[Rick Nebiolo]

This hand came from this Tuesday Nights Live At Bike web-cast. The game was the smaller 5-5 blind game with a $300 to $500 spread buy. The lineup is tighter and tougher than the normal Bike game at this level, but I play it anyway to get some practice against better opponents and watch my mistakes on the archived video feed later.

At 1:15 into the game I’ve barely played a hand beyond the flop and my stack is $480. Opponent is Joe, a decent player with some mix and aggressive to his game who has played me before. He has me covered by a few hundred.

Since the game is mostly “the better” regulars and in danger of playing record tight for Live at Bike, eight of us have agreed to put in a live straddle every hand. So we are really playing with three blinds and a $10 BB, meaning the effective stacks are mostly in the 50 times the BB range (very low for this game).

After the straddle is posted Joe is UTG+2 (UTG+3 without the straddle) and makes it $40 to go. All fold to me in the cutoff with AKo. Often I’d smooth call with AK and position but this time I reraise $80 to $120. All fold to Joe who tanks a bit, then he min-re-reraises $80 to $200.

I have $360 left. If I call the pot will be about $415 after drop and I’ll have $280 left. If I go all-in, the pot will be $695 and Joe will only need to call $280 more. Therefore I realize I have almost no fold equity here (i.e., I can't get Joe to fold anything in his range).

I put Joe on a range of AK, AA, KK, and perhaps QQ, JJ or TT played a bit cute with the pot committing min re-reraise. Before his re-reraise, I think he put me on a similar hand range, perhaps adding AQs and 99. Of course, Joe's min-re-reraise often indicates a huge hand, but Joe knows I know that and could be getting cute. Still folding (fearing AA or KK) is an option.

Let’s assume my initial raise to $120 is not the point of the thread. When Joe min re-reraises to $200 as noted above, what is my best play BTF?

If I chose to smooth call $80 more, what is my game plan post flop?

~ Rick