JJ, opening hand

[rbear]

At the 11's, it's a little bit trickier, because you'll have this many limpers. Obviously any starting hand you have is devalued with 5 people in the pot, so you're thinking you have to raise this much to isolate one, hopefully no more than two. The problem with this is that at this level, 90% of the players (or more) don't understand or play optimally late, or on the bubble. You have a tremendous advantage just being at the table late, so why do you risk so much in the first level? If you just call this minraise, you'll stack your opponents many times if you hit a set w/ overcards on the board, and when the flop comes rags, TPTK will come in w/ you. Minimize risk and maximze reward. As far as betting goes relative to pot and your stack size, there's not a standard formula (I'm aware of), but it's something you need to be conscious of at all times. What are your goals in raising, and how much will be required to do so (isolating, etc.)? How much will you have to commit for a continuation here? How vulnerable is your hand? If you're going to raise more than 40% of your stack, push. Do you have a significant advantage if you don't risk so much here? These are all questions I try to think about if I'm going to make a substantial raise early.