A raise to the "LEFT"

[waynethetrain]

I read HFAP. I've been trying to construct a starting hand chart from the book. Several things are hardly mentioned at all.

What do you do pre-flop if you limp from early postion and you get raised from your left?

What do you do if you open raise with a medium value hand from middle or late postion because you are first in and get reraised to your left?

What do you do if there are 2 raises before you or after you?

Most of the attention is on what to do if there is one raise in front of you.

I realize my very general questions cover a lot of ground, but any starting hand standards at all would be helpful to get some kind of discussion going. It is virtually impossible to construct a starting hand chart from HFAP similar to the Lee Jones book because of the conversational style of the book.

[jasonHoldEm]

Basically it's always correct to call one more bet (limp/folding is very poor poker). If it's two back to you you'll need to consider the strength of your hand as well as your opponents, the number of other callers in the hand, and the fact it might get capped behind you.

I'm not 100% sure if you can work out a "chart" because when it comes back to you for two more there are a lot of variables to consider so there isn't going to be a "standard" play. I usually tend to dump big unsuited cards because it's likely you're dominated by either the raiser or re-raiser (for example, you have KJ they have AK). Suited hands I play more based on my opponents (i.e. will they pay me off if I hit my hand?). Suited cards are dangerous because you might end up paying a lot for your draw if you flop a four flush and the two raisers are going back and forth with you being trapped chasing. Pairs can flop a set and there's probably going to be a lot of action, but if you don't flop your set you're going to need to bail out on the flop.

I hope this helps a little, I'd be interested to see what the other posters have to say on this subject, as this is an area of my game that could use some work as well.

peace,
Jason

[LetsRock]

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What do you do pre-flop if you limp from early postion and you get raised from your left?


[/ QUOTE ]

If I'm limping from EP, I generally welcome a raise because I'm not in a hand from EP without a very strong hand - a hand that many people would raise with themselves.

In regards to your other questions, there are so many variables that it would be impossible to have a "standard move" for every situation. But to follow the same theme as above, if I'm raising, my hand is strong enough to handle another raise or two. If I limped in, I usually will see the flop unless it's 3 bets back to me or 2 bets with the likelyhood of it being capped behind me. This, of course depends very heavily on who's making the bets. Is it some knuckle head who's been raising every other hand? (More likely to stick around.) Is it someone who hasn't seen a flop since the NIxon administration? (Less likely to stick around.)

If I've limped, I generally subscribe to the "any 2 cards" theory to the flop - any 2 cards can flop the nuts. I can justify this thought because my hand is usually pretty strong. If it's not suited, I'm more likely to give up on it, but I won't be playing unsuited broadway cards from out of position unless I've determined that the table is not likely to have a PF pissing match.

I'm very quick to get away from a bad or marginal flop if there've been 2 or 3 raisers PF.

Other than the initial strength of your hand and your read on the other raisers, you need to consider how well you play post-flop. If you have trouble post-flop, you'd do well to bail on your hand if the betting gets scary.

This is one of those issues that experience plays a big role in solving. If your starting standards are good and you've adjusted those standards to fit the table texture, you'll rarely find yourself in a spot where this is even a problem.