Standard UTG raise?

[DasLeben]

Decently tight table...nobody overly tight or loose though.

#Game No : 2219773456
***** Hand History for Game 2219773456 *****
NL Hold'em $10 Buy-in + $1 Entry Fee Trny:13166973 Level:4 Blinds(50/100) - Friday, June 17, 04:20:00 EDT 2005
Table Table 39781 (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 7: DasLeben ( $1250 )
Seat 9: FIDoubleD ( $1740 )
Seat 3: AcesIwul ( $1615 )
Seat 4: PrincessDeeB ( $1160 )
Seat 10: Major097 ( $1575 )
Seat 8: MustKill ( $660 )
Trny:13166973 Level:4
Blinds(50/100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to DasLeben [ 8c 8s ]
>You have options at Table 35306 Table!.
DasLeben raises [300].

[Myst]

I dont like raises where I invest 25% of my stack preflop. unless my hand is very very strong.

Id probably muck this 88 and would play it only to steal the blinds...

But if I wanted to steal the blinds, Id do it from the CO/Button with 83o.

[Sabrazack]

I really dont like to put 1/4 of my stack in here with 88. If you are called and an overcard or two hits its kinda hard to know what to do. This may be a leak of mine, but im probably folding 88 here. I might call with 99 and may push with TT.

[DasLeben]

Yeah, this is a little different than my usual style, but I thought I'd experiment with a play like this on a tightish table.

So this is a no-go from you guys?

[Jordan Olsommer]

[ QUOTE ]
I really dont like to put 1/4 of my stack in here with 88. If you are called and an overcard or two hits its kinda hard to know what to do. This may be a leak of mine, but im probably folding 88 here. I might call with 99 and may push with TT.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. You're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place in this spot - you have too small a stack to make an effective raise, but too big of one to push, and the fact that you're out of position doesn't help matters any. If you raise and get called, you'll only have an overpair or top set about 13% of the time, so the flop is likely to be awkward. If you push and get called, your absolute best-case scenario is a coinflip, outside of the slim chance that the 6xBB stack wakes up with 77 and decides to make his last stand.

Push and you'll win the blinds the vast majority of the time, but you can say that about 8/images/graemlins/club.gif3/images/graemlins/diamond.gif in this spot as well.

As wasteful as it may seem to fold as good a hand as pocket eights, this isn't a cash game, and you have other strategic concerns at hand (e.g. getting into the money, where you can slap people around with your 88 as if it were a hefty largemouth bass with a rubberized grip on the tail /images/graemlins/smile.gif)

[wiggs73]

I either limp or fold pre-flop. As others have said, I don't think you can raise and put 25% of your stack in and then see overcards hit the flop. I also like the UTG limp sometimes because I think it disguises your hand. A lot of people will assume monster with a limp from this position and be even more hesitant to play.

If it gets down to you and the blinds, I think you can lead most flops with a bet of 200 and probably pick the pot up a lot of times there. This seems a much safer way of investing 300 chips with this hand. If you get other callers along the way, I'd play it for set value.