Question about proper preflop play with 99

I have a question about playing 99 preflop, especially in early position.

Say you limp in, and then a raise occurs. Should you fold, call, raise to try and isolate?

I assume that if there is a raise and reraise after you limp in, then the correct play is to fold....

Thanks for all replies.

[shant]

You shouldn't fold to a raise in either of those cases unless nobody else is in the pot and it is likely it will be capped if you call.

You should be raising 99 in EP.

[peterchi]

If you limp and then a raise occurs, you can't usually isolate because everyone has already acted by the time you get to re-raise. i.e. anyone who has already put money in the pot isn't likely to fold now. So I would just call.

Against normal players, or without any reads, I would fold to a raise and re-raise after limping (edit: this was assuming that they are the only other players in the pot. If it's going to be more multiway, I'd call).

[W. Deranged]

A couple of things to think about with 99:

1. It's a very good hand. I generally raise with it quite liberally pre-flop in all position, including sometimes out of the blinds.

2. It is an excellent hand to use to isolate a week raiser.

3. It has strong "big hand" potential in that it can hit a big set. I am willing to call two or even (!) three-cold sometimes with this hand if the pot is laying me 5-1 or better.

4. While I usually prefer to three-bet with 99 in most situation, 99 is in the small class of hands that I consider to be viable cold-calling hands. If there is, say, a raise and a cold-call in front of you and you're in the CO with 99, I might cold-call if the button and blinds are loose to encourage a multiway pot as opposed to raising and getting the hand 3 ways, though I think a raise would be totally fine in that situation as well.

[W. Deranged]

[ QUOTE ]

Against normal players, or without any reads, I would fold to a raise and re-raise after limping.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is playing too tight in most situations. If there is one other limper/cold-caller in, you are probably going to be getting in the neighborhood of 5-1 and with implied odds this should probably be played for set value alone.

Don't be afraid of 99! It's a tough hand to play, certainly, but that shouldn't mean we should be dumping it often. It's the kind of hand that goes up in value tremendously as post-flop play improves because it is a hand that often demands good protection and which can offer hidden value if you know where to find it. (Don't be giving up automatically on one-overcard flops).

I wish I had my SSHE here - in the starting hand charts, I think 99 is a call in early position, not a raise.

[peterchi]

Time-stamp says I got my edit in before your response /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[deception5]

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I wish I had my SSHE here - in the starting hand charts, I think 99 is a call in early position, not a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a raise.

[hobbsmann]

[ QUOTE ]
I wish I had my SSHE here - in the starting hand charts, I think 99 is a call in early position, not a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

The starting hand charts are not meant to be law and ammending them to various games is important to becoming a winning player. Raising 99 in EP fits this case as most players on these boards have adopted a slightly more aggresive style than the exact recommendations in SSHE.

[sy_or_bust]

Basically, as games get tougher, you want to be raising a lot more and open-limping a lot less.

[W. Deranged]

[ QUOTE ]
Time-stamp says I got my edit in before your response /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Touche.

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I wish I had my SSHE here - in the starting hand charts, I think 99 is a call in early position, not a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a raise.

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Well then so be it.

I knew that TT was a raise and that 88 was a call, but I wasn't sure about 99.

[hobbsmann]

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I wish I had my SSHE here - in the starting hand charts, I think 99 is a call in early position, not a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well then so be it.

I knew that TT was a raise and that 88 was a call, but I wasn't sure about 99.

[/ QUOTE ]

You'll find that some players on these boards will raise 88 and 77 in EP depending on the games. Try to think of the starting hands charts as recommendations and work on finding out why/when to deviate from them.

[W. Deranged]

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I wish I had my SSHE here - in the starting hand charts, I think 99 is a call in early position, not a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well then so be it.

I knew that TT was a raise and that 88 was a call, but I wasn't sure about 99.

[/ QUOTE ]

You'll find that some players on these boards will raise 88 and 77 in EP depending on the games. Try to think of the starting hands charts as recommendations and work on finding out why/when to deviate from them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I raise 88 like it's my job. Sfer seems to post "raise preflop" whenever anyone posts a hand involving 77. I haven't heard anyone advocating raising 66 regularly but I feel that there's a lot of room to get agressive with many of the pairs pre-flop if you play well postflop.

[hobbsmann]

[ QUOTE ]
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[ QUOTE ]
I wish I had my SSHE here - in the starting hand charts, I think 99 is a call in early position, not a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well then so be it.

I knew that TT was a raise and that 88 was a call, but I wasn't sure about 99.

[/ QUOTE ]

You'll find that some players on these boards will raise 88 and 77 in EP depending on the games. Try to think of the starting hands charts as recommendations and work on finding out why/when to deviate from them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I raise 88 like it's my job. Sfer seems to post "raise preflop" whenever anyone posts a hand involving 77. I haven't heard anyone advocating raising 66 regularly but I feel that there's a lot of room to get agressive with many of the pairs pre-flop if you play well postflop.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've actually started to raise 77 UTG in full ring games higher than 3/6 online as a default.

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I wish I had my SSHE here - in the starting hand charts, I think 99 is a call in early position, not a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to clarify, Sklansky et al state 99 is just a call in "Tight" games. But all the postings have been so informative...I guess the key issue is adapting play to the table environment, rather than always just playing tight aggressive preflop.

[Drizztdj]

99 is GOLD!

Cap it always.

[W. Deranged]

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99 is GOLD!

Cap it always.

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I think this response exhibits considerable pathos.

[SeaEagle]

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99 is GOLD!

Cap it always.

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I think this response exhibits considerable pathos.

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It's just the next logical step beyond "The SSHE charts are just a guideline. Most of us play more aggressive than SSHE recommends."