Ok, my AA disaster at stakes I can't afford got me thinking about a move that I simply didn't understand and considered horribly fishy. But, having been taken to the cleaners with it, probably a good idea to see if I can make it work for me.

Please, I do NOT recommend this at all for beginners, and it may be a losing strategy in general--but I'm going to have to test it. It's basically a strategy that should have some potential against fish with pretty deep stacks. So, here goes:

Basically, make a 3xBB raise on any pair or AK from any position. Same on suited connectors and 1-gappers in LP, as well as AXs in LP. Play the trouble hands for TP only in MP and LP and only for a limp.

The plan is this: You rarely bet the flop. Now, everyone sees you raising a lot but rarely even taking a stab at the flop. What you're doing here is setting them up to start calling with KJo, and, when they do, you're going to take their stack with your set, because now, with pot relative to stack-depth, they're going to have no way of getting away from their TP. Moreover, you semi-bluff your AXs and 76s (straight only--you don't want to play the non-nut flush for your whole stack, really) in LP to get a free card to the river, and you again take their stacks.

Any thoughts?

I guess the problem would be if the board was somewhat coordinated, i.e. two suited or three in a row, can you afford to give the free card on the flop even if you hit your set? We all whine about getting outdrawn and you are giving a gift to someone with a four flush or gutshot to sneak by. I know the flush is easy to see, but the straights can be harder to read. Do you fold to an all-in on the turn?

Just been scalded too many times at limit with a MSet to give the cheap or free card

Oh, I bet the flop at full pot here every time when I hit the set. I'm not planning on giving any free cards and full agree with you. Actually just finished missing a bet on the turn where I hit the nut flush I had semi-bluffed, then the paired board slowed me down too much on the river. I think you do have to play these things fast when you have them.

I rather liked it just playing that strategy all the way at a Stars $25 table just now.

Also, if you isolate the field a lot, you can indeed bet out a lot of flops unimproved and pick up a little extra (obviously, you're done unimproved if it doesn't work).

But you're not playing all that many hands, and a large number of those you do, you're raising. So, I feel like just now I came off as pretty tight but very aggressive. I think most people are expecting more like raised AQ, AJ, and such, which I don't like to raise.

When you do improve, I think you have to fire away with a full pot bet. I mean, if you have 44 and your opponent has called your raise with KJo, what's he now supposed to do when you bet pot on a board of J64? Well, anyone with any sense wouldn't have called the raise in the first place with that hand. And, if he did, he can't very well fold. Question is just when he will lay it down, if ever.

I think the strategy is best, though, if you're playing a lot of hands against players who are reasonably perceptive. Obviously, the AXs and suited connector semi-bluffs aren't really desirable against complete calling stations. But just semi-good to quite good players (people capable of laying down) are going to be in a bit of a mess here because you've gotten very unreadable. And they don't know whether they're putting 1/3 of their stack out there against your made set or against the nut flush draw.

I did have one just now that I slowplayed: I raised 66 UTG, then the board was 688 with two hearts. I just checked that one and picked up a decent pot, but I don't see getting outdrawn on that one.

I suspect that with this whole thing, it would be hard to do much better than break-even against opponents who are playing a similar strategy. Imo, if you're going to play for nut straight and nut flush draws, you need to bet them actively when you get the draw. And the raise makes the bet sufficiently large that it's very difficult not to just lay down to the draw--particularly given the very real possibility that you're also sitting on a set or big pair. There's really no way they can tell as long as you play all of these options the same way.

Just to perfectly clear, though: If you get the kind of flop you want, I think you have to start firing hard right there. If they fold, that's cool, too. And if they don't, you're sitting on a near-nuts hand of some sort most of the time, presumably with a free card on the turn for your draws.

The basic idea, I think, is this: You don't want to play for your whole stack with TP good kicker, so you try on those to just keep it cheap and simple. But you do want to be playing for your whole stack on sets, nut straights, and nut flushes. So, you put opponents in a position where that's what they're playing for when you bet.

I think you overestimate how many people will be "paying attention" to how you are playing.

If you are up against players aware enough to notice you not betting flops when you are the pre-flop raiser I am sure they will be wise enough not to give you their entire stack with KJ or TPTK.

It is kind of hard to understand really what you are getting at here but I'll say this - you should decide your strategy while you are playing the game, not before it. If the game is tight you play one way if it is loose you play another way and all of the variations in between. Paraphrasing Phil Ivey, - "I just watch what the other players are doing and react to that".

Well, just after a few hundred hands trying it out, I don't particularly like this strategy. My main complaint is that it thins the field too much on hands where you want some people to catch. Moreover, the raise actually gives you too much initiative when you would prefer to come out of the blue with your set.

It might not be too bad against a tight field, but I don't think it's really for me at this point.

Not to sound to negative but this is not an advanced stratagy at all. This is a beginner mistake, against decent players you are going to get yourself in a whole world of hurt. Why in the world would you want to raise a lot preflop and then get passive on the flop, yes you might be able to trap someone in your AK vs KJ scenario but this assumes that you are willing to go all in with TPTK, a move that will get you killed vs decent players. I also dont uderstand why you feel that after a preflopl raise you have somone pot committed in your AK vs KJ secanrio.