raising pocket 8s

Seems like pocket 8s are likely to fall to overcards on most flops. Why do you and others recommend raising with them?

88 - Why do you and others recommend raising with them?


Your question is far too general and no single answer can tell you what you want to know.


I'll try to give you some idea of how I'd play 88 UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS.


From early position against a weak lineup I'd raise with 88. I probably have the best hand at the moment and don't want worse hands to draw out against me. Basically I'm raising for the blinds, and when things work out really well, for value when weak hands call when they shouldn't. Or the big connectors miss the flop.


With one loose-goose raiser in front of me I'd reraise, trying to get him all to myself and see what he's made of.


Against a very tough field I'd sometimes fold 88 from early position. (Other opinions on this fold please.)


But sometimes, again a tough observant field, I'd limp with the intention of reraising. And this is where it all starts to get quite complicated and is probably more than you want to know at the moment. Suffice it to say I don't recommend the limp-reraise play unless you sometimes also do it when holding AA and a number of hands.


Obviously the closer you get to the button with nobody limping or raising in front of you, the stronger your 88 becomes. Always raise from mid position onwards if first to enter the pot, irregardless of the lineup. Don't risk giving the blinds cheap or free cards.


There's a lot more to it than this of course and maybe somebody will either add to it or disagree with me. Hope this helps. Best of luck to you. LTL

You should not raise with 88's always and I don't know who's recommendation you are refering to.


A simplified way to look at it is:


1. call if you expect a raise to be called in more then one place or if a few others are already in.


2. raise when there is a reasonable chance to pick up the blinds and/or a good chance of just one caller.


In the right type of game, you can also do the raise when there is lots and lots of callers hoping to flop a set.


you stated "pocket 8s are likely to fall to overcards on most flops."


This is not quite right. The overcards may not hit the opponent(s) and will be scary to him since you raised.


You need to aggresively represent the overcard.


D.

I have seen and done most of those things in a variety of games. If you are facing a tough lineup with tricky players or hands are getting capped pre-flop, you may want to release them, but I feel usually only in a tough game, otherwise, if you can raise to knock out players and get heads up, thats good. If you raise late with a lot of oponents, your making the pot big in case you flop a set, you can tie on those opponents that think you have AK or some big pocket pair that does not match the board. Other than those two situations, I really prefer to limp. Much of it is based on your opponents and how they play, the worse they are, you can exploit them. Here in LA though, you get a lot of players and it is hard to bluff them out when you make the pot big. So it's like a double edged sword, you make the pot big for when you win it, but you have a harder time trying to steal it when you don't hit.