25NL - Family pot, AK in the BB

[phydaux]

Here's a situation that came up recently, and I honestly didn't know what to do.

25NL on Stars. Only about the 2nd orbit, so no real reads, although UTG+1 and I have already tangled twice, and he seems a solid player.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: 2+2 Forums)

CO ($12.80)
Button ($9.10)
SB ($7.05)
Hero ($27.70)
UTG ($23.45)
UTG+1 ($19.40)
MP1 ($28.95)
MP2 ($13.90)
MP3 ($13.60)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
UTG calls $0.25, UTG+1 calls $0.25, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, MP3 calls $0.25, CO calls $0.25, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, SB completes, Hero...?

My first instinct is always to be the aggressor. I want to send my opponents a message that if they play a pot with me then their whole stack might end up in the middle.

But in this situation I've got a strong but unmade hand and lots of opponents. If I raise here, say to ~$2.00, and get an early caller, then I'm giving the whole rest of the field great odds to call with all kinds of speculative hands. I'm only going to make TPTK 1 time in 4, and those times I miss I'd be faced with either committing a lot of chips to a c-bet when I'm OOP, or check/folding when there's a chance my overcards are still the best hand.

But that's the price you pay when you play OOP, isn't it? Maybe I should re-read my own Pooh-Bah Post.

Even though my first instinct is always to raise, I think the best play here is to check my option and see what flops.

What do you guys do here?

[Crazy Porto]

raise to 2$ you will prob not get more then 1 or 2 callers (if any).
that way you committ yourself when a A or K flops and if not chances are high you will take down the pot on the flop.

bet 4$ in the 5$ pot whatever comes and you will take it down 80% of the time.

[Chargers In 07]

[ QUOTE ]
raise to 2$ you will prob not get more then 1 or 2 callers (if any).
that way you committ yourself when a A or K flops and if not chances are high you will take down the pot on the flop.

[/ QUOTE ]for realz. I think checking here is really bad and giving up tons of value. I'd raise AQo here to.

[CallMeJohn]

Easy spot to raise. If you get more than 2 callers, i would shut it down if you don't connect.

[achtzhen]

You must now delete your Loc:
Raise screw it if they call you have what I would consider a hand that also plays well multy ways. Also your in the BB umm not many peep dont respect that pos. And another thing, or well food for your thoughts actually, I have been toying with raising more hands with lots of limpers in this pos. One thing it can be like stealing a round of blinds haha.

Once or if they ever start to catch on I slow down, easy enough right.

The added bonus is more moeny will go into the pot with my big starting hands. Ive liked it so far you can chew on it and spit it out if you don't.

[AlexB182]

Easy raise, when you think about calling you could pretty much fold as well...

PS: Sometimes, in very rare occasions, when I really feel like advertising (and please no laughter now) I push in those spots, especially with three or four limpers. No one is ever going to call anyway and if someone does (I prefer not) I'm almost always at least 50:50. And you can't overestimate the influence of this move on your opponents, on the metagame and stuff...
Still, I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, but I like it...

[ship_it_trebek]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
raise to 2$ you will prob not get more then 1 or 2 callers (if any).
that way you committ yourself when a A or K flops and if not chances are high you will take down the pot on the flop.

[/ QUOTE ]for realz. I think checking here is really bad and giving up tons of value. I'd raise AQo here to.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think AQo here depends on table dynamics. AK is definitely a raise here.

[mmctrab]

Another vote for raise, especially when there's nothing but limpers in front of you. Not only are you losing value but you're letting people limp in and gamble with their garbage hands for next to nothing.

[coordi]

raisy daisy

[wikemang]

Raise it up big, make them pay to see the flop with their likely weak hands.