Yesterday I was in a conversation with a friend of mine who is a self proclaimed expert at poker. We'll call him Fishy McFish a dollar menu guy. In our conversation I mentioned some techniques I use to extract money from opponents. He seemed baffled by strategies I mentioned since his arsenal of tricks include calling, mini raising and telling the world how Aces are his biggest loser.

Our discussion got me thinking about plays that others impliment in their game. Below is a list of plays that I have found profitable, and I would like others to add to the list if they would like. I don't consider myself an expert at poker and I think that this could be very benificial to me and other bet the pot'ers.

1) Limp raising with AA in early position. At first this play did not work out for me at all.. The first time I tried it the pot went nine ways and I lost a few bucks to short stack. Second time it went my way getting two players to commit their stack with KK and JJ.

2) Checking or calling a bet with a set on the flop. I used to always bet a set on the flop because I didn't want to be drawn out on, but after a while I found that I wasn't getting enough moolay out of it, so I changed my ways.

3) Here's one I really like. Say that I have TT from EP and the flop comes T66 giving me a full house. I make a weak bet against and aggressive opponent knowing that he will raise. After his raise I will hesitantly call. I check the turn knowing that he will bet again thinkng he caught me in bluff.

4) Last another one I really enjoy making moves on paired boards. For example I am sitting in the SB with K[s]9[s]. Flop comes and pairs the board with 4's. I often time call a pot sized bet on the flop only to check raise on the turn. I found this to be one of my most profitable moves.

Some of these might seem elementary, but a lot players play straight forward enough for these to be profitable(at least for me). I am curious what other plays you guys have that I might find benificial to my game.

Thank You
Stealth

I have one favorite play: Look for any reasonable excuse to make an extremely large raise.

not to be cliche; betting the pot.

Im not sure about #4. I make a good chunk of change when I make that same more but DO have trips and people refuse to believe it and call me.

As I have gotten better at thus game I do it less, but check raising is my favorite move. Its puts fear in people, no one likes getting check raised when you bet in position, you are hoping to gain control of the hand, or get a fold and win with no contest.

for those who read THIS forum this may be a obvious comment, but I have to say overbet your trips into the face of the raiser, especially when you know he has top par.
And just sit back and let him empty his stack into yours since he just dont belive you.

I love leading into raisers on the flop.

Since everyone now has read SS2 and is convinced its a set it folds so many missed AK or AQ hands. You just know someone in another part of the world has just shat themselves thinking all their ace of king will do is lose them their stack so its smart ot fold. Especially good when all I had was a missed AK or AQ hand.

Its my smug move.

Rich

My favorite 'moves' are:

Raising for value with any playable hand when PT tells me that folks who raise 6%+ are the the only limpers in front of me..

Betting out when last or second last to act on a 2-suited flop when checked to (on the grounds that anyone with a hand would bet it to protect against the flush draw)

Betting out from the blinds on a rags flop with only 1-2 others in pot.

Firing on the flop if the other players in have high 'fold to flop bet %'

Betting a flush draw on flop and turn and then bluffing on the end if called all the way (this one depends on the player being aggressive and likely to re-raise if he has a made hand - if he is passive then I check the turn - if he checks he is usually either on the draw himself or weak enough to be pushed off on the river. The other reasons betting your draws work are that you get disguise when you hit and that most players just min-raise you back even with a made hand (which still gives you odds to call - if you had checked and had the pot bet into you -you would often have to fold). i don't do this vs super-tight opponents of course.

Folding AK to a raise from any player with PFR 3% or less...saves me much money

Limping with AQ,KQ,AQ etc in EP/MP (not really a 'move', but I find that if I raise I then can't put a caller on a hand as easily as if I'd checked and seen if he raised or just lmped).

Raising at least 4xBB with QQ or JJ (I don't want ace-rag callers).

Andy,

Love the plays especially the "fold to flop bet %" play.

I've been working on an inverse of that one. When I'm in a room with a UA (say his AF is 5), I look to see what his bet% is vs. his call% Quite often if his AF is very high, its because he's betting or folding with very little calling.

So, if someone has a high bet the flop% (over 23% in my 6-max DB), and they did NOT bet that flop, I know they have zilch and are no threat. I steal it.

One nice thing about 6-max is you are probably only up against 1 or 2 people in an given hand so stealing becomes key.

TR

Correctly folding a good hand, and pushing a marginal one that is fine but the board is scary. Tonight I had a guy showing his hand too much at my table when we would fold. He would min raise AQ AJ, and was easy to read. Letting go of a solid but beat hand and seeing the result was nice, and then hammering him when I had a marginally better hand was was very gratifying. Scary boards have been slowing me down lately and I'm missing bets, it would be in my interest to keep betting until raised.

Second is exercising my read to play their hand and tendencies over my own two cards. I believe poker is at its finest when I can lead people to fold incorrectly, or make really bad calls for the maximum amount that they will find reasonable. If I can count flush cards as my outs, and properly play the board instead of my cards. Raising blocking bets out of principle fit into this category. If I am known to bet a draw, and bet the pot on the flop, and the guy leads weak into me on the turn, raise to the pot to confirm to him that I have real hand this time. If someone is a post oak bluffer raising them because I have two cards is a great play.

Third is getting my full implied odds or trying too. If I take one off the top with a pair because I believe they are on AK making a continuation bet and I want to wait for the turn to raise when the board is more clear, and I actually hit my set and misread them and they hold QQ, getting my 22:1 or as close as I can. If they had AK I don't need to get implied odds I actually had the best hand. Same goes for paired boards like 992 two suited where I don't believe they have the 9 and I make a boat on the turn, I especially like this play if I can hit my set and it will give someone else a flush. Always getting your implied odds or as close to possible is the difference between a LAP and LAG. If they bet weak on the flop if I have three to a straight and three to a flop, calling the turn is mandatory if I pick up a draw and folding if I miss, my showdowns won goes way down when I pound my "draw" when it hits my BB/100 goes way up.

Fourth switching gears with proper timing and forcing opponents to make huge mistakes. Tight when they think I'm loose, loose when they think I'm tight. Especially when I have the stack to break each of my opponents and compensate for errors. A bad call or two for the pot when you outchip the closest person at the table 3 or 4:1 can set up switching gears properly when they figure you for a bluff later or a made hand now.

Fifth realizing my opponents tendencies and correctly playing againt them. Never bluffing calling stations, but bluffing squeezers that like to fold, check raising overly aggressive opponents that are playing position,

I thought of another poker play, and it's my absolute favorite and also the hardest to execute for me.

MOVING TABLES!

I'm a competitive, alpha-male guy by nature, and when I'm at a table with a maniac or just with a really good player I want to beat him. This is a -EV proposition long-term. Why play against really good opponents when there are lots of online tables full of fishies that will pay you MUCH more? It's hard to do (especially b/c I rarely multi-table), but I've learned its much more profitable.

TR