The 99 Preflop SB Debate

[recallme]

"Agressive poker is good poker2 is an accepted statement.
I don`t know how much you steal in these situations but 99 is on of the better hands in my range there.

I am more interested in what we are 4betting in a BvB.
Is 88+ good enough? Still assuming Villain is 24/19 or so?
And we are 24/19 as well?

[ogdundar]

It sounds to me like you need to work on your postflop game, not starting to openlimp 99 in the SB. What makes you think it will be easier to play postflop if you limp and he raises? A good tricky player will raise up to 50% from the BB when SB open limps. You will see a flop with overcards often, and he is cbetting like 90% of them. Meh, raise your strong hands and open up your postflop lines so the LAGs won't float you as much. I don't mind firing most turncards with 99 if I am called on the flop in a blind vs blind battle, and neither should you. Also someone said your game will be transparent if you limp hands as strong as 99 and only raise JJ, AQ+ or so.

[john kane]

a good player would raise a lot (i raise probs 90% in this situation if i were BB so long as SB didnt adapt), but if he is then im happy to let him raise and ill call with a range of hands given he is likely committing himself to a continuation bet and i can pick and choose when i want to match that bet.

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Are u planning on goin into check call mode once the flop comes or what?

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id probably base it on history, but in general i don't want to be playing hands oop vs the tricky, smart types of players, hence happy to keep the pot smaller rather than larger.

i dunno, i just rate position so highly in likely 4 street action pots, especially with a hand like 99 where i really don't want action on all 4 streets and so position becomes incredibly important in achieving that.

[soah]

it's not a likely 4 street pot

your opponent has two random cards, if there's money going in on all four streets with any sort of regularity that is a VERY VERY GOOD THING for you

[EgoSlasher]

Chances of most people screwing up this middle pocket pair OOP>than them squeezing the little bit of extra EV from limping. Your average mid stakes player won't show profit limping this oop vs a good player, just raise and play poker from there on.

[Thousandair]

RR everytime

[DrMagic]

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In fact I think I've maybe open-completed in the SB about 3 times in my last 40k hands

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doesnt this become very exploitable?



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Not really, I don't open limp vs anyone. its usually vs a passive fish who's stacksize deters me from raising but allows me to play hands like 65s profitably vs him.

[mungpo]

Not raising 99 in the sb is retarded.

[Big_Jim]

John,

Stop speaking in such absolutes. Nearly every one of your posts is along the lines of "I always do this." "What do you do on the turn? (when discussing PF)"

Don't be so static in your play.

Fact of the matter is that 99 plays MUCH better post flop than you seem to think, and plays far better with initiative than without.

If the guy directly to your left is giving you so much trouble, sit somewhere else.

[Triumph36]

john kane -

what you are failing to note is just how often an overcard flops to your dummy hand, meaning you are simply burning money. when you limp/call like that if you have tag stats i will put you on a pocket pair and abuse you.

limp/calling can be profitable if used correctly, but inventing a wide range to limp/call is tossing money away. remember, you could've had that blind for free.