Hand from FT of Quadruple Shootout

[Fireball_AA]

Hi, you will see this hand in the quadruple shootout replay starting next Tuesday. I wanted to get your input before we see Vilain's hand (not being result oriented).

There's a very interesting hand that happened early on, when I called a min-raise (blinds were 15-30) from BB with 89s and flopped 2nd pair + FD... I had a pretty good read and my play was read dependent more than any logic would subject, so I won't post it and you'll see it (if you watch the replay). I hope to get feedback on this Replay, it won't happen very often that people will get to see everyone's card and see how I played/missplayed the FT.

Approximate Payout:
1-650
2-450
3-300
4-225
5-160
6-120

This table was 6-handed and is now 5-handed. Blinds go up every 6 minutes (almost a Turbo).

Read : Vilain always raise like this : 123, 234, 345, 456, ... He is agressive, doing small raises. 1 or 2 hands ago he called my all-in with 22 against my JJ and I doubled-up.

Hero : I feel like I play really well today and can outplay most opponents (stealing more than my share of pots when the blinds will get a little bigger and understand position and CB and ... bettor than most $5 players)

Blinds : 50-100

Relevant stacks :
Vilain (Button) : 2700
Me : 2700
SB : low 1000

Folded to Button who raises to 234.
Me 7 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] : Action?

I can call OOP or raise. I don't like to play a pot OOP against an agressive Vialin because he can have many hands. However, I don't want to raise to 750 and get re-raised and risk going out 5th when I have the chip lead (with Vilain). Does the short-medium stack has any impact in your decision?

More to come after some discussion...

[flopking]

Call. Flop a set. Bust Villain.

Seriously, I can see either a call for set value or a reraise because you are probably ahead of his steal range by a bit...

It all depends on how much you want to gambool

[Fireball_AA]

What is you plan if you raise to 750 and get re-raised all-in pre-flop? What if he calls... you play a huge pot (1500 with 2000 behind) OOP...

IF you call, do you really only play for set value? hope not...

I know my options, I want some reasoning behind either play...What would you do and why?

[locutus2002]

villain is raising light. I'd raise to 600 (to isolate) and lead the flop for 800.

[Fireball_AA]

I called pre-flop because I didn't want to play a big pot OOP against the other CL, but I know that I am ahead of his range and will take it down often pre-flop by raising to 700. Was my play weak-tight or has some value?

[flopking]

Your options are simple. Longball or Smallball.

As you say: If you jam the pot with a 3x raise, there is a high likelihood you get called or villain comes over the top. This is a high variance, high reward play... because there is a ~50% chance of an overcard appearing on the flop if he calls (and he could have any ace or paint right?) If he pushes you are almost certainly flipping or dominated... I don't know the stove numbers for this, but it's probably something like 48% or better... in short , you have a thin but exploitable edge...

If you passively call, you are ideally looking for a seven on the flop. but even when you don't there is a fair chance that villain's hand did not improve... here you could use a decent size probe bet 1/2 to 2/3 of the pot (which is only about 200-300) and still get away with a manageable stack if he pushes back hard...

With your stack size I like the smallball approach with a middle pair OOP.. it's still five handed... you are getting fine odds to call and evaluate a flop.. you don't yet need to push your marginal edge to the max...

[Fireball_AA]

I call.

BB folds (it wasn;t clear but I was SB and can't edit my post anymore)

Flop : 5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]6 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]10 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

Once again, I am in a relatively thought spot.

I can bet 400 or so and re-evaluate or check and evaluate based on his play. If I check I assume he will bet most of the time like 400 (345 or 456 in his case!).

What is your line now?