[Cry Me A River]

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I especially have problems when I'm in late position and face a raise to my right. I am now in the worst relative position I can be in. How should this affect hand requirements & how can I regain the initiative?


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Do you mean on your left or on your right? If on your right, you have good position on the raiser.

So I'm going to assume you meant left.

For example, I am MP with 33. UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, I limp, player behind me raises to 7BB.

That what you mean?

I'm going to assume it is.

There's a couple things that determine what I do here.

First and foremost is my read on the raiser and his range from that position.

If the raise came from a player who is also MP with stats of 10/3/2 then this is very different from if raise came from button who is 20/10/4.

If raiser is MP with 10/3/2 we can assume he has a big pair or AK at worst. So the next question is will he stack off with an overpair if I hit a set. If the answer is yes (and it often is for players with these kinds of stats) then I will be inclined to call. OTOH, if this was a good TAG who will not stack off with an overpair then I'm more inclined to fold unless I think I can steal/bluff against him.

If villain is loose and aggressive (20/10/4) then I'm more inclined to want to play pots with him and try to trap him with a monster even though I am OOP. OTOH, if he raised from the button then his range is huge. So I may call donk a low flop and try to take it away from him assuming he has missed overcards a lot of the time. Obv this only works against LAGs who can actually fold.

The second big factor is whether anybody else calls and what type of player(s) they are. In the example I outlined above, if the EP limpers all fold then I'm less inclined to want to play this pot. If the both call then I'm much more inclined because the pot will already be bloated. This gives me better immediate odds AND better implied odds because it's going to be easier to stack someone if I hit - Their cbet is going to be much bigger than in a head's up pot and my raise will be proportionally bigger, etc.

So you consider all these factors when you decide if you want to see a flop OOP with a speculative hand. If the raiser is terrible and every donkey at the table is in the hand then I'm def looking to set mine. OTOH, if it's going to be a HU pot and villain is a good TAG then I'm probably just folding unless I think it's about time to make a play on someone.