position should I be raising more than 4x? Sometimes I feel that 4x isn't a big enough raise to get rid of garbage hands. I would often get 4 limp callers then depending on the flop texture a cbet into 4 callers isn't great?

Lambert180

Best thing you can do is read this:

https://www.skypoker.com/secure/poker/sky_lobby/poker-school/beat-small-stakes-cash-games-1?tracking=pokersleftnav

BorinLoner

You need to adapt your raise size if there are limpers in front of you. Generally the advice is to make your pre-flop raise three times the big blind and add an extra big blind for every limper. You'll see that written as 3x+1. Of course if you're making your standard opening raise four times the big blind, then it should be 4x+1.

The idea that you want people to fold their junk hands is one you need to reconsider, though. You want them to call with these weak hands whenever you have a good one or if you think they will just fold on the flop everytime they miss. While we want to play most flops heads-up in position, we don't want to raise so big that we miss this opportunity.

Donohuge

In Response to Re: Thoughts on AT?:

You need to adapt your raise size if there are limpers in front of you. Generally the advice is to make your pre-flop raise three times the big blind and add an extra big blind for every limper. You'll see that written as 3x+1. Of course if you're making your standard opening raise four times the big blind, then it should be 4x+1. The idea that you want people to fold their junk hands is one you need to reconsider, though. You want them to call with these weak hands whenever you have a good one or if you think they will just fold on the flop everytime they miss. While we want to play most flops heads-up in position, we don't want to raise so big that we miss this opportunity.
Posted by BorinLoner

What about implied collusion then? Isn't it a bad idea to let so many people see the flop vs the top part of my range?

Lambert180

Basically BL is talking about finding a balance. When we have AK we don't want to raise 2x and make everyone call, and we don't want to raise 10x and make everyone fold just because we're scared someone might call with 89 and beat us.

We want to get the maximum value out of our hand, so if someone is happy to call 5x with junk like A4o but will fold that junk to 6x, we don't want to make them fold, we want them to call and fold flops or call and be outkicked and lose big pots

Donohuge

In Response to Re: Thoughts on AT?:

Basically BL is talking about finding a balance. When we have AK we don't want to raise 2x and make everyone call, and we don't want to raise 10x and make everyone fold just because we're scared someone might call with 89 and beat us. We want to get the maximum value out of our hand, so if someone is happy to call 5x with junk like A4o but will fold that junk to 6x, we don't want to make them fold, we want them to call and fold flops or call and be outkicked and lose big pots
Posted by Lambert180

 
But I just got bummed by A6 vs my AT! Is that just unlucky?

Lambert180

Well it completely depends how it happened. If it came 666 on the flop and you got all your chips in on the flop, that's just stupid, but if it came AT66x that would be unlucky.

The main point to remember is this, when you have AT and he has A6, you're about 70% favourite to win, so whatever you bet preflop, he called with only a 30% of winning. So when we're 70% favourite do we want him to put in 12p preflop or 20p?