Poker Forums

Generally speaking, is the following scenario a negative equity play? It seems I pick up the blinds doing this more often than not, but I don't use any program to track this type of stat.

Tournament or cash ring game, all players fold to the button. Button holds Q7 or higher and bets 3x BB as a steal attempt or a play. Button folds if reraised unless holding premium hand or pocket pair.

Is Q7+ fifty percent against a random hand?

Thanks for any responses.

__________________
ertrauma


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As my father always said, "Son, choose your sword wisely for some day you may find you must fall on it".

Hi ertrauma.
here are a useful couple of links.
firstly play around with pokerstove. it's a free program with no spyware or advertising.

www.pokerstove.com

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt
33,561,158,400 games 0.005 secs 6,712,231,680,000 games/sec
Board:
Dead:
equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 52.400% 50.56% 01.84% 16968234760 617750240.00 { Q7s, Q7o }
Hand 1: 47.600% 45.76% 01.84% 15357423160 617750240.00 { random }



also read this great link from another forum (sorry), great for beginers, and has a useful starting hands from different positions table. 604poker.com

just one thought.
If the big blind just calls, what are you looking for on the flop, and how would you aim to proceed?

cheers

also, blind stealing in cash games is less important than in tournies or sng's because of the size of the blinds, but should still be part of your arsenal, as you still have position, and all those blinds build up over time! In sng's or tournies blind stealing MUST become somthing you are comfortable with.

hello im new here i dont know the value of being her but i suspect ill findout if its worth it soon

You also need to take into account those times you are called, your Q7 (for example) can still win the pot in many ways... benefits of position mean you will often take it with a cbet when you both miss, or you might even have the best hand.

Mark

The problem with raising on the button with a hand like Q7 is that it if you do get a caller, you've not set yourself up to be in a position to completely know where you stand post flop. If you do hit top pair on the flop it could prove to be costly, as your opponent's call could well mean that he holds a stronger Q. Although you have position, there will be a grey area of not really knowing whether you are ahead or not, which can cost you money.

I would much prefer to be raising with connecting cards on the button like 9T or something similar, because post flop you either know that your hand has strong potential or you are happy to fold. Theres no grey area to trap you into playing on with little knowledge about where you stand.