simple (?) preflop question

[ethan]

In the middle of a party 5+1 right now, I wasn't quite sure what the proper play was preflop. The short stack limps UTG, I have 15BB and am covered by most everyone left to act. The big stacks haven't seemed too interested in gambling, though. I've been at the table 20 hands and stolen from them 4-5 times without incident. What do you do here?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (10 handed)

saw flop|<font color="C00000">saw showdown</font>

BB (t8795)
UTG (t750)
UTG+1 (t3330)
UTG+2 (t4705)
MP1 (t1930)
MP2 (t5335)
Hero (t3046)
CO (t1950)
Button (t7665)
SB (t4272)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
UTG calls t200, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, <font color="CC3333">Hero...</font>

[Lloyd]

I'm quite suspicious of the UTG shortstacked limper. You didn't give any reads on him and that would certainly influence my play. Is he just a horrible player who doesn't know how to play a shortstack? If so, then MAYBE you can bring it in for a raise. If he's a good player who has been unlucky, I'd definitely pass.

The other thing to keep in mind is that eventually one of those larger stacks behind you is going to come over the top on your raise because they are tired of having their blinds stolen. What are you going to do when that happens? You're going to fold. And because of the early limper, you probably raised it 4-5X BB so you've lost about 1/3 of your stack on a steal when you potentially have a limper in front of you holding a premium hand.

All things considered, I would probably pass on this hand - not even limp in. If you hadn't stolen from them so often then perhaps a raise is in order. But since you did, wait for another opportunity.