Playing Rags Early

I posted this earlier in the wrong forum, my apologies.
Situation: MTT at Noble Poker, rebuy, early stages.

Blinds are 10/20 and I'm in middle position. I have yet to show a hand down. My hand 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and instead of folding I raise to 80. I get 5 callers, to include the blinds, no reraises.

Flop is J22. (obviously I got VERY lucky)

SB Checks
BB bets 150, about half the pot.
Hero (not sure if I qualify as hero here, more like evil genius) raise to 300.
Folds back to BB.
BB thinks for a minute and elects to push all-in.
I call.
Turn comes 2 River K.
I double up with quad 2s. BB showed AJ.

How often should I make this kind of move? What might the BB have been thinking about throughout this entire process?

I think that you shouldn't raise with rags very often in the first few rounds where the blinds mean nothing, because it is only going to build up a pot that might put you to a tough decision later on in the hand. I have no problem playing rags if you can let them go without getting attached to hands you shouldn't be wasting more money on (TPBK for instance isn't very good with that style, good enough to bet, but if someone stays along or raises, you should more often than not muck it).

Someone once told me that the only reasons you should raise is for value or for information, and this doesn't fit either of those cases IMO.

I admit I was experimenting a little bit with the more loose aggressive style that I see so much. I was more than willing to let the hand go to any reraisers and a more than likely missed flop. I guess if nothing else I gave some poor guy a bad beat story that he is still confused about.

[burningyen]

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Someone once told me that the only reasons you should raise is for value or for information....

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Someone forgot that poker also involves bluffing.

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My hand 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and instead of folding I raise to 80. I get 5 callers, to include the blinds, no reraises.

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Nothing wrong with playing rags early in a rebuy, but what is the purpose of a raise here? You are only putting more chips into the pot with a hand you will most likely fold, plus you could very likely get reraised and have to fold.

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How often should I make this kind of move?

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In a rebuy, there is nothing wrong with playing this any time you can get in cheap, until you have a substantial amount of chips (I use 3-4x the double buy-in amount). But raising just costs you more chips when you miss, and costs you the element of surprise when you hit.


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What might the BB have been thinking about throughout this entire process?

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He's probably thinking "I know this guy doesn't have a duece since he raised preflop, but he may very well have QQ, KK, even AA or JJ. He showed strength preflop, followed by strength on the flop. Should I lay down TPTK at this point? Well...it's a rebuy I'll just chuck it in and see what happens"

Your raise completely ruined the element of surprise effect that 23 suited needs in order to overcome the amount of times it loses its preflop investment.

If this is later stages, no rebuy, big blinds, at least you have some FE with the preflop raise, but here picking up the blinds means nothing, even getting a call or two an picking up the pot on a flop bet means little. The rebuy period is about stacks won, not chips won. 150 chips means little.

Play your rags if you can get in cheaply and hope to take down a stack or two. Raising is not cheap.

Part of my thinking was that there was no way anyone would have seen that coming, especially with the PF raise and the way the flop came. If he had JJ to begin with I think he would have reraised, to which I fold and lose 80 chips. but I did consider that before calling his all in. To clarify my stack was 1300 BB was 1150, and took his entire stack.

[Firefly]

I make this play sometimes early. I'd prefer to have 76s rather than 32s but there isn't anything inherently wrong with the play, just play good postflop. It's great when you show these hands down, because people think you are a nut and get mucho action on your real hands.