Weak tight or Sensible?

[hectorjelly]

Ok, First posting here so go easy on me.
This is a hand that I played last night that bothered me, 2$ 4$ no limit (online).
I've been playing this for a couple of weeks, and I've gotten to know most of the players, and the standard plays. I know the shortstack, he's a really crap player, always buys in for the minimum and goes all in pre flop, or on the flop. He will raise with any two cards above 7. The villain of the piece has been sitting at the table for a while, I've never seen him before and I have no reads on him at all.

I have just over $400. I get JJ in mp and limp in. I wont raise medium pps in early or middle position, I tend to either try and play a small pot with them, or play them for set value.

All folds to the shortstack who raises to $20. This is the standard raise at the table. He has about another $50.

The villain in the small blind calls. He has about $350.

Now when it gets back to me I reraise to $70, my thinking here is that there is no point in playing it for set value now, and its hard to put the short stack on a hand so this means I don't have to play guessing games on the flop. (ie he has raised before with Q8, so a flop of A K 10 could be fine for all I know). I also think that this looks like a standard limp reraise to a good player, so I'm pretty sure the small blind will get the hint and fold.

The shortstack folds and the villain pushes.

What does he have?

I think for a while and fold. The only reason that I thought was that at a lower level, you often see this move with 88 or some other such crap. I decided in the end I didn't want to play a $300 + pot with a pair of J's.

I've been thinking about it this morning, and I cant understand his play if he has AA, or KK. Why not just call the reraise? He's liable to win a lot more if the flop comes up rags.

Any comments on my play?

[Jon Matthews]

I'd fold this too. You need a decent player read to call here as you're either a big dog or on a coin flip. I'd guess the former, and that since you'd already limp reraised, he thought he could get you to call in preflop. It's not the worst play with AA, for example, as it's best to try and get the money in preflop when it might not go in on the flop. His read of you was probably a fair bit off.

Jon.

[gcoutu]

Assuming he is a decent player, my read is as follows. He has AKs and was looking to trap the maniac on the flop. You got involved and he decided he didn't want to have to out play a solid player so he pushed. Could have also been QQ.

I think your fold was correct cause you were likely a coin flip. I would watch this player to make sure he isn't making this move with 88 99 TT so that you know in the future how to deal with this move.

Good raise and good fold. JJ is a bitch to play sometimes, but I think you did the right thing.

[ML4L]

Hey Hector,

Tough hand. I honestly don't know what I would do. In all seriousness, I think that it would be partially dependent on the website. On UB/Stars, I would fold. Party, I would probably still fold, but it would be closer...

I think that this is a perfectly legitimate way to play AA/KK. There is no point in reraising preflop if it's gonna be heads-up with he and the maniac. He obviously can't expect a call from you after you open-limp. And then, when you limp-reraise, it looks like you either have a big hand (but not bigger than his) or you just want to get heads-up with the maniac. Either way, he moves in and hope that you put him on a bluff. On Party, I make HUGE preflop raises with AA/KK and people call, because they've seen so many other idiots do it with K3 and 55... The only problem with his strategy is that he is not in an ideal spot if you call preflop, because then he is playing a potentially large pot, out of position (both absolute AND relative to the preflop raiser) against an unknown hand... So, a reraise by AA/KK there preflop might be best.

Overall, I think that you played it fine. Better luck next time.

ML4L

[scooby]

I'm with ML on this one...I think without a read, I'd fold. While it's possible that it might be a better play to smooth call with AA or KK, it's also better to win a small pot than lose a big one, so perhaps that's the motivation behind his push. I think if he's a good player, he might still smooth call with AA, but there's no way he's smooth calling with KK. I think he has KK or QQ, or possibly AK. Without a read on him as a LAG, I'd have a tough time putting him on 88, 99, or TT. I fold, but perhaps that's cuz I'm WT as well =)