600: Not Quite According to Plan with 2+2er
 

The game pretty much sucks, and I'm not sticking around much longer. Many times in games like this one, I'll lrr monsters PF, because everyone is so happy to raise limpers or reraise someone raising a limper.

Anyway, the following goes down: Villain is our Epipen11
Poker Stars, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter

BTN: $688.75
SB: $1,318.25
BB: $684.15
UTG: $271
Hero (UTG+1): $601
MP1: $630.30
MP2: $740.90
CO: $181.25

Pre-Flop: A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero calls $6, 4 folds, SB calls $3, <font color="red">BB raises to $60</font>

I think his raise is interesting here. He's making it 10% of the effective stack so usually -EV to call to flop sets, etc. I don't know too much about epipen11 becuase I've never taken the time to sit down and evaluate the hands I have on him. He did cc my UTG raise the other day in MP with KK and bet 3 streets for value, so I know he can get tricky.

Anyway, I wasn't exactly sure what to do here. I guess I could call and play a bit IP against him. If I do lrr here, it's going to be a good size raise, and then I'll probably have to muck to a push from him. However, I felt like if I did call here, I'd be lost for the rest of the hand.

So, I made it $150 to go.

Thoughts?

Re: 600: Not Quite According to Plan with 2+2er
 

firstly i think you should raise this preflop. I dont like limp reraising unless i have AA-KK. AKo is not good enough to profitably do this move with often enough imo especially at NL400+, also nearly all the time you will be oop. however since your in position this time i think calling is an option but i like your reraise since I think he has 88-JJ most of the time with this huge raise.

Re: 600: Not Quite According to Plan with 2+2er
 

The lrr is fine in these aggro games. In this spot I would follow through with it AND call a shove or just go ahead and muck it. I feel like he will put you on small and mid pairs a lot of the time and assume you're trying to take away the pot. I think making it $175 to go is fine as well as folding. I hate calling.

Re: 600: Not Quite According to Plan with 2+2er
 

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firstly i think you should raise this preflop. I dont like limp reraising unless i have AA-KK.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is really bad, DUCY?

Re: 600: Not Quite According to Plan with 2+2er
 

l/rr should be to $200 imo. At least $180.

TMO, ldo.

I only like the play if you can be confident in folding/calling vs push from this villain (and most likely I think you have to call a push)

Re: 600: Not Quite According to Plan with 2+2er
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
firstly i think you should raise this preflop. I dont like limp reraising unless i have AA-KK.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is really bad, DUCY?

[/ QUOTE ]

While it is bad to limit your range so much, his point that AKo typically isn't strong enough to lrr is valid. Whether it's suitable in this game, I don't know, but in games where it isn't suitable, it's good to balance your AA/KK lrr's with bluffing hands - i.e. those of your hands you would be folding which do best against the range that opponents play against your lrr. By lrring a marginal hand instead of a hand you'd otherwise be folding, you trade in the positive EV you could have by taking a different line with the marginal hand, whereas by lrring the top of your folding range you don't have any opportunity cost. FWIW I used to balance my AA lrr's with 56s and 67s sometimes, now I usually have different favorites.

Re: 600: Not Quite According to Plan with 2+2er
 

I think that you need to go ahead with your plan. The size of his raise indicates that he puts you on a pocket pair and either a)thinks you will call light with way the worse hand, or b)will lay down, in which case he could have any two cards. He is certainly thinking about implied odds (and SPRs) here, either from his point of view or yours.

Just calling does not clarify these cases at all and as you say, we would be flying blind post flop and often laying down the best hand to his c-bet. An LRR, however, is quite strong. I have gone around and around, but my current thinking is that we can go ahead and fold to a push. If he has a seriously worse hand then good for him. If he has QQ- (or AK) then we made a bad fold, but I can live with it. That said, it is close, I think.

Finally, what about the size of your raise? I go around on this too. Since we have a thinking opponent, any bet size we make can be second guessed. (Does this small raise mean he is scared or that he is enticing me in? Does that large raise mean he is scared or he wants me to think so?) I probably go ahead and pot it or nearly so, but your way is probably fine too.

Re: 600: Not Quite According to Plan with 2+2er
 

i think if you limp minraise he might repop you and then you can make an EV+ shove since he must fold most of his range

Re: 600: Not Quite According to Plan with 2+2er
 

for completion:

Like i said, I made it $150 and he pushed.

I tanked and ended up folding.

Re: 600: Not Quite According to Plan with 2+2er
 

[ QUOTE ]
for completion:

Like i said, I made it $150 and he pushed.

I tanked and ended up folding.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yikes.

I'd rather just fold the first time than fold after throwing in $150.

I'd never fold this hand after 3-betting it for 25% of my stack. That just turns AK into a total bluff.