the 99 steal

[Aaron W.]

I wouldn't cap preflop. Not this time, anyway. He may be TAGgy, but he seems on the tighter side of TAGgy, which worries me. It may be hard to outplay him because he has decent hand selection (meaning that he's going to have a decent hand often enough to make showdowns happen a little more often). If you had a little more of a read (especially a postflop read), then capping may help you win more pots from him.

I would raise-fold the turn.

[JerBear77]

*grunch*

The only way to play this is a raise on the turn. Raise puts pressure on the SB. Even though its a small sample, going of of that he will 3 bet anything that beats you and fold his AK, or perhaps his Js thinking you are slowplaying a T or bigger pair. He may fold 9s as well in this spot winning you a half of the pot.


If he raises your 3 bet, you can fold with confidence then.

I personally like to play Js or better preflop the same way. It gives deception to your bigger pair and perhaps gets more money out of him. A raise on the turn In position with the Ts and low cards appears to the villian that you have strength if you are preceived as a good player.

The river then becomes a bet/fold if its checked to you, a fold if he bets to you.

[martinimagic]

Thanks!! This is the type of response I was looking for. Seems to make a lot of sense and you are correct... not a steal with 99 when I think about.

I will work on spreading out the posts. I really don't post hands much.. I prefer grunching since I find this to be the most helpful.

[nilesharding]

If Villian puts you on a steal, he may be 3-betting with anything from AK-AT or another combo of broadway cards and very possibly an overpair. Unless he does have a T (which you can't really determine from just a call), I would generally think your nines are good on the flop. I think I would tend to raise the flop and go to a showdown if he doesn't show too much aggression.