[TStoneMBD]

i once made a thread that said something along the lines of if there are 7 limpers in front of you then its correct to raise 22 from the BB. i still think thats correct but its really tough to guage the equity value of such hands postflop.

preflop equity is easy. in this hand i like raising because our preflop equity is around 21%. at 21% that means that by investing another small bet our equity gain is .26SB or .13BB! thats huge on a 1SB investment, a 26% rate of return. i dont think we can make that up postflop by checking.

im not certain whether checking preflop increases our postflop equity or not. in the past ive argued that raising preflop increases our equity but its truly close and depends on the game. i think the more aggressive the game is the more you want to raise preflop. if players are going to raise and reraise protecting their pairs then you will get paid off alot when you flop a set. if players are just calling bets then it doesnt do you much good.

because its hard to determine whether your hand has more value postflop whether you raise or check, i think in this situation raising is clear. an immediately 26% ROI is gigantic in this spot, and its very hard to make that up postflop.

the real question for me is how low would i go with pairs in this spot. i think i would raise 66 but lower than that and i check. its tough.