Okay the limp was to isolate against what looks to me like a loose passive table. I don't want to raise, get 3 callers, and decide how to play when overcards hit. UTG has played every hand so far, although not many were shwn, and we're only 7 hands in.


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

UTG (t4450)
Hero (t1370)
MP1 (t2000)
MP2 (t1470)
MP3 (t910)
CO (t1210)
Button (t185)
SB (t1450)
BB (t455)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with , .
UTG calls t30, Hero calls t30, MP1 calls t30, 2 folds, CO calls t30, Button raises to t185, 2 folds, UTG calls t155, [color=#CC3333]Hero ?

I absolutely HATE your PF limp. RAISE RAISE RAISE!!!!

Given your situation, I'm not sure what to do. You've got 2 guys behind you yet to act, who have got you outchipped. You put yourself in a bad spot by not raising PF. Your safest play is to call and set mine. You could bully the pot and hope PRAY everyone else folds.

Your reasoning for your limp is bad, IMO. You're in a spot where you have no idea where you stand. You're most likely ahead of UTG judging that he's been in every hand.

Don't worry about how to play with overcards. Depending on how many people see the flop, if you don't hit your 9 or an OESD, you're going to c/f anyway.

Edit:
You either have to flat call, or raise this(obv). I'm not sure what to do, a big part of me says to raise it, but you're only move is all in if you do that. But the other part of me says to call and conserve your chips. I hate to get involved for my whole stack this early in a tourney.

The PF limp is absolutely fine, IMO. Raising 99 from early position in the early stages of a SnG is a play that will likely cost you more money than it will earn. 99 is definitely a limp and play for set value hand in this situation.

As played, I fold to the raise. You have a big raise over several limpers and a call in front, with several still to act behind. You're getting yourself in deep here. If you couldn't see the flop cheaply with the 99, time to let it go.

Winner! Hell, I fold this hand at some tables due to my crap position.

If it's much later in a sng, maybe it's six handed and I have 9s, I'll raise it up for sure.

As played, you fold, and move on to the next hand.

Did you notice that the raise was all-in from the short-stack, and that read on the caller is loose? Does that change your thinking?

Agree 100%.



You still have 2 other people involved though. It could end up as one of those 5 way all-in pots that 99 would stand no chance. You're still in good shape here to fold.

Um, you can't isolate people by limping behind you know...

Unless the hand converter is almightily screwed, you limped after UTG limped, that's not isolating, that's the antithesis of isolating.

But anyway, i agree that limping is fine, folding to the raise is fine also.

A limp with mid pairs on a loose passive table is okay, youre basically playing set or fold getting good implied odds...characterizing it as to "isolate" I dont understand though. Responding to the raise depends on reads. Is villain likely to just be squeezing with a weakish Ace? If so re raise. If hes more likely to be on value then call and see the flop. I dont thinkyou can fold here. Since its so early that you probably dont have a read so Id just call.'

Oops..missed that it was a push,which really doesnt change anything except sweeten the pot a little. Call and see the flop. I cant see folding, youre getting immediate odds of 3:1, you have position on the one caller so far, a raise from behind is highly unlikely after theyve already limped.

I admit I missed the fact that the raise was all in, but still - it's a big raise and the pot is likely to be multi-way but you still likely won't have the implied odds to chase the set, and 99 doesn't rate to stand up well in a multi-way pot.

Personally, I find that whenever my SnG play starts to deteriorate it's often because I've started to play more loosey-goosey during the early levels and tightening up that play often improves my performance. I'm not interested in committing nearly 200 of my 1300 chips here with 99, especially since I'm not closing the action.

Its a 45 man SnG, which is closer to a MTT than a SnG in strategy, and its a turbo, which calls for more aggression as well. Again, I think its highly unlikely to be multi-way at this point and if you do get another caller its improving your implied odds. Its close either way in this situation, I agree folding would be better in a 9 man.

I agree. I would want to be one on one with the all in holding 99. If UTG would have folded, I would probably consider a shove to isolate the all in and get HU in this pot.


Folding is actually the better line here imo with all the limpers. The pot is getting big and I think we at least will be in a three way pot if not more.

More aggression with strong hands, I agree. But that's very different from limping and then calling off another 5BB with 99. To me that's just spewing chips that Hero will desperately wish he hadn't wasted in 10 minutes when the blinds are at 50/100. Even with UTG calling along I think pushing is actually better here than calling to see the flop. 99 rates to hold up well against UTG's range for limping UTG and then calling a tiny push-raise (most likely a lower PP, suited connectors, or mediocre paint). I'd much rather take that aggressive line and try to get heads-up against shortie than figure out how to play postflop against UTG, especially since there is a chance the pot odds may entice others to come along for the ride if I call.

Hmmmm.

I think re-raising/pushing is bad. UTG folding only wins us a total of t370~. If we get a call, I think it's 40% underpair, 60% overcards or overpair, so that's no good. With two limpers, the push by the shortstack is indicative of a somewhat stronger holding than if he was open-pushing in LP.

I think calling is goot. Better than 3:1 for our call, and we can reasonably assume we have a better hand than both going into the pot.

I think limping with nines in early position is really weak when the blinds are this small relative to stacks.

I posted a hand like this once and was given some really good advice: "You don't want to play your hand out of position, so you limp in and insure that you will?"

As played you should just call. You have majorly under represented your hand and your range is crushing UTG's.

If it were 2 levels higher than this, I would agree, but this early limping is better imo.

99 is a top 3% hand and is ahead here like 75% of the time.

Yes but it's much less likely to be ahead when the flop comes, especially against more than one opponent. But my responses here probably reflect the fact that I'm not nearly as confident in my postflop play as you might be in yours. I tend to play pairs like 99 in one of 3 ways:
1) Good for limping and playing for set value at full tables in bad position
2) Great for pushing when I'm short
3) Good for raising at shortened tables, especially when I have chips and I want to put pressure on smaller stacks
Obviously the above reflects the fact that I don't want to end up playing hands like 99 OOP postflop, especially against more than 1 opponent.

To be honest, I am very surprised that so few people are advocating raising this hand. At a table filled with calling stations we should be trying to extract as much value as possible from them. Reducing your hand from pocket nines to pocket threes is not the best way to do that and will not help you prevent getting stacked with them.

dont agree here. The hand isnt worth the risk of such a big overbet, and the most likely way to get stacked with them is to be called by two overcards, not to play them postflop.

[scratches head] Did you misunderstand me? Or am I misunderstanding you? How is raising nines on a limper an overbet?

Its me, lol. for some reason I read it as "reraising", not raising the orginal limper, and of course reraising has to be an all in.

Ohhh! No I agree with you on calling after UTG+1 calls the shove from the button. I think the only way this would be a shove is if we were a lot shorter.