$100 NL - Low flop, a good hand, agressive betting

[Chazbot2000]

I had a general question for you all about how to deal with agressive betting when you have a good hand on a ragged flop.

Let's say you and the other person in the hand both have $100. You have JJ and raise to $7 preflop. Other guy calls. Flop comes out 10-6-2 rainbow. You bet the pot. Other guy reraises all-in. No read. What do you do?

The had is just an example (one I experienced) but generally there are plenty of situations where you could be up against someone who paired the 10, has a higher overpair than JJ, made two pair or hit a set. When would you lay down?

[Zag]

This is all about 1. player read, and 2. stack sizes.

There are certainly players against whom this is an easy call. There are others against whom this is an easy laydown. Against most (or unknown) players, I will consider the stack size. Basically, I am willing to lose 30 BBs on an overpair, and I am never willing to lose 90 BB's. In between there, I will randomize based on game theory.

[Richie Rich]

It's always situation dependent...

For instance, in the example at hand, did you raise JJ to $7 from EP and get a MP/LP call? Or did you raise to $7 in LP and EP/MP called? Makes a difference. Also, do you have any notes/playing experience against the villain who went all-in?

IMO, JJ is a good hand, but not a GREAT one. Someone could easily smooth call your PF raise with a higher pocket pair (I've done it many times /images/graemlins/smile.gif) or catch something on the flop that beats your overpair. A $7 raise in the PP NL100 game also smells like AK/AQ. Perhaps he only caught a pair on the flop and is "putting your bluff" to the test.

Like I said before, it's always situation dependent. /images/graemlins/grin.gif