Blind steal question

30-60 game. player in front of you open raises in late middle position. you have QJ suited in the cutoff. Raise, call or fold if you don't know anything about him, but know that the small blind is loose and the big blind is a somewhat loose defender?

in this instance I think raising is a bad play. (especially because of how the blinds are likely to play) If you see this flop you want to play it multiway. i.e. playing for straights or flushes. You can very easiliy be playing a dominated hand however, and if the flop comes q or j high you are going to have to get involved.


Unless I have a good read my inclination would be to fold, but I would sooner call than raise.


Flame away!

fold!

Kind of a tough question against an unknown but I would make it 3 bets here or I would fold. Usually I 3 bet but maybe I'm a maniac. I would fold against a real good player but only because there will be easier places to invest your chips. I would also fold against the weak-tighties who only raise with the premo hands no matter what their position.


The reason I think you can justify a 3 bet in this spot is because late-middle position is the point where many players will open raise with the smaller pocket pairs like 77 to TT. You also have a good chance of winning when everyone whiffs the flop. If you are dominated then you should be able to lose the minimum or maybe even suck out. So in balance I think it's OK to 3 bet. Of course I don't have any sort of mathematical explanation, just intuition.

If you think raising will get you heads-up, and you're confident in your heads-up play, I would suggest reraising.


If, on the other hand, you think one or both of the blinds are going to play for 3 bets, then I would suggest calling or folding. In fact, I'd say calling is only the best option if you think you'll get four-way action, folding is better with three-way action.


DC

If he knows that about the blinds, then fold. If he doesn't know that, reraise.


Dan Z.