Thanks I thought of raising more - I wanted to see if he would come back over the top.

I just had JJ and raised a player from $3 to $10 and I was re-raised by a 3rd player by $35 and just mucked my hand.

I wanted to get heads up with the first player figuring a most likely big Ace .

well, if you raise less with weaker hands to see if he will come over the top than your strong hands, someone might pick up on it. I just always bet/raise the same whether i want a call or not.

i actually like the reraise OOP. it vastly increases the chances of taking down the pot preflop, and it defines your hand immediately. i think that if you're going to play a hand OOP it is much better to have taken the betting lead and to be the aggressor.

i agree that you have to reraise more in the $10 range.

jon

reraising does too go a long way toward defining where you stand relative to your opponent, though i do agree that bumping it up to $7 is not nearly enough. here's why: the re-raise (if it is $10+) will most likely cause AA/KK to re-raise, cause AK/QQ/JJ/TT to call, and cause AQ/AJ to fold. its very unlikely that he's raising 88 or 99.

then. it allows you to lead the flop if there's an Ace or a King, and 1: usually take the pot down, because you are representing at least AK, and 2: fold to a big raise with confidence that you're behind. if you just call his raise and lead at an Ace-high flop.....AQ/AJ will most likely raise you in position and you are stuck in the uncomfortable spot of being forced to fold the best hand. if you re-raise preflop and then lead strongly at the flop when you have TPTK....then you'll know where you stand if you get raised.

lately i've been trying to keep the pot small and the hand simple w/ TPTK hands, and increasing the stakes/taking the lead preflop increases the chance of my ending the pot on the flop, instead of having to figure out what to do on the river.

jon

jon - I like your review. I like to re-raise from the blinds since I am OOP and I will have to raise a little more going forward.

One problem is that the other player has to be a thinking player which most are not. Most Muppets will know to re-raise with AA and KK but may not know what to do with QQ-99 or a Ace w/Q or J.

Here I was worried about TT or AT the two hands most likely to crush me. If he was lucky to have TT and hit his set then I was going to pay him off. Which sometimes happened. But, most people play a set slower and try to milk it. They don't want to let he fish off the hook.

(I had AQ LP and the BB flopped a set of 6's (AQ6). I did not believe him. He checked/called the flop and we checked the turn. I called a 1/4 river bet - I got away cheaply - I did not want to scare him away ).