Daily Hand Quiz

Near the bubble and you’re opponent is showing a uber-tight play, just call! .Raising might cause a push from the opponent, who is probably holding AQ+ QQ KK or even AA. Can’t really see a fold here, there’s not that many hands that can beat you.

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Call.

UTG+1 raise from a super tight player when near the bubble? We are way behind that range so folding is reasonable.

But we can call just to set mine here. I can see a couple stacks behind who might come along if we flat.

One reason this is an okay spot to flat in MP is that its very unlikely someone is going to attempt a squeeze play on this raiser.

After our flat call the two big stacks F and G are getting some nice odds to see a flop in position. The SB too will have a hard time passing.

So with the a good chance of some more callers and the implied odds here we are definately in a position to set mine here.

I’d fold even if the flop came all unders should the UTG+1 raiser bet out. Should we go to the flop multiway – 5 people is not out of the question – our super tight player is also put in a very tough spot: Big Pot. First to Act. Multiple players. This increases the likelihood of them checking so we might even see a turn card cheaply/free.

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alekhine11 Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 8:20 am

I like your reasoning throughout the hand;everything points to a FOLD.:

But somehow you delude yourself into believing we have the right odds for setmining, if A blah and if B blah and if C……. I know sometimes is hard to fold Premium hands but we have to here,we are not getting the right odds for calling because we have no implied odds with our stack;as simple as that. We are not guaranteed that 2 more ppl is going to join us ( they actually need a hand,not for being a big stack you can play all sort of trash,particularly at this level ),partly for the raiser being a huge nit and partly because,we,being LAG,are just flatting (suspicious of a big pair)

Save 10% of your stack and move on,rather than gamble in a spot you are clearly a massive underdog.

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Voted call for the same reasons blackfair mentions. That bet size from UTG+1 is telling me QQ+, or AK at worst. BB is in. Hope to get lucky on the flop, if not be done with it. Nearing the $ and will have an M~9 to move forward.

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Call to set mine and/or c-bet the ragged flop should we get checked to. The point that black fair mentions about protection against squeeze plays is an important consideration too.

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What kind of tight–weak tight? Tight aggressive? How often does this player raise preflop vs limping/folding? Can we put pressure on postflop and get them to fold, or are they going broke with QQ+ meaning we’re set mining with JJ?

We really need more information. In fact that’s a common problem with the “reads” given in these quizzes. There’s a big difference between a tough tight-aggressive player and a weak-tight nit who folds too much, or a tight-passive player who limps middle pairs, limps AK because they don’t want to build a big pot, and doesn’t do anything tricky postflop.

So please, give us more information. Tight/aggressive or tight/passive? Loose/aggressive or loose/passive?

(With the information given I suppose I just fold. Against a range of JJ+/AK I think it’s too easy for us to stack off against QQ-AA on a rag board, and we probably won’t extract many chips from a so-called “uber tight” player if he misses with AK.)

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Raise to find out where we are at. There are only 3 hands that beat us preflop. Too many people are laying down because of the supposed tight image. Just as likely is any pair down to eights or maybe even sevens. I’m not giving away pocket jakes that easy. Raise and reevaluate. Our reraise screams monster.

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alekhine11 Reply:
October 1st, 2009 at 2:11 am

insane

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Call is the worst option. Cant fold, JJ is too strong to drop just because a tight player raises. If you call you have no idea where you are at. You will fear he has QQ-AA and unless he check folds because he’s the weakest player on earth, youre not going to find out before committing your whole stack. We might have the best hand right now, and we have a chance to find out without committing ourselves. I make it ~6500 and drop it if he shoves. If he flat calls, Im generally putting him on overs, reevaluating on the flop.

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black fair Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 10:13 pm

if you raise, he will shove. that should be so obvious as to not even be debateable.

he’s UBER tight. he min-raised UTG+1. I don’t ‘fear’ he has QQ-AA, I assume it.

its why we have implied odds for a call. If we hit a jack we stack this player every time.

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_CityBorn_ Reply:
October 1st, 2009 at 10:50 am

I dont take a lot of what youre assuming as givens. Youre telling me a “uber” tight player cant raise A/Qs or A/K from mid position? I don’t think he shoves A/Q or TT which are both in his range either.

Yes, we have implied odds for setmining, but I dont think its a given he stacks off if we hit our set either. If hes got A/K, and he misses, I can see him check/folding or probing and letting it go if we raise.

I think there are tough choices and situations ahead if you just call. Or you just spew off your preflop chips the vast majority of the time assuming he’s got AA/KK. Our stacks arent big enough to play poker, it’s a complete guessing game for our entire stack on the flop if we dont get some more info. I dont believe its quite as black and white as you say it is. A raise here will help you find out whats going on and eliminate any fiestiness from other players behind during preflop action.

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All options are equally good (What?). Yep – split your plays in this situation 33% call/fold/raise.

Here is why;
Your opponent absolutely has TT or better here. Imagine a super-tight raising in early position with 99 – he isn’t super tight if he does. So 80% of the hands he could hold are better than your JJ. Only 1 are you heavily favored (TT) 4:1, a few you are slightly favored (AKs, AK, AQs)5:4, and in most you are a big dog (QQ or better)1:4. Fold is an easy choice since you are going to lose about 60% of the time in a showdown and much worse than that if you get action behind you.

So why not fold every time? Because everyone else can make this same read.

Even though you are LAG re-raising this player in his position puts your likely hand at AKs,AA, KK, or QQ or flat bluff. No one can just call given your opponents image. If anyone reraises you the hand is over so fold, but the most likely (95% of holdings) result of a reraise is everyone folds around to your opponent. He will fold TT and AQs every time and may fold AK and AKs as well. If he calls play him post flop to be holding AA or KK. If he re-re-raises go away. Your raise will get a fold 40% of the time so you just need to win 20% of remaining hands to break even with this play. Should be easy to hit this success rate with position the remainder of the hand.

Calling you can use the setmining logic above. The math behind this choice is too lengthy an unnecessary due to variation. The chances of anyone re-raising behind you are very low (QQ or better) so your call should get you to the flop very frequently.

All of this supposes that your opponents understand what the hell is going on. If they can’t make a read then fold and wait for a better spot.

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