The power of the shove at the micro's is an oft mis-used play of which I myself am guilty of misapplying. I was being sweated by a fellow CR member yesterday and I shoved strong hands twice - both against his advice I might add.

I want to examine (for my own understanding) both of these scenarios and look at the dynamics involved in each hand. Both shoves were against opponents who min-raised my turn bets; a sign of strength or air.

Hand 1

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Villian is 21/3 and fairly aggressive. When he calls my cbet I'm thinking that he has:

1. an underpair and is willing to call 1 street on a paired board.

2. A good Ace

3. A boat

4. Possibly a FD

When this villian min-raises a seemingly innocuous turn his range can be narrowed further to trip Aces or a boat. I really don't feel that someone this tight bluffs very often. Since I'm ahead of (or maybe tying with) all of his possible holdings and he's very unlikey to fold a big hand; a shove here seems to be the correct play.

Hand 2

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Villian here is a different type of player altogether. He's playing 44/13/2. Clearly I flop a monster and am keen to get the money in as soon as possible. Hand reading with this guy is not so easy but when he min raises the turn I'm putting (hoping) him on a flush or TP/2 pair. Unfortunately he folds to my shove. This hand was misplayed . Why? Because air is a bigger part of this villian's range and with a river aggression of 6 (it was a very high %) the optimal play here is to call his raise and give him a chance to hang himself on the river.

Summary

Fast play strong hands against tighter opponents especially when facing aggression; slow play against looser players - save the shoves for semi-bluffs as these will be more profitable against a villian who bluffs a lot.