This hand gets me into trouble a lot...suggestions?

[IrishPete]

no real hand history to post cus iv noticed this hand more live cash than online, here are the basics.

game is £1-£1 PLHE [so like $2-$2 roughly]. game is very soft, a few decent players but a lot of chasers, calling down with 3rd pair...its a good game.

il have like 88 in middle position and say call a raise [or raise in late position and get reraised and call]
flop comes 679 rainbow. preflop raiser bets, i raise. he shuvs...hmmm. i usually call in that spot [obv as its not too deep, they usually sit with 20-50BB wen i usually sit with 100BB]
doesnt seem to get there as often as i wouldve thought.

General questions:
-is raising there not a great idea, shud i just call and fold the turn if i miss and he fires a pot sized bet?
-if he checks, shud i just check behind or take a shot at the pot? [i would prefer the latter.]
-if the hand is late in the session and im say 200-250BB deep v. guy with same shape of stack, how shud i play the hand?

this hand confuses me a lot, i think maybe i over-estimate the strength of my hand and end up running into an overpair etc.
any help appreciated, realise this post is a bit confusing and all over the place, but as its happened quite a few times, with various preflop situations, its hard to remember exact details! cheers.

IPete.

[Kovner]

Well, your decision should be dependent on your oppponent a lot of the time.
For instance, if he's so tight that he has to have an overpair when he bets the flop, raising is stupid.
If he's so loose that he could have anything, you can raise and not mind getting it in.

However, with 20-50BB stacks, if the raises preflop and bets on the flop are normal (eg 3-4XBB pre, 7-12XBB post), then you can easily just push. You have ~40% of winning and you'll get a fold a decent amount of time. Also, if they are really bad, they might call with AK, AQ and the like.

Another factor you left out is how much they are betting on the flop; they may be giving you odds. A lot of bad players at low stakes live don't know how to bet correctly. If they bet 1/3rd the pot or less, calling is fine (but not neccesarily the best).

"if he checks..." Yeah, in most situations I bet my pretty strong hand.

200-250BB deep: As the stacks get deeper, there is more skill and your decisions become even more opponent dependent.
Examples:
-If there's no way he'll get off an overpair, but he'll bet,3bet,call all-in with an overpair, your implied odds are probably pretty good and your folding equity on the flop is low, so just calling is good.
-If his preflop raising standards are wide or he cBets a lot, there's a good chance your eights are good, so you'd prefer to just raise and take it down there.
-If he won't just try to get it in with an overpair on the flop, you can raise. If he's a decent player and 3bets, your 4bet all-in will give you enough folding equity. If he just calls a raise, you can take the free turn and maybe even call a river bet unimproved.

[IrishPete]

thanks for that, great post.