Preflop Quiz - TT from the Small Blind

[AceHigh]

Party Poker 5/10 game, I have pocket Tens in the small blind. Cutoff+1 raises, cutoff reraises (both have typical raising standards, cutoff+1 is steal/raising) do you fold, call or cap it?



I folded and the hand never made it to showdown. Comments?

[GuyOnTilt]

This question absolutely cannot be answered well without knowing about your opponents. Do tell.

GoT

[AceHigh]

Cutoff+1 is a rock, who is definately raising light, trying to steal the blinds. The cutoff is a loose player with typical 2+2 raising standards, he has a real hand here, but probably less than normal AA/KK/QQ/AK 3-betting standards.

[JTG51]

I agree. To give a good answer you'd have to know if the CO knows that the original raiser could have a wide range of hands and would thus 3-bet a wide range of hands.

Knowing a little something about how loose or tight the BB is would help also.

[AceHigh]

Yes, cutoff knows cutoff+1 is raising light. Cutoff+1 has been aggressive attacking the blinds in late position.

Can't remember much about the BB. Wasn't especially loose defending the blinds. I remember at the time thinking it was unlikely he would call whether I capped it or not.

[Bob T.]

If they are loose aggressive, I would tend toward capping it, and if they are tight, I would tend toward folding. It also depends on how long I am planning on playing. If I am planning on playing a long time, I would tend to muck this against loose aggressives also, because I hope to get a more clearcut chance, and if I lose this hand, it is going to take me a while to win back as many bets as I am likely to lose on this hand.

[AceHigh]

FWIW, I think it's a close decision all-around.

If it was no-limit I would be inclined to just push all-in with the likely best hand and take my chances. But I thought this was a marginal situation (mostly because I'm out of position) where I didn't need to get involved. Lately, I'm less inclined to get involved in marginal situations, not sure if that's best.

If I do play, I think the best line might be to smooth call preflop. That does a couple things:
1) it allows me to see the flop action and decide how I want to play the flop;
2) probably let's me check/raise if I like the flop and drive out the cutoff+1;
3) gives cutoff+1 a chance to cap preflop, if he does cap it gives me a good idea of the strength of his hand.

If I do check/raise the flop I might be able to win without a showdown on the turn if my opponents don't flop top pair.