Lately, I've been trying to play my big hands against LAGs a little more aggressively / deceptively, especially on the turn, in order to maximize value. Tell me what you think of these two hands.

Hand #1 - 10/20 NL

4 limpers, I raise to 160 with from the SB. BB, our LAG, calls, rest fold. I have 2k, he has me covered.

Flop = ; Pot = $400

I bet $300, he flat calls.

Turn = ; Pot = $1000

I check, he bets 500, I raise all-in, about $840 more, he calls.

Hand #2 - 10/20 NL

I limp with in MP. I have 2k, LAG has me covered. LAG limps after me, SB raises to $100. Me and the LAG call.

Flop = ; Pot = $310

SB checks, I bet $200, LAG calls, SB folds.

Turn = ; Pot = $710

I check, LAG bets $500, I raise all-in, $1200 more, LAG calls.

Comments?

Thanks

D

#1) Love it
#2) Love it even more

Although, it DOES matter whether or not this is the same LAG and what happened in the first hand.

Hand 1- Tough to get away from an over pair on that board, two pair seems pretty unlikely there is no flush or Str8 possibilities, a set is the only thing that beats you.

Hand 2- This turn card is one that seems to scare a lot of people and people slow down, I really dont see why, its a raised pot it seems very doubtfull that he is playinf 3/5. I he is bad enough to call the flop bet with someting that involves a 3 so be it, you sitll have 10 outs to win. More likely he is sitting on Aces up and he is drawing to at most 4 outs, or overplaying AK/AQ and drawing dead.

The first hand I'm more iffy on, lately I've been noticing that with out a read on my LAG that I'm likely beat to that kind of ragged jumbled board.

The second hand you are likely to be ahead now by 4:1 and if not you have a healthy amount of outs against most hands. I like this play a bunch, even if he turns over a massively overplayed 33 or K3s or some trash.

How good of LAGs are they? I'm always having to pay careful attention to whether the guy is an idiot or genius, because it is hard to tell them apart a lot of times. A good LAG is scary and you are forced to gamble in these situations, a bad LAG I love gambling in both of these places.

From my experience, if the LAG in hand 1 is a good LAG then more often than not he will have your AA beat. Keep in mind that while you really can't put them on a hand, it is easier for them to put you on a hand. I suppose it is possible that you have JJ or AK and he's trying to move you off that but it's probably just as likely that he has you beat and is trapping your AA/KK. That said, I don't think you have enough information and deep enough stacks to get away on the turn.

Hand 2 seems very straightforward. A lot of times I will overbet that flop for $400-450 and have them raise me with AK or AQ thinking I am betting AT or some sort of draw. But generally I think I would play it the same way you do, while mixing it up occasionally and checkraising.

Hmmm... I'm less certain about all this.

The thing about LAGs for maximizing profit is to let them bet your hand for you. As raiser, I don't entirely see this.

I actually think you win hand 1, as I think the LAG has AQ. I still probably would have bet the turn, however. The one idea I might like in terms of capitalizing on the LAG aspect is making a weak continuation bet, like $150-ish, which he should raise, then coming over the top. The way you played it, I figure he put you on unimproved AK, then couldn't get away from his AQ. I think I prefer keeping the initiative here, however, just following up with another bet on the turn (maybe half pot, and calling an all-in).

Hand 2: Here, too, I probably would have bet out more like $140 or else the full $310. This board is actually pretty dangerous, obviously, although 53s is pretty hard to believe to a raise of $100, which I suppose isn't enormous at 10/20, though. Anyhow, if I do get all-in here, I prefer to do it on the flop (where you have 2 shots at filling up if he should turn over the straight) than on the turn. So, what I'd be shooting for on the probe bet would be having him raise, then coming over the top. Any info on the raiser here? Is he a fairly loose raiser? weak? I do think I prefer the probe bet idea on this one (full betting on hand 1) in order to provoke a raise.

To me, anyway, it seems like the main thing to watch against a LAG is that you actually would prefer to CALL an all-in rather than yourself bet all-in (just the opposite against a TAG). I'll be interested to hear your thoughts as well as the results.

So what happened?

Holy moly. It just don't matter what level you play huh!? FH.

On another note ( ice ) do you think it is a good idea to have some sort of dictionary where ,new players and players of whom English is not their first language , can have a quik look up on some pokerterms.

I mean words like LAG ( and all other types of players ) EV, BB. $WS etc..etc..

This would maybe be a friendly gesture.

Just a thought.

Tommyhawk.