[Nick C]

A number of factors make it difficult to narrow BB's range all that much, despite the prelop cap: He's the BB, he seems loose, he's mostly unknown, and he's short-stacked.

Anyway, I don't think I've ever thrown away a pocket pair preflop after already putting two bets in, and I wouldn't start here. I'm seeing a flop.

We're in an awkward spot on the flop, because, with that king on the board, we're an underdog to the TAG SB's likely 3-betting range, and we're first to act after BB, who will most likely be auto-betting his A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 6 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], his pocket fours, his aces, or his AK.

I think I like the flop raise. I mean, I'm tempted just to call and see what SB wants to do, but he did just check, which is a little bit encouraging, and if you just call, that's not the best way to encourage SB to dump his AQ, if that's what he's got, and by calling you would pretty much give up all hope of getting SB to throw away his JJ when that's what he's got, too.

SB's check/3-bet is really bad news. Getting 20:1, I'd call, hoping to spike a 9 on the turn or at least pick up a crappy flush draw. But since KK is a possibility and our backdoor flush draw is weak (especially versus two opponents), I don't think folding right away would be so bad.

Like I said, I'd call and see the turn, but I'm not happy at all when SB check/3-bets. The chances that he just has A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and BB is just hoping for the best with his 22 seem pretty remote.