early levels 99-jj, aq-ak facing a raise
 

Sorry to be making such another vague post but these are the 2 (most recent) leaks I have identified in my game. When playing in the early levels (1st 3 levels on stars 10/20 15/30 and 25/50) how do you play 99-jj, aq-ak facing a raise w/ no read? Unless its a min raise 99 and aq are gone into the muck. 1010 I flat call, while jj and ak i mix flat calls and raises. jj I seem to get into a lot of trouble w/ if I reraise as I seem to ussually be up against a bigger hand. Ak if its a 3x raise I like to 2.5-3x reraise but if its a larger raise i like to flat call, sometiems even fold.

How do the majority of you all play this these hands against a raise (I am assuming no callers of the raise)? Hopefully this will be my last general leak post. Thanks!

Re: early levels 99-jj, aq-ak facing a raise
 

Don't think I fold any of these to a single 3x raise early.

Re: early levels 99-jj, aq-ak facing a raise
 

well i know that feeling when u raise with AQ and you get popped, for some reason with me its always by AK. I never fold any of those hands to a minraise, but I am also very willing to muck to a big flop bet, or if i'm in front i'll bet to see where I am at. if you hold less than AA KK or AK, I fold to a big reraise pf, QQ is tough to let go, but sometimes its just not worth it yet, esp if you built ur stack early.

I'll give you an example of me folding JJ:
Party Poker, 10-handed 33 NLHE Speed SNG

HERO has JJ in utg+1(2200)
blinds 30/60
utg folds, hero raises to 195
all fold to villian in CO who raises to 954 total
sb bb fold

I thought for a little, I even said damn you i have JJ, to induce a little info from him on his hand, then I mucked. and what do you know! he showed me AA!

Yea so in early stages I really dont see people reraising PF with less than AQ. But in rare cases, people will be super donks with AJs ATs TT-88 ETC.

Re: early levels 99-jj, aq-ak facing a raise
 

Let's assume the 16s, where they will never fold to a reraise less than AI. I would flat call all of these and then not know what to do with a flop of overs or a whiff.
What do I do then if its drawy and if it isnt? Fold to c-bet or repop? If doesnt, do I c-bet or take free card?

This is the hardest spot for me and it leads me to just push preflop in a lot of spots because I dont know how to not spew 25-50% of my chips postflop.

Re: early levels 99-jj, aq-ak facing a raise
 

Just a general comment. Early in these SnGs, I'm not pushing PF with anything but AA or KK. And I'm not pushing post flop without the nuts or close to it. There's just too much poker left with small blinds and a full stack to risk getting knocked out early.

Re: early levels 99-jj, aq-ak facing a raise
 

Not getting all-in with QQ is really, really stupid in an $11. QQ crushes stuff like AQ and JJ. What n00bish $11 player doesn't think AQ and JJ is teh nuts?

I really like flat-calling here most of the time.

Re: early levels 99-jj, aq-ak facing a raise
 

I always try to get it all in w/ aa or kk. As far as qq it generally seems to run into aa or kk when I get it all in preflop as well as ak which is only 50/50 rarely am I a dominating fav. Allthough I rarely fold it preflop (unless I am obv. up against an overpair).

jj and 1010 facing a 3 or 4x blind raise in front of you w/ no callers, what should you do here? Flat calling is playing them for set value and seems weak, if you raise and 2 overs come your in trouble. For the record I am talking about readless poker here, 12 tables at once doesn't allow me to have reads so I am speaking of general guidelines with the exception of players I have notes on or know how they play. Similarly ak i seem to have problems w/ anyone else have any advice?

Re: early levels 99-jj, aq-ak facing a raise
 

It seems weak, but it isn't. If you have position, use it. If you don't, play carefully. Flat-calling raises is good.