Raising 22 utg profitable??

[cfb1739]

I was thinking about this, and it seems that there are 2 generally accepted reasons to do so.

- The first is for deception value. You want to vary your play so as to keep you opponents guessing.

- The second is to flop a set hoping to stack an opponent.

- You can pick up the blinds when everyone folds.

- You can pick up a small pot with a cbet when someone calls and check folds.

However, I think that raising this hand UTG might be spewing for a few reasons.

- I do not think that your opponents will be aware that you have eliminated this hand from your UTG raising range, thereby negating its deception value.

- If you flop your set, then the only way you will win a big pot is if your opponent also flops a really big hand. With what hands might your opponent be willing to risk his stack?

Obviously he will stack off w/ a set, straight or flush. In each of these cases you are going to lose your stack (maybe not on 3 flush boards or highly connected boards).

He may stack off with 2 pair ( MAYBE bottom two pair and most likely top two pair).

Hands JJ, QQ, KK, AA, AK, AKs and maybe 1010 and AQs will reraise forcing you to fold your hand.

Additionally, you are out of position, and if you get called middle pairs (77-99), it is likely that they will call the cbet and try for a showdown where you will lose.

Also, many flops may be scary enough to prevent you from cbetting, and your opponent might steal the pot by using the advantage of being in position by betting when you check.

If it is not too much to ask, I would like some posters to show their stats for playing 22 UTG to either confirm my theory or show that my reasoning is flawed.

All comments welcome.

[TheWorstPlayer]

my view is that if it isn't profitable, you're sitting in a bad game. but i agree that in some games it's not profitable.

[bennies]

22: 39 times utg 6 handed, total loss of 255$ or 0.73 PTBB/hand. (NL200 and NL400)

[ikestoys]

interesting...
overall a winner
loser at .5/1 -1.65BB/100
winner at 1/2 3.61BB/100
winner at 2/4 13.29BB/100, god i ran sick hot at 2/4
loser at 5/10 -.8BB/100

so inconclusive

[KEWL]

it's profitable if you do it every once in a while, but if you're constantly raising 22 utg you're in trouble

[ginko]

over 200k hands at 1/2 and 2/4 I was dealt 22 UTG 79 times, total profit -$28

[Up-grey-de]

CFB, I have also thought about this a lot. Thus far I´ve raised 22 UTG, but I have started to think about mixing it up alot more, and occasionaly limp with some hands UTG.
Of course I´m not only going to limp with 22, but also with big hands sometimes to stay deceptive.
This after I read a highstakes player blog, and he talked about limping with both semistrong hands/big hands UTG. He´s a pretty big winner from what I know. Nowadays everybody talks about how bad it is to limp, but I think that it can be more profitable in the long run to mix it up like that.

[Back In Black]

Is this really only limited to 22 or are we talking about 22-55ish. Aren't these hands essentially the same OOP?

[jalexand42]

[ QUOTE ]
it's profitable if you do it every once in a while, but if you're constantly raising 22 utg you're in trouble

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL?

[nextgenneo]

even if its spew I am always going to raise 22 UTG in 6max cuz I ain't folding it and never ever limping it. Adding limping to my game would mean I'd have to add limping strength, limp / raising etc and just don't want to have to deal w that [censored].