Play a Hand With the Masters #1 Pre-Flop

[JohnFR]

I would place his most likely range as 34s-QJs, 57s-KJs, 56o-QJo, 22-77, AA, any suited A
He could also have 47s-KTs with slightly more weight on Q9 and KTs, KK, QQ, QTo,J9o, possibly some suited K's

I am ahead of this range, but the problem is he is going to have a MUCH easier time playing the flop than I am, since most of his holdings are either going to hit the flop solid(set, straight, straight draw, flush, or flush draw) for him to continue playing. But the other problem is if he is trying to trap with AA, KK, QQ there is a decent chance that if I raise it up and the blinds fold, he will flat call me so I still don't know where I am at in the hand.

Against a truly tight player that is more likely to raise with good hands(TT+,AQ+) I would raise to around 600 or so, forcing him to play his hand more based on the true value of his hand.

Against other tight players(tight tricky opponents) I would probably call around 25% of the time hoping to flop a big flush draw, top 2 or some big hand, and I would raise probably around 75% of the time, typically the difference would be how strong I felt the player was. I would probably raise this opponent a bit more maybe in the 700-800 range, because I would rather him come over the top of me when I stick in a healthy raise here than bleed 2-3k chips when I flop the A and he let's me value bet for him.

I think that after a tricky tight opponent limps, you either have to decide to try to outflop him with a huge hand(the fact that you have AJs, makes a substantial difference to me, it gives me more nut hands that I can make where as AJo you make less nut hands). Or I would raise it up and hope that if he does have the hands I fear most AA,KK,QQ,JJ he will wake up and put in a healthy raise so I can get away from my hand. If he smooth calls a healthy raise though I am in trouble because I haven't really shrunk his range any since he could still have 56s or AA and I have no idea which.

[Exitonly]

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the CO suppose to be very tight ,and the range you selected is not a range of tight player.
depedning if the CO is trapping or not :

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Tight doesn't mean he doesn't play suited connecctors...

especially when folded to him in the CO. Even tight players here could have lots of hands.

[SossMan]

IMO, tight players don't limp w/ AK/AA-QQ in the CO and flat call when they get what they were looking for (a preflop raise). Tight players don't slowplay twice.

[NoahSD]

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Care to elaborate? I'm not sure I understand why this would be the case.

Also, I'm still hoping someone will answer my question about why opponent limping with a low pair wouldn't be making a big mistake.

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You were right; it was because of implied odds. That's not to say that raising isn't a better alternative, but just that limping a small pocket pair is pretty likely to be a +EV play here because of the like 2% of the time you stack somebody and the other 9% of the time that you win a small-medium pot with a set (odds of flopping a set are about 11%; I left out set over set because it makes me cry).

[NoahSD]

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I throw up in my mouth a little if the flop is ragged and its checked to me, because a nice checkraise is coming to my continuaiton bet more than likely.

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Don't raise then?

[Exitonly]

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I throw up in my mouth a little if the flop is ragged and its checked to me, because a nice checkraise is coming to my continuaiton bet more than likely.

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Don't raise then?

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Yea, nothing wrong with checking behind every once in a while.

[JohnFR]

If I limped with AA wanting to get action I would flat call in a heartbeat, and so would most other people that are looking to trap(notice I said that most tight opponents would raise you, whereas tight tricky opponents might flat call you), if you have the balls to limp in the CO with AA, and the button raises a decent amount and I get the hand HU, I am going to continue to trap with AA, however KK and QQ I would repop it, but if I am lucky enough to pick up AA and get this kinda action, I am flat calling everytime, unless I read the raise from the button as a HUGE hand(KK or possibly QQ) I will stick in 1 more healthy raise(pot sized or slightly larger) hoping they will shove all in.

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
If I limped with AA wanting to get action I would flat call in a heartbeat, and so would most other people that are looking to trap(notice I said that most tight opponents would raise you, whereas tight tricky opponents might flat call you), if you have the balls to limp in the CO with AA, and the button raises a decent amount and I get the hand HU, I am going to continue to trap with AA, however KK and QQ I would repop it, but if I am lucky enough to pick up AA and get this kinda action, I am flat calling everytime, unless I read the raise from the button as a HUGE hand(KK or possibly QQ) I will stick in 1 more healthy raise(pot sized or slightly larger) hoping they will shove all in.

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if you are going to slowplay twice OOP vs. a good opponent, then you are asking for trouble. Totally different if the raise came from the blinds, since you play the rest of the hand IP.

[Sluss]

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A smooth call scares me somewhat though. It doesnt really help limit the hand range, it only makes the decisions on the later streets more difficult. I throw up in my mouth a little if the flop is ragged and its checked to me, because a nice checkraise is coming to my continuaiton bet more than likely.

[/ QUOTE ] Might be that I'm playing too many cash games lately, but there is no reason why you can't check behind if you feel there is a check raise coming that you can't call. Act like you have AK in your hand and you are nut peddling. Then you can make a move if you sense weakness in his turn lead (if he even makes one).

[Lloyd]

The hand is continued in this thread. Obviously you should first respond here as to how you'd play our first decision point.

Note: I'll be posting our expert decisions on what to do pre-flop later tonight.