I'm 4-tabling Stars, so it's kinda hard to watch everything going on when I'm not playing the hand, but tried my best to pay attention to any minraises in an obvious "possible monster" position (ie... someone calls a PF raise, checks, PF raiser bets, he minraises), and I would say at least 85-90% of the time, they had the nuts or close to it...

So, I get dealt in MP... I limp... Someone in LP raises to $5 (.5/1NL), I call and it's heads up...

FLOP... a VERY nice ... I bet out a pot sized bet, about $12... Villian takes a milisecond to minraise to $24...

I think and think, hearing Ice's voice in my head like an old, wise uncle saying "minraise=monster... minraise=monster..." ... Boy, I hate to lay it down...

I actually type "MINRAISE=MONSTER" into the text area and fold... I can hear his face turn to a mix of and ... He just types "NF" and shows me his Aces...

So, while I remain skeptical that EVERY time someone minraises it means something, I am definitely coming to the school of thought that, in meaningful situations (like this one), he's milking me, and I don't like to be milked...

Thanks again Ice and everyone else at BTP for making me not quite as much of a losing player as I was before...

You probably shouldn't tell the other players you have a read on their betting patterns (even if you did it indirectly). It promotes better play and more thinking...we don't need that.

MVP -


Do you play a different site every day or what?

Every time you DONT fold in this situation, mark down on a little tally sheet how much you won or lost in the hand AFTER calling the min raise (and including the min raise you had to call). (this only applies when YOU dont have a monster or odds to draw).

Example:

Raised pot...pot is $10. You bet $10 and he raises to $20. You call. . Turn comes and he bets $40. You call. River goes check./check. You called an extra $10 and then $40 more (after the point of the min raise).

If you lose the hand you mark -$50 on your sheet
If you win the hand, you mark +$80 on your sheet. By calling (instead of folding right there) you won the $10 that was there on the flop, plus you $10 bet, plus his $20, plus his $40 turn bet. You dont get credit for the extra $10 and extra $40 that you put in. You start with the time of the min raise and count what you won FROM HIM and FROM WHAT WAS ALREADY IN THE POT that you wouldnt have won if you folded to the min raise.

If you fold to the min raise you get zero..No win no loss.

Do this about 100 times and you be folding to min raises alot more, I promise you.

Also, take notes from anyone who min raises post flop. If you see someone do it with the nut flush draw or something like that...you need to reraise him big. Mostly it will be with a monster though and you'llknow who min raises with what.

I feel another article writing itself here.