some basic but fundamentally important preflop questions 2-4nl 6 max

[john kane]

2-4nl 6 max.

i hope this will be of great use to everyone. especially me. please think about your answers and why/what are you looking to achieve. without the why aspect, the answer is irrelevant.




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Scenario 1

your are in the cutoff and see 9Koff.

2 limpers are both loose preflop, around 40%-45%. not great players.

what is your move.

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Scenario 2

same except only one limper who see's 17% of flops and raises 9% preflop.

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Scenario 3

you are in big blind with 9Koff.

3 limpers; cutoff is tight, button is netral, SB is loose.

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Scenario 4

what you have 9Jo on the button. 1 limper on cutoff who is of average tightness and aggression preflop.

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scenario 5

you have A10 on the button facing a raise to 12 from cutoff who raises 14% and see's 26% of flops. one of the blinds is loose, another pretty tight.


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these may seem simple, but are of incredible importance.


please reply with reasoning as to why you fold/call/raise and how much.

i really am interested to know what others thoughts are as this is an aspect i want to perfect so every preflop decision i make is correct, and to do so need others opionions on such hands.

replies greatly appreciated.

[fslexcduck]

fold fold check call call.

reasoning: reverse implied odds, position.

[Ghazban]

In situations like this (i.e. hands that are not clearly to be raised, called, or folded), my action depends more on my current table image than stats or my specific hole cards. For example, if I just had AA, QQ, and AK the previous 3 hands and won all of them without seeing a flop, I'm probably mucking in every situation you mention (except the one where I can check my option in the BB of course). If I've been folding everything for 6 orbits, I'm going to be a lot more likely to raise.

[ipp147]

[ QUOTE ]
fold fold check call call.

reasoning: reverse implied odds, position.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with all but sometimes I'll reraise the ATo. It basically depends alot on the CO and how aggressive they are preflop in a steal situation and how tight/weak they are postflop.

[GHAND]

whats the fascination with k9off? id only raise it if im blind stealing

[john kane]

scenario 1. you wouldnt raise to isolate the loose limpers?

given you'd very likely steal the button as well.

again im not saying im right, just really want to get every decision perfect.

i also agree it does depend on how much you've been raising previous. but lets say it on hand 10 and you've raised once before, the hand was irrelevant. you have th %s on people by previous play with them.

[luckychewy]

Fold, fold, check, fold, call/re-raise depending on how you feel...K9 is trouble for the first two and raising with it OOP is suicide IMO. I don't see a good reason to play J9o in the fourth either but occasonaly raise I guess.

[galahad_187]

thoughts from a 19/12ish 6m player

1:
if my k9 is suited i raise, off suit i muck. maybe this is a tad tight but with not so hot hands like these i want that extra 4ish% of being suited.
2:
k9o again!? i may raise this time though, assuming i haven't raise alot reciently (which i rarely am!) since he's pretty tight it's fairly likily he has a real low pp or a suited connector. If i know he'll get tricky post flop and isn't cool with consistantly folding to cbets, i'd just fold. But if he's one of those 100% abc guys who PT tells me folds to 70% of flop bets i' definatly raise to 1) get heads up vs this guy, and 2) to punish him for not open raising.

3:
check, why raise crappy hands oop.
4:
i won't play j9o! suited i'd raise for the same reasons as #2

5:
i'd fold. and call suited sometimes
I know i may be okay vs his range but since a fair % of his range /dominates/ me i think calling is horrible. Reraising may be an option, but i don't want to reraise with that ace. I'd be more likily to mix it up and reraise him with 87s or 77 than A10. Sure, if i get the best hand i could get his cbet, but thats all i'd get from him most of the time, and i'd lose more if he has a better A or if he flops 2p with something like 109 or a set vs my ace.

pretty weak, but anytime i try to get tricky vs tricky solid opponents i get bitten. i'd rather avoid them without real solid values.

[fslexcduck]

j9o strangely used to be QTo. now it's closer but i'd probably still limp it on the button.

[Triumph36]

I'm folding all of these and checking in Hand 3. I guess I could play with the last two but the +EV of doing so is thin. ATo just isn't that strong a hand against a raise and you'll have to call a c-bet to find out where you're at on A high or T high flops. Now if I had ATo in the blinds I'd think about re-popping it, but still it's difficult to play when called.