A situation I\'m often faced with..
 

I'm holding 88 in a live 40-80 game in EP. UTG folds, I raise, all fold to cutoff who calls and everyone else folds. Cutoff is a good player that is somewhat decent postflop.

Flop is A-9-2. I bet, he calls.

Turn is a 7. I bet, he calls.

River is 5.

What's my plan now?

Thanks

Lawrence

Re: A situation I\'m often faced with..
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm holding 88 in a live 40-80 game in EP. UTG folds, I raise, all fold to cutoff who calls and everyone else folds. Cutoff is a good player that is somewhat decent postflop.

Flop is A-9-2. I bet, he calls.

Turn is a 7. I bet, he calls.

River is 5.

What's my plan now?

Thanks

Lawrence

[/ QUOTE ]first, CO is not a good player. the only hand a good player could possibly play this way would be KK...
WRT to your Q, easy check/fold on the river.

Re: A situation I\'m often faced with..
 

I'm pretty sure checkfold is the way to go.

Re: A situation I\'m often faced with..
 

...err, I think Co would 3 bet KK not coldcall. Actually it's a little fishy that a good player would coldcall anything here.

I don't like open raising with 88 or 99 EP. If anyone comes in behind you your out of position with a hand that's difficult to play. I just limp in here. I save 88 and 99 for isolation plays against 1 limper or 1 LAG raiser. Anyhow, it sound like you're up against something like AQs, AJs, ATs. I'd check fold the river.

Re: A situation I\'m often faced with..
 

If you're gonna make a move on this sort of board with this sort of opponent, I prefer a turn check-raise.

As far as your river, looks like a pretty obvious check-fold. Good players aren't putting in 1.5 BBs on this dry of a board without putting 2.5 if need be to get to showdown.

Re: A situation I\'m often faced with..
 

i just read poker bob's post, and he also raised 88 from EP. This is not a normative play for me. Can someone explain to me when such a play with lower pairs might be correct?


(My guess is that you want to get rid of overcards and try to get heads up. This would be more likely in tighter games. Should this type of raise be reserved only for pretty tight, yet passive games?)

Re: A situation I\'m often faced with..
 

In almost any size limit games I play in, if I am first in after UTG and have any pocket pair 77 and up, I will raise.

The only condition where I usually limp is if it's extremely loose pre-flop and my raise won't thin the field down much, then I might limp pocket pairs all pocket pairs lower than 88, but still raise 99 pairs and up if I am first in.

Lawrence

Re: A situation I\'m often faced with..
 

Okay. Why 77 and up, though, in most games? To thin the field, I understand. But why do you draw the line at 77? My preflop knowledge is limited mainly to SSHE and THFAP, which would not recommend raising with pairs that low in ep. Can you pleasee elaborate? Thanks.

Re: A situation I\'m often faced with..
 

Check fold sounds right. That board is real dry. I cant think of much you are ahead of when he calls the turn. Make it A 9 10 with a flush draw and I'm auto calling the river. But in your spot, since he really cant have a busted draw, would probably fold a smaller PP on the turn, and shouldnt feel the need to bet a smaller PP on the river it looks pretty hopeless. Agaist the real straight forward types I'll check fold the turn, although I lean towards betting agaist an unknown.

Re: A situation I\'m often faced with..
 

If you are often find in this position against decent players, it may be because you are playing too aggressively in the wrong spots, and they are letting you bet their hand for them when they feel they have you beat.