Too loose?

[PaultheS]

Blinds here were a little loose (~25/8), no read on the posters.

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (6 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 4/images/graemlins/diamond.gif. MP posts a blind of $3. CO posts a blind of $3.
<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>...

Is this pushing it or okay? Note that this is a 10-player table that has dropped to 6 players.

[shark6]

45s plays best in multiway pots with lots of implied odds. Here, I’m not sure what the raise will accomplish other than get you heads up with a hand that’s much better than yours. I’d fold in your spot.

[PaultheS]

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45s plays best in multiway pots with lots of implied odds. Here, I’m not sure what the raise will accomplish other than get you heads up with a hand that’s much better than yours.

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If I could guarantee getting it heads up then I'd do it every time.

[einbert]

I'm not a big fan of this play unless you really think there's a decent chance of taking the pot down PF, and there isn't.

I would probably limp.

[einbert]

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45s plays best in multiway pots with lots of implied odds. Here, I’m not sure what the raise will accomplish other than get you heads up with a hand that’s much better than yours.

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If I could guarantee getting it heads up then I'd do it every time.

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Yeah but I think you're going to end up three-way or more at least 60% of the time. And you're in a pretty bad position considering you only have position on two of the four blinds.

[PaultheS]

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If I could guarantee getting it heads up then I'd do it every time.

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Yeah but I think you're going to end up three-way or more at least 60% of the time.

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Yeah, I just meant getting it heads up wasn't my worry.

My first thought was that I definitely didn't want to fold with all that dead money. There were a few reasons for the raise:

1) I figured there was a decent chance I'd narrow the field preflop and take the pot down on the flop if everyone missed.
2) If I don't raise, there's a good chance somebody else will with all that dead money there, so this way I give myself the initiative.
3) If something goes wrong, 54s won't be too much of a dog and should be easy to play.

That's why I decided to throw the raise in.

[ErrantNight]

you're giving yourself initiative with a hand that has no showdown value that you'd prefer to play in a multi-way pot.

Sure you "could" get this headsup, but even if you do, you're going to have to outdraw your opponent, or push him off a hand with outs against you.

this won't be a long-term winning proposition for you. if you're raising 54s, what is your range of hands you advocate raising from UTG in this position? because it shouldn't be much wider than if the table were full and you were MP2.

[PaultheS]

MP2 with two posters behind?

My main thought was that if I don't raise, someone else behind me will, then I'll have to give up when I miss the flop. I think 54s might've been a little low though.

Do you prefer just calling then? What about the chances of it being raised behind you? And what hands would you raise?

[ErrantNight]

my standard collection of middle position raise hands would be raised here.

i don't think limping has a lot of expectation from UTG in an aggressive preflop game. it's why you don't limp it from UTG in full games. because you really hate to have to play this for multiple bets before the flop. s00ted connectors thrive on implied odds. without any idea of how many bets it's going to be to see the flop, or how many people are going to be doing so, you're up [censored] creek.

but if i'm playing i'm limping. donks love to get in line and call behind a caller sometimes. but i'd rather fold.