Just Calling in the SB after Button Open-Raises

[sthief09]

I was playing at the 2+2 table before and I got into a discussion with a few people. I did something and they all hated it. At first I defended it, but now I feel like I'm probably just wrong.

Chris Daddy Cool open raised from the Button. I called with QJs in the SB.

my reasons for this were that (1) I didn't want to muck because he was raising a bit light (2) I didn't want to 3-bet with Q-high out of position


now I should've mucked because he plays very well postflop, but I wanted to play the hand, because folding isn't fun, and also because the BB was tight, but I chose to ignore that too.

so my question is, assuming you're intent on playing the hand, which is better? cold-call to invite the blinds in and check raise any flop you hit, or 3-bet and bet out?

I think the only hands I'd attempt this with are QJs, JTs, and T9s.

I'm mainly asking this in general, not really having to do with Chris specifically. Is there ever a time to cold-call in the SB headsup? I keep thinking about it, and my general philosophy is to make my opponent have to catch. given the way I played it, I would be folding the flop about 70% of the time, and often when I didn't, I'd be stuck overplaying a draw.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

My main contention here was that if stief was going to play this hand he shoulda 3bet, Q high or not simply because it puts the pressure back on the button (me). If I capped pf, he'd have a better understanding on how his hand looked and could give up easily if he didn't hit anything.

By 3betting out of the SB it accomplishes two very important things
1) knocks out the BB to get it heads up
2) deception

If I am in fact raising light, QJs has 6 outs plus 8 potential scare cards (A and K) giving you a nice overlay of actual outs and bluffing equity.

By simply coldcalling it makes this hand much much more difficult to play postflop, because you'll find yourself folding more often than you'd like on most boards.

[ QUOTE ]
and also because the BB was tight

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't understand what you mean by this in your thinking process. If he is tight and is likely to fold anyways, you don't gain anything by just coldcalling. You just put yourself in a weak spot. If he's going to fold anyways, you might as well raise yourself. Also the fact that you're 3-betting from the SB with the BB yet to act is a further indicator of stregnth to the original raisor.

I probably made a weak case for myself, as I'm sure others can explain better or with better reasons. In fact my logic may even be wrong, just my thoughts though.

[Nate tha' Great]

I like a raise best if the Button and BB are capable of folding, and a call best if they're capable of playing a hand stupidly postflop and paying off. By raising, you will usually win if your opponent misses the flop, as well as some of the times that you make a hand.

[tech]

[ QUOTE ]
By 3betting out of the SB it accomplishes two very important things
1) knocks out the BB to get it heads up
2) deception

[/ QUOTE ]

3-betting is the correct play in general because of reason 1 -- this is straight from HEPFAP.

As for reason 2, at this table coldcalling is actually more deceptive because it scares people much more. I sometimes make strange plays at the 2+2 table that I would never do in a normal game.