Tuesday/Wednesday 02/21/07

I am steaming now. Played a session on Stars and lost a half a buy-in. Half a buy-in because one table is good and the other, the other was too much. As a Cardrunners member I have learned to raise all pocket pairs. But what I find playing low limits, raises are not respected. I'll raise 77 in middle position, you know the standard 4X raise, and man it's is an invitation to jump in the pool. When the flop is AK3, now what, C-Bet into the pool, no way! So why raise the middle pairs? If they hit 1 in 7 hands, is there a +EV? I mean if you raise and hit the middle pair set, then any broadway cards on the board are likely to be held, or at least respect will be given the lead out bet and folds are likely. One in seven doesn't make up for the folds when the set is not made, and therefore, do you really make up the money lost in the six raises that didn't hit? Let's say you raise 4X at a 10NL table. Then you would have bet $2.40 over six hands with middle and lower pairs. Can you expect to recoup the $2.40 in the one hand you do hit? What about a re-raise? See it is tough. This leads me to tonights session where I drop 2 buy-ins at the table. You see, I had several middle pairs, 77 (twice), 99, JJ, 10/10, 88, all of which did not hit sets, and in fact lost to overpairs that were also pocket pairs in the hands of the villians. I mean really, is that just nuts or what! POKER!