$1 NLHE: $1 NLHE: 88 on Button...what do I do?

[ph_il]

$1 NL HE: 88 on Button...what do I do?

Somewhat interesting situation I found myself in. Wasn't quite sure what to do...

pokerstars Game #45851296722: Tournament #285204273, $1.00+$0.20 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2010/06/22 10:36:40 PT [2010/06/22 13:36:40 ET]
Table '285204273 2' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: calin177 (2570 in chips)
Seat 2: TRM_SHRiMP (1715 in chips)
Seat 3: bielss (490 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: Odette22 (3180 in chips)
Seat 5: chaser big (2945 in chips)
Seat 6: vakiflaki7 (5930 in chips)
Seat 7: Dnbftl (3870 in chips)
Seat 8: rakelyyo (5325 in chips)
Seat 9: dogclinton (975 in chips)
bielss: posts small blind 50
Odette22: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TRM_SHRiMP [8c 8h]
chaser big: calls 100
vakiflaki7: calls 100
Dnbftl: folds
rakelyyo: folds
dogclinton: folds
calin177: folds
TRM_SHRiMP: ???

I'm def. not looking to set mine.

How much do I raise here?

If I follow the 3x BB + 1BB per limp rule, I'm betting out 500 or ~30% of my stack. If I get shoved into, I'm probably calling getting a little over 2:1 odd. I don't see how I can fold to a shove and leave myself with 12 BBs. Ideally, I want to take this down preflop because I would hate to see a flop and be forced to check/fold to a bet and leave myself with a 12BB stack.

Or should I raise less and leave myself room to fold if I need to? But if I raise less, I risk giving players odds to call and hit hands that they may have folded against a strong raise...

Is folding an option?

 

[ph_il]

Can mod fix title, please? Don't know what happened.

Thanks.

 

[c9h13no3]

I'd just jam it all in. There's 3.5 big blinds in the pot, and we've only got 15ish blinds in our stack. Plus, the main hand our opponent will likely call us with are smaller pairs (22-77) that they limped with, so we win the maximum off these guys when they call. If we raise less, these small pairs will set mine & fold the flop.

 

[NineLions]

Meh, my default action at the expected level of play is to call. Not just set mining, but also to play in position against expected weak competition. I dunno if that's optimal strategy, but I like seeing flops in position against players at this kind of level.

I also might raise/call shove, or raise/play flop. I expect both players to have a huge range but I might have to shove almost any flop if called pre. But I think you're right; I don't think raise/fold is a good option. It's also not awful; it is possible depending on the size of this tourney to work yourself back from under 10 bbs.

Jamming here is okay too. Small pairs like c9 says will probably call but with the given stack sizes you're likely to get at least one if not both calling, vaki in particular.


Probably I'm inclined to limp behind here, jamming second choice if I think the two in so far are particularly bad. Folding is too tight, imo, at this point.

 

[rounder22]

I would get it allin pre alot of flops your not going to like with 88, plus alot of the time there going to fold or call with a worst hand.

 

[isaac]

because the person who raised min either has a monster, or is trying to steal the pot, the two obvious options you have are either shoving or folding. Does the raising player play tightly or looser? personally, if it was me, i would fold, unless it was a really loose player, because i am naturally tight.

 

[workinonit]

I'd just jam it all in. There's 3.5 big blinds in the pot, and we've only got 15ish blinds in our stack. Plus, the main hand our opponent will likely call us with are smaller pairs (22-77) that they limped with, so we win the maximum off these guys when they call. If we raise less, these small pairs will set mine & fold the flop.

Agreed. I hate folding and I hate calling

 

[ph_il]

Doesn't it seem a bit much to jam 17 big blinds here? I'm beating I'm dominating 22-77, am dominated by 99+, and will be in a coin-flip against a lot of other hands that could call: J9+, Q9+, K9+, A9+

If I was sitting on 12 big blinds or so, I can see jamming it in here...

 

[c9h13no3]

The breaking point for push/fold is roughly an M of 10 (or 15 big blinds). You're not that much more than that, and the two limpers have bloated the pot so that a pot sized raise preflop is now committing. Thus, I think jamming is just fine.

 

[NineLions]

because the person who raised min either has a monster, or is trying to steal the pot

Steal the pot, by open limping from early position? It's a $1 buyin, open limping from early could just mean that he has two cards bigger than a 5. No one has min-raised.


c9 likes to be on the aggressive side but yeah, I don't think a jam is unreasonable either for the reasons that he's given.