Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

I was wondering about this when you get a fairly strong hand on the button or CO with an uber donk in the SB. Do you just flat call a decent players raise to keep the uber donk in or re-raise for equity.

Today iPoker 2/4 6max

I am on the button with A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

The biggest fish ever is in the SB, another big donk is in the CO but not insanely donkey (lets say average). UTG+1 is decent, but over-aggressive. The BB is very weak tight.

UTG folds, UTG+1 raises, CO donk calls, Hero cold calls??, uber donk calls, BB calls.

Thoughts on this would be appreciated, thanks

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

Reraise. It's easier to get money PF than post-flop.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

It would never even cross my mind to cold call here. It doesn't matter who is in the blinds, raise.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

This is very table dependent for me. This morning I had a tight aggressive image and basically anytime I raised everyone folded. Not terrible to win the blinds when you want them,but still... I can see an argument for (very rarely) mixing that up when your opponents have a good read on your raising range. So, I smooth called AA to a raise and then someone else re-raised and we go to the flop with a capped pot and my hand is disguised.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

[ QUOTE ]
It would never even cross my mind to cold call here. It doesn't matter who is in the blinds, raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

I think I still 3-bet... tell the uber donk you have a good hand... he's most likely to call anyway.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

Eh, give it a 3-bet.

If you flop TPTK you'll probably have trouble getting tons of action from a lesser hand anyway. Well, unless it's a hand you have dominated, but since UTG+1 is the person you're most likely to have dominated and he's over-aggressive anyway, killing your future action probably isn't even that big of a concern.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

OMG, 3 bet, 3bet threebet, treebet.

Why on earth would you want to give the BB 7:1 odds on this call? So he can limp in with his 85s and hit his 85K flop?

Hold em 101 - Big aces and pocket pairs are not drawing hands and play better against fewer opponents.

Make a value/islolation bet and 3bet PF.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

Well I guess I should have said that this guy in the SB was really the worst player I have ever seen, and I wanted to play as many pots against him as possible. The only times he folded PF was when it was 3-bets to him, while he would happily call 2 bets with 84o and the like.

My standard play would always be to 3-bet here, but the way this table was it presented a slightly different dynamic, at least I thought it did. Maybe I was just over-thinking.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

There are times I like cold calling with AK preflop; when a very tight player opens UTG in a 9 player game and there's alot of 'ok to call 2 bets but not 3' fish behind me.

This is very far from that spot. You have a huge equity edge against the players already in and the fish in the SB probably doesn't really care how many bets it is preflop. Plus, the fish is probably very readable and you have great position. Three bet all day.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

u ll get to play the sb in other pots, just 3 bet this hand and hope u hit a flop so u can get some more bets in good against overaggro UTG and donkey CO, dont pass up this equity to get others in a pot cuttin in on ur equity later in the hand when it matters most. Who knows he may even find a KJo in the sb he'll play for 2.5 more small bets anyways.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

I think you were over thinking it.

My thinking goes back to giving your opponents the opportunity to make mistakes. By offering the SB 7:1, he is correct to call with a ton of hands, including suited junk. By 3betting, you give him the opportunity to make a huge mistake by making his odds 4:1, making him correct to call with only a premium hand.

Plus you're probably the best hand PF (maybe a pocket pair out there), so get your money in when you're still good.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

Also ur passing up atleast 2 more bets from the UTG and CO preflop where u likely have the best and possible dominating hand (or atleast 33% equity) to maybe gain 2.5 more preflop when both blinds call and neither would have called the 3 bet, ur probably going to make the blinds face 2 bets cold on the flop anyways driving them out a large portion of the time when UTG bets CO calls and you raise your TPTK unless sb has top pair also inwhich case he'd probably have called preflop anyways.

Re: Some pre-flop thoughts, is cold calling here okay?
 

I'm surprised that there is any debate over this. We have the button and AK, a drawing hand. The blinds are dead money and are likely to call the three bet. I can't think of one reason to be calling here. Just sounds like the worst play ever.