Play a Hand With the Masters #1 Pre-Flop

[adanthar]

With 5K, I would raise to 600-ish, but these stacks are very, very deep and I am leery of playing a big pot before I see a flop; among other things, I almost feel I have to call a reraise from the blinds, which is problematic in itself. On the other hand, my guess is CO will lead almost any flop that looks remotely bettable to him, many of which are going to be flops I dominate him on, and while the blinds may get frisky PF they will also raise many hands I dominate after two people show weakness. So, I limp/call a raise and feel pretty comfortable doing it.

Note that I'd raise stuff like AT and KQ here, however.

[Lloyd]

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The real question I guess I have is the reason why the SB's identity is important. Is he aggressive? Loose PF, tricky, tough, etc.

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I don't believe Miami John (Cernuto) has a reputation of being a maniac or anything like that. But he's a proven winner with 3 bracelets (Omaha, Stud, and NLHE so he's well rounded) among many other wins. He obviously has the ability to make any move at any time.

[kinghill]

I push all-in to find out where I'm at in the hand

[Lloyd]

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I push all-in to find out where I'm at in the hand

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Is this a joke?

[kuro]

I just open for 450. With stacks this deep an opening raise is just about sending a message that you have a raising hand. An extra 100 or 200 raise just isn't going to keep anyone from playing their hand because it represents like 1% or less of their stack. By not raising more you keep the pot smaller and end up having to invest less chips when you bet on subsequent streets.

If I wasn't on the button or there were multiple limpers, I might raise more to try to limit the number of people seeing the pot and to try to buy the button but that isn't the case here.

I don't like limping here because villains won't take your subsequent bets as seriously, you don't give the blinds a chance to fold, and you gain no information as to the strength of someone elses hand if they choose to raise preflop.

[Exitonly]

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I push all-in to find out where I'm at in the hand

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Is this a joke?

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It's gotta be... i mean, the reason you push here is so you see all 5 cards.

[A_PLUS]

I make it 600 to go.

With no read on the CO as a tricky player, I want to get some money in the pot, as I probably have > 50% equity vs his range. AJs, will play much better vs a single opponent. I am not overly worried about a trap, as I have position, and he has been tight so far.

Plan for the hand is to take a 2/3 pot stab at the flop if it is checked to me. If he calls, I am done unless I have TP or better.

If I pair the flop, and he calls, I check behind most turns, and call a reasonable river bet.

Basically, I want some money in the pot, but I dont want to make it so I will be forced to call off 1/2 of my chips or more with one pair. I want to win a small-medium sized pot here unless I get 2P or better.

[djg40]

Hero calls t150.

If CO is as tight as we think, I could already be behind. However, with this hand, I want to see a flop, but it isn't god enough to risk too many chips at this point (because of the tightness of CO).

With CO just limping, I put his range of hands quite large, but better than average. Open-limping, especially from CO makes me wonder, but I am unconcerned with monsters, at least as of now. Probably AA-22, AKs-54s, AKo-98o. Pretty big range, but later streets should help be narrow villain's range by quite a bit.

That said, Hero calls t150.

[AtticusFinch]

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raise to 450.. CO could be trrapping, but i think most likely hero is ahead here... i put CO's range at [KK+,AKs,QJs,QJo,JTs,JTo,KJs,KJo,89s,9Ts, J9s, T8s, 57s, 56s, A5-A9o, A2-A9s]

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Your dismissing all pairs under KK?

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i thought the other pairs wouldn't make as much sense... he'd probably raise with the other ones.

But yea i guess he very well could have lower pairs...but what i said i think affects the likelyhood of which hands he woudl have.

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I think him limping a big pair from that position would be unlikely (but not impossible). Honestly, a small pair seems like one of the more likely hands he could have, to me. Sure, many of us would raise, but many others routinely limp with them from any position, especially when the stacks are this deep.

I'd put him on 99-22, KQ-KT, maybe QJ-JT. I'd keep the possiblity of a trap with aa-qq in mind, but honestly those don't play all that differently from my suspected small pair hitting a set. My range seems to be narrower than other folks's, but I have a hard time imagining a player at this level limping with anything worse. A raise seems far more likely.

If he has a small pair, he might call a raise, even a modestly over-sized one, just for set value, because he has plenty of implied odds with these deep stacks. Of course, on the flop, you can often get him to lay down the better hand even if you miss. (E.g. villain has 66 on a K73 flop).

In the end, though, I agree with other posters as to the action. A raise to something like 3.75-4 BB seems best, followed by a continuation bet on almost any flop. I'd strongly consider folding even TPTK to a check-raise, though.

[Lloyd]

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It's gotta be... i mean, the reason you push here is so you see all 5 cards.

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Not to take away a possible line, but there's no reason to push here period. t375 in the pot and t11,000 behind??? This is deep stack poker.