Zoom plo50 AAT9 topset, ip, facing flop 3b

You played it fine. UTG had nothing at all and was just trying to buy the pot because he thought your small raise was weakness.

If you had called he probably check/folds the turn anyway. All you can do is pray they have a draw or something like A6/66 in these situations and shove. You can't afford to slow play because the turn card might kill the action if villain does have a lower set.

Thankyou

In this hand we flopped top set and also raised villain's cbet in a situation where villain could well have an overpair. (i.e. it wasn't so likely that villain was on air). You advised raising closer to pot and our raise was indeed v small (and smaller than in this hand).

Is the reason why we can afford to raise less with AA on Axxs (i.e. not potting it) because there is less villain can continue with? Or some other reason.

I can definitely see why our flop raises should be pretty close to pot when our hand is vulnerable and also when we want max feq. In other cases is there room for smaller raises?

cheers

Originally posted by Tim64
Is the reason why we can afford to raise less with AA on Axxs (i.e. not potting it) because there is less villain can continue with? Or some other reason.

In this situation its because villain is raising preflop from UTG so in his range there is more Axxx than rundowns 4567. You've got blockers to aces so his range in here is pretty weak.

I would still raise more than you - probably to 8 or sth like that.

Your raise induces bluffs because it looks pretty weak and villain can represent pretty strong range from UTG.

Whenever you have a hand, either a drawing hand or a made hand, think about how you would play it in both situations.

So if you flop top set, think about how you play a draw and play top set the same way. Balance is pretty important as you play more and more because opponents will adjust their strategy.

One thing I have noticed is how when people play at other sites then switch over to Pokerstars they always do well for the first month. This is because they already have a solid understanding of Omaha and all of the Pokerstars regs dont know who you are and haven't had time to adjust (so you can get away with making exploitable plays).

Eventually however people will start to pick up on stuff you do and adapt, so it's a good habit to get in to, to be balanced and play draws and made hands the same way.

Against dumb opponents you play the situation and whatever makes you the most money at that time, but against regs you have to think about being balanced.

In this case if someone cbets half pot, they will look weak, so when you raise with a made hand, you should make a larger raise as that is what you would do with a draw to try and make them fold (and the reason you raise larger with a draw is because when you do have a made hand you want to charge draws).

To summarise, cbets I prefer to be smaller, but raises of cbets I prefer to be bigger.

This is solid gold. Thanks. One last thing then I promise I'll leave you alone

"To summarise, cbets I prefer to be smaller, but raises of cbets I prefer to be bigger."

Ignoring the issue of balance, why do you like smaller cbets? More specifically, if smaller cbets look weak (I agreee, btw) isn't there a danger that we get raised in a spot where we have a hand that has value but which can't stand a raise?

Cheers