Coaching Poker Forums

Hi guys, I am going through your unconventional wisdom, and I must say I am very very impressed!

One question I have for you, is in regards to cold calling raisers, particularly when we are not the co/button

In a couple of vids you/dj were cold calling ep raises with qjs and 55.

I basically follow harringtons advice, and pretty much fold everything in this scenario, as

i) we are out of relative position
ii) face a raise/squeeze
iii) invite others to call with speculative hands, and thus wind up out of position, and relative position
iv) often dont get good odds to call, and often dont get paid off with our monsters, as our hands are so transparent.

I would happily call a raise and a caller or two, with hands such as qjs or 55 (or perhaps call on button/co vs a wild pf raiser), but happily muck them in a cold calling situation

Do I need to loosen up a bit, or were you guys just playing a few more hands than usual, to get into situations like this for your vids?

Keep up the good work btw!

Well we certainly were playing more hands than usual to get into interesting situations, but thats not to say you should be mucking everything against EP raisers. For one thing, they have stronger ranges, so our implied odds are higher (this is why we mostly play hands that can improve to sets, straights, or flushes and bust big pairs). You certainly should be aware of light 3-betters, and if there are several behind you you should be less likely to call with these type of hands and more likely to 3bet or fold (but generally fold). Also, I don't really mind if other players come along behind me, because i'm aiming to make the nuts and if I have the nuts, the more the merrier!