Decent hand on button with several limpers

ras52 · #1 05-30-2007, 07:10 PM

Hi, this hand came up in a B&M PLHE game. It was in UK Sterling (GBP) so just multiply everything by two for a dollar approximation! The blinds are £1/£1, with a min buy-in of £25 and a max of £50 (i.e. only 50BB - strange). It's generally a very loose game, and my approach is to buy in for the minimum and keep it tight. So far I've worked my stack up to around £50 and have shown down just one hand, KTo played from the blinds hitting a ten-high board.

This hand has a live straddle of £2, and there have been two callers, both of whom can apparently limp - and call a raise - with any two. I'm on the button with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], with the two blinds and the straddle yet to act. I consider a pot raise (£10) but decide to limp - the blinds limp along and the straddle checks, for a £12 pot.

Thinking back I don't like the limp: at this table, my hand probably counts as a monster. Lately - and especially with a loose crowd - I've been trying to avoid limping, but when there are several limpers ahead of me I seem to opt to limp along unless I've got a re-raising hand. This is the first thing I'd to hear some views on: how to approach a hand good enough to open-raise, but probably not to re-raise, when there are limpers already in?

OK, the flop comes J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and I'm very happy, but before it gets to me, there's a £5 bet from Villain A and a raise to £20 from his Villain B. Villain A will bet and go to the river with any piece of the board. He's been on a streak and has me well covered. Villain B is slightly tighter and has a stack around the same size as mine.

It's £20 to me, and I have around £48 in my stack. What next?

graarrg · #2 05-30-2007, 07:25 PM

I repot all-in and rebuy if I'm beat. This is a draw-heavy board against a couple of any-twoers, and you're holding TPTK. The bet to you (plus the size of the pot) is such a significant portion of your stack that doing anything else is bizarre. You can't call, because I don't conceivably see what you could do on the turn on most cards that wouldn't be unpleasant (except for total bricks, or another J, or a non-diamond A).

jesse8888 · #3 05-30-2007, 07:30 PM

My impression:

If villain b is actually only "slightly tighter" than "go to the river with any piece of the board", you've pretty much got to call and pot commit yourself (planning to call all in on the next round or push if it's checked to you). If you re-raise all in, you're only going to knock out villain A, and he's the guy you want in. If he has a legit draw (open ended for a 4-flush) and he's as bad as you say, he's getting all his money in on fourth street even if he misses and won't fold to your all in raise.

If Villain B is actually a respectable player, I'd drop this and wait for a better spot. With that many fish in your little portion of the sea, you'll find one soon.

Regarding your first question, from the button you've gotta pot-raise that.

jesse8888 · #4 05-30-2007, 07:35 PM

Pushing is certainly a reasonable alternative, but I really want villain A's chips in the pot with his pair of tens, and a call from me might just get him to jump in. If you think he's bad enough to call an all in with a hand that you're dominating (like tens or a weaker jack) then by all means, push away [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]