IMO NL cash games are all about waiting for the big hand to go all in.
is over pair (pocket) with no straight or flush possibilities good enough for an all in bet or call?
Keep in mind you have no info about your opponents.
you raise to or call to 50 cents or one dollar preflop and have action.
??????
With no other info, no it's not.
answer: depends
depends on the situation
depends on the stacks
depends on what day of the month it is
depends on alot of stuff... with no info, it's not a good thing. even aces get cracked about 30% of the time against a single opponent.
let me rephrase, NL w/ small stakes. jump on party poker 25 NL and you will see what i am talking about.
.10 and .25 sb/bb. That's exactly the way the majority play.
I was playing micro limits yesterday and had pocket QQ. I opened 4xBB, 1 call, then 1 player minreraised me to 8xBB, then (being microlimit) half the table called.
So I'm concerned the raiser may have aces or kings, although he might have AK, JJ, or might just be an idiot.
The flop is low rags, so I bet 2/3 pot to hopefully get rid of the calling stations. It works, the reraiser flat calls. Hmmm, still no clarification on if he has me beat or not.
On the turn there are still no overcards to my pair, no possible straight nor flush, but there are now both straight and flush draws if the river hits. I want to try to find out where he's at, so I check and he bets less than 1/4 pot. This makes me think he's unafraid of the draws & is actually encouraging them - maybe he has AK suited and is trying to get odds on a nut flush draw.
So I reraise all in. He pauses a long time, types "I don't think I can lay this down & calls - he has KK and it holds up to win.
So in short - allin w/ overpair = busted.
So in short - allin w/ overpair = busted.
Your opponent would disagree.
A good way to calculate the sizes of the stacks at a NL table is too measure in terms of big blinds, i.e. $50 at a NL table with a small blind of 0.25 and bb $0.50 would be a 100bb stack.
Generally most tables cap the buyin at 100bb. In a small stakes game like $25 or $50 nl online or $100/$200 NL live it's GENERALLY correct to get all-in with a starting stack of 100bb.
Obviously a big part of deciding whether to get all-in is the texture of the flop.
Say you have AA and the flop is Q64 rainbow (no flush draws). Against small stakes casual players, they will often get all-in with just top pair, like AQ, KQ, or QJ.
However with black AA on a t98 all heart flop, and two guys go all-in before you then this would be the opposite end of the spectrum. Calling would most likely be very bad.
There are less obvious times you can actually fold an overpair on the flop but they are advanced plays.
"This makes me think he's unafraid of the draws & is actually encouraging
them"
Sounds like a good read, why didn't you act on it? Unafraid of the draws =
overpair, two pair or a set IMO.
I think whether to go all-in with an overpair depends mostly on what
hands could have you beat, whether your opponent might play that hand,
whether their betting is consistent with that hand, and whether you can
either get them to call with a worse hand or get them to fold with a good
draw.
At low stakes you can make a lot of money from a calling station who
forgets about the possibility of an overpair. AJ might jump at the chance
to call all-in on a flop of J T 3, for example. But it's all about knowing
your opponents.