$1/$2 Cash Games - AK/AQ Post Flop Advice

PiperT

Hi Folks

I mainly play mtt's and stt's but more recently started playing the tribeca $1/$2 cash games with reasonable success. However, I'm finding that most of my profit is coming from non-premium starting hands.

Can anybody offer advice on an optimal strategy for post flop play with hands like AK, AQ - particularly when the flop misses completely. My usual play is to raise pf between 3x & 5x depending on position and table. If I miss I fire again probably around half-pot but it seems that this is no deterrent anymore and I get muppets calling these continuation bets with rags and long-shot draws only to hit at quite an alarming rate. Is it weak to check the flop in these situtations ? Do pot odds matter anymore ?

Cheers Guys and sorry if this seems like a basic question but some of the play I'm seeing is driving me nuts.

PiperT

Hectorjelly

You are playing against morons who call too much. Do you think you are better off trying to push them off pots or get them to call you down when you have a good hand?

TacT

Raise and bet the pot or close to it if you miss, not half the pot or 3/4 of the pot. They'll be less inclined to call and give you credit for a big hand with your betting. It won't always work but it will work far more often than betting half the pot will for you. A half pot bet just smacks of weakness or someone trying to sell a big hand, I guess they know where you're at in that regard. Do you only bet half the pot when you hit too?

You say you always do the same thing, this is also not good and makes it easier for them to read you. How about the occasional limp OOP and bigger raising preflop in position? If 4 guys limp into a pot and I'm on the button with AK they are not going to be getting the usual 3-5xbb raise. They will get a 7 to 10xBB raise if they want to play. Unsurprisingly, most of the time they don't want to for such a big raise preflop.

Raise it 3, raise it 6 and raise it 10 to keep them guessing about your hand. Don't say I'm going to raise x amount in x position because it makes clear cut patterns for people to exploit.

I mix it up between 3-5xBB raise then add 1xBB on top of that for every limper.

Mr. Flibble

TacT wrote:

Raise and bet the pot or close to it if you miss, not half the pot or 3/4 of the pot. They'll be less inclined to call and give you credit for a big hand with your betting. It won't always work but it will work far more often than betting half the pot will for you. A half pot bet just smacks of weakness or someone trying to sell a big hand, I guess they know where you're at in that regard.

I second that. I think this was one of my leaks when I started playing cash games. Now usually if I miss (or don't miss) I bet nearly the size of the pot. This really puts people who have hit a low pair to the test.


Also, if you have AK on an A high flop and are getting called and you are pretty sure they have AQ AJ don't chicken out and pass up the oppertunity to get full value on the river.