15-30 Hand

[MarkD]

I'm in EP and open limp with 66. 3 limpers behind me, small blind completes, and then the big blind raises. Big blind has not been raising very much preflop, but is calling many raises and playing a lot of hands. Everyone calls. 6 Players and $180 in the pot.

Flop: 875 rainbow. SB checks, BB bets, I call, two opponents behind me call.

Turn: 8. BB bets, I raise, only the BB calls. One of the opponents behind me was chatting with the cocktail waitress and was more interested in his discussion then the hand. He was making a folding motion as the BB bet, but was waiting until it was his turn before folding. Based on his play throughout the night it was reliable that he was in fact going to fold his hand regardless of the action before him.

River: 2. BB checks, I bet, he calls.

Comments?

[anatta]

Pre-flop: 66 is borderline for me in EP, but it seems like a loose game so limping is fine. "Big blind has not been raising very much preflop"...I think you can safely put him on a premium hand.

I would probably raise the flop to eliminate the field (i.e. folding JT would be good) and to put pressure on the BB if he has big cards and not a pocket pair. If you get re-raised or they call behind you, you are still in decent shape with your open-ender.

Since you called the flop, I like the turn raise since you represent trips, you still have straight outs, and you set up a free showdown.

When you are called on the turn, I think BB has a big pocket pair and fears trip 8's, so he is calling you down. A lesser hand simply can't call you here. This is a bad river bet IMO.

[elysium]

hi mark
well, we're not suppose to call from EP with 66. yea, i know. believe me i know. especially when everyone is showing down lousy starters. and you know that at least five will call a likely raise because of the nature of the game. but never make this call. yea, i know, you're a poker player, believe me i know.

the problem isn't the number of people in the hand. in my opinion, even if you knew that the pre-flop would be raised, and you'd be looking at a 6-way on the flop, you still should not call or raise in from EP with 66. the problem is really two fold. first; when you do flop a set, from EP you will get in the least amount of money when you have the best of it, and you will lose the maximum amount when you have the worst of it. secondly, and way more importantly, you can't release the dang thing when you get the 66 or 55 in EP. that is what is really bad.

i wish i could say that my decision making in a good game would never allow me to enter in with those type hands from EP. but like you, and everyone else, i say, " but it will be a 6 or even 7 way on the flop. i just know it will." and i yeack phooey, "why not?, hehehehe." yea,....the EP entrys with hands that lose performance value because of poor position are grounds for another anonymous group, like 'EP anon', and others who jump start before the light turns green. we are miragenally challenged, and dang it we could use a recovery group. well, thankfully no such group exists because we can use this info to our advantage. simply be there with the correct cards in the correct position when your opponent limps in from EP with those type hands, especially if there is a bad-beat jack-pot; this is a way to get the jack-pot odds into the +ev i think. you'll have to clear that with more experienced players than i though, because i'm not 100% sure. but i think that if you play correctly, and your opponents try for the jack-pot, not sure but i think you have some +ev there. what did you do here?.... ah, you full-housed your opponent. well, keep it in mind that you may want to really consider limping in with the 55 and 66 type hands from EP.

[MarkD]

I guess, since I haven't gotten very much response I will post the results.

My opponent turned over QQ to take the pot.

My thinking during the hand was as follows. Pre-flop I was UTG + 2 so almost middle position, and the game had been fairly passive for the past round or two. I thought it was marginal, but playable since I figured to get around 4-5 oppponents for one bet each.

Flop: I definitely considered raising, but figured if I called I build a decent pot without investing much. I was looking at it in terms of a low variance play.

Turn: Well... so much for low variance, the semi-bluff raise just seemed completely right here. I'm drawing to straight / full house for a total of around 10 outs plus I might be good already. My oponent is the type who would bet an AK on the flop and continue on the turn and would also likely call my raise on the turn with overcards. Having said that I figured that he had a big pair.

River: I think my lone opponent has an overpair, I can't win if I check IMO so I bet. In hindsight I think this bet is wrong, since there is very little chance that my opponent will fold an overpair on this board.

It was not a good session overall and this bluff raise was a hand I thought I played poorly.

[Ulysses]

If it's pretty passive pre-flop, I don't mind the early limp w/ 66.

I think calling or raising on the flop is fine. I usually raise in this position.

I think the turn is a good semi-bluff.

That deuce didn't change anything on the river. I'd check behind and hope.