Moved up to 0.25/0.50 today since the BR had passed $750 which was my rule. Didn't play very well unfortunately and ended up going back down under $750, so next session will be down at the 0.1/0.20 tables again. The big loser today was AK. If I had just folded all my AK preflop I would actually have made a decent profit.

My main problem was that I got mini-reraised preflop several times when I raised with it preflop. One example:

Woz_Stoke called - $0.50
Blomman77 called - $0.50
Bolz22 folded
QQ2004 folded
Gussie called - $0.50
bruhunter called - $0.50
guta folded
TatFwat called - $0.50
Stoneburg raised - $3.25 [Ah]
KungenMidas folded
Woz_Stoke raised - $6.00
Blomman77 called - $6.00
Gussie folded
bruhunter folded
TatFwat folded
Stoneburg called - $6.00

** Dealing the flop: {7s]
Stoneburg checked
Woz_Stoke checked
Blomman77 bet - $9.50
Stoneburg folded

The guy making the re-raise is very lose but has only 5% pfa. I'm pretty sure that I can't get this pot uncontested by pushing since "Blomman" just called a raise AND re-raise cold, most likely meaning 99-JJ and the raiser SHOULD have AA-QQ but I can't make myself fold to a freaking miniraise so I call. (Turns out re-raiser has A8s... wtf?!)

Another one, simple enough:

bluename called - $0.50
Dicken folded
acefishing1 folded
Stoneburg raised - $2.00
ohforf folded
Taxdool folded
cizzers folded
Parafin raised - $3.50
QQ2004 folded
bluename folded
Stoneburg called - $3.50

** Dealing the flop:
Parafin bet - $6.00
Stoneburg folded
Parafin mucks:
Parafin wins $13.60 from the main pot

This guy is also loose and has a pfr of only 3...

Should I simply be folding to these miniraises? That seems awfully weak. Or should I re-raise to find out if they have AA-KK? Obviously I'll fold if he pushes but if he just flat calls I'm in trouble. If he has QQ-KK I won't hget paid if I draw out, if I miss the flop I can't bet since he'll call down unless he's got AK too... if I hit the flop I'll be creamed by AA and possibly KK...

Got a bit sick of it and decided to limp it UTG later, got a raise from BB and pushed, only to be shown AA... maybe I should have just limp/raised it a reasonable amount to give myself a way out.

AKo wins me money when I have the lead (am the pre-flop rasier with no re-raise) or when I hit the flop with it (and dont run into aa or kk). I will bet out if I miss if I have the lead but not usually otherwise except against someone who is insanely weak-tight.

I don't raise it too strongly (3-4xBB) as I want dominated Ax hands to call it and I also want to be able to get away from it cheaply if there is heavy action post-flop.

As a rule of thumb if a player has 3% or less PFR and raises up before I act I will just lay it down.

Even 5% pfr players won't usually be raising with any hand that isn't a favourite over it.

As for cold-calling or re-raising with it, It's the players in the 7%+ pfr range who will be raising into it with dominated hands (AQ, AQ,Ax, KQ etc) that you make the big money from (and those that can't lay down QQ or JJ) when an A or K hits. With normal stack sizes here I tend to call - I really don't see the benefit of re-raising to try to find out if he has AA, AK or QQ pre-flop. If I suspect AA or KK I'd rather drop it and wait for a better spot...I'm only re-raising if my read is AQ or below and it's not often I'm going to make that read with much confidence..

I think you need to mix it up with AK. The min-raises are definite calls, since you hit the flop 1/3 of the time. You will definitely reap a pot bigger the investment if you hit and milk. Whenever i miss ak i like to bet half pot to overbet the pot sometimes to not be too predictable, if you are OOP or in position you might want to fire another bet on the turn, if they're aggression is not too high and they have low wtsd% (sometimes they call with stuff like mid-pair just to see if you slow down). If they bet first you can reraise and rep aces if you think they have some rubbish or are drawing, but it should be a fairly big reraise so theres no misunderstanding what you are representing. If that is called then I would check it down and hopefully they see that I bluffed and others try to play back at me when I have aces or kings.

AK hits 1/3 of the time?

Somebody needs to tell the dealer to stop ripping me off.


CJ