[Mook]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
just curious what raising preflop here in a game like this without position accomplishes?

[/ QUOTE ]

In most games raising from early position will thin the field some, although it did not appear to here. This is also a raise for value. While 99 does not win as often as large pocket pairs it still has a small equity edge. Raising this from early position also widens your raising range. If you flop a set here, you are much more likely to get lots of action from one pair and two pair hands, because they will tend to put you on Ax with x large or a bigger pocket pair. This may also get you more action on later early position raises because they saw you raise 99.

[/ QUOTE ]
It's funny how the OP describes the game as "hyperaggressive", and then gives us a hand example that's 8 ways to the flop for 1 bet. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

But seriously, in a game that's truly hyperaggressive preflop, not only do you have to raise this hand, but I would fold it before I limped in with it. Yes, I said fold. In fact, 99 is the exact holding S&M highlights in HEPFAP as being a trouble hand in loose, wild games, because the variance it adds is so huge (you often tie yourself to the pot by hitting even the tiniest piece of the flop) while the additional EV gained by playing it is small.

There's no point in playing mid-pairs for set value in wild games, because 90% of the time it'll cost you 4 bets to see if you can hit your 8:1 shot. So if you're not comfortable raising for all the reasons mentioned above (and with playing poker with it when you hit a small piece of the board, as the OP did), you might as well dump it, especially from EP.

Oh, and I'm not calling two cold on the turn either when that death card hits.

Mook