Smooth call, raise or push?

[utmt40]

1166 entries 5+.50 buy in down to final two tables. UTG is pretty loose and I have seen him raise/re raise 3 of the 5 hands we have played together to this point. Do you smooth call here, raise or push? Why?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t6000 (9 handed) converter

MP3 (t8560)
Hero (t83854)
Button (t163464)
SB (t51824)
BB (t263588)
UTG (t108631)
UTG+1 (t41910)
MP1 (t28360)
MP2 (t33100)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="#CC3333">UTG raises to t18000</font>, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero????

[DemonDeac]

based on ur read, i like a reraise to 40k-50k and hope he plays back. if he calls, ull be in a heads up flop with what im sure is some considerable equity where i would just push the rest in then

[KyleM]

i was gonna say raise him 18k and hope he pushes, so i 2nd what demon said, but i'm just a lucky noob.

[Kronon]

With your stacks, I would smooth call, and then see the flop. And unless the flop is very dangerous (for example, JQK suited), I would reraise all-in after flop, since he will most likely come out betting on flop.

If he checked the flop, I would bet about the size of the pot.

An all-in preflop makes it to easy for him to lay down a hand like 99, and a min-raise looks even stronger.

[chisness]

i don't know much about multis (learning), but is the deception here worth risking letting him catch a set or 2pair with mediocre hand for that cheap?

[TheJackal]

Sorry but not re-raising here would be a bad play. I know you have position, but this is not a time you need to be deceptive, not against this player. Plus he has more chips than you which means you can go broke this hand against him. I move all in and either A) get called by a worse hand than mine or B) increase my stack by 25% without a fight.

[Brad F.]

[ QUOTE ]
1166 entries 5+.50 buy in down to final two tables. UTG is pretty loose and I have seen him raise/re raise 3 of the 5 hands we have played together to this point.

[/ QUOTE ]

IMO, it's pretty hard to get a read off of a guy when you've only played 3 hands with him. I wouldn't say loose either, but he has shown some aggression.

That being said, if he's willing to raise 3x the big blind UTG, then he's willing to go to the felt PF in most situations. Raise to about 40000 or 45000, and hope for the reraise. Then take the rest when the flop comes king high to hit is A-K or when the flop comes 9-6-3 and he thinks his overpair is still good. Don't let him hit a set.

Brad

[adanthar]

It's a $5 tournament, just push. KT will call.

[Crispy]

I think this is a spot where you should miniraise for protection. First of all, if you raise to 40-50 k you are putting in half your stack. If the raiser is paying attention, he would notice this and put you on a high pair or AK since you brought it up to close to 9XBB. Don't be stupid and give him an easy fold. Your playing to win, and you need chips. The only fear i would have is the button and the BB who both have a considerable amount of chips and this call would only cost 10% for the Button's stack and 5% of the BB stack which might justify them calling with any two suited cards and would endanger your Aces. Remember you don't necessarily want to discourage action with Aces, you just want a limited field. Miniraise it up to 30k. Also with all this talk about you don't want him hitting his set, thats just silly. He has the same chance of hitting a set that you do, and you are starting with a hand that already dominates his. You can't get super paranoid and raise all in and get no chips, that just puts the aces to shame. Just my thoughts..