What does it mean when your opponent calls/raises PREFLOP?

[hemstock]

Had this happened several times today.

Some limpers, it gets to me or someone else who Raises, goes back to a limper who makes it 3 bets to go.

I can't really understand this awkward move? Why would anyone do it? Why call and then decide to raise? Any ideas what these players think?

[closer2313]

This is just a guess, so I might be completely off.

Sometimes it means AA or KK, most of the time in my experience it doesn't.

I really believe that its an ego thing. They limp in trying to see a cheap flop and someone raises them. They decide they are gonna be the table captain and come back over the top for a 3rd bet. They also just might be goofing around and decide to raise for fun.

I saw this really strange hand where I really think ego was the cause of the action.

MP3 Limps, CO raises, Button Calls, Fold Fold. MP3 3 bets, CO Calls, Button Caps, MP3 Calls, CO Calls.

Strange right?

MP3 = KTs
CO = AJo
Button = ATs

Again, I could be completely off, but this might be an explanation.

[Kumubou]

I was playing with one guy who was limp-reraising anything he would raise UTG whenever I was in a blind. I guess he figured that since I was being fairly liberal with my pre-flop raises (or so it seemed to the table), so he would limp/re-raise to 'punish' me (to which would always get capped). Saw him do it with 99, AJo, KQs, etc..

He stopped doing it once his KQs ran into AA which resulted in boat over flush. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] Losing 12BBs will scare people like that.

-K

[detruncate]

Limp/reraising is rarely a good play, and by the time you need to employ it you'll be able to recognize when it's appropriate. I don't think I've done it more than a couple times, and I'd be surprised if all of them were on purpose.

Unless you've seen Villain do it before, I would just recognize that you could be against a fairly broad range of hands and go from there -- I saw it quite a lot at .5/1 and was more likely to be up against a small/medium pp or suited cards than a big hand.

[Bodhi]

The vast majority of the time they do it because they are stupid. Occasionally you'll see someone do it with AA or KK because they were afraid everyone would fold if they raised, but you don't see that much at party (more so at Absolute, Poker Room, UB, etc.).

[shermn27]

I played with a guy who hated it when he limped and everyone else limped and then either the button, SB, or BB raised it. He hated so much that every time someone did it, he would re-raise with almost any holding. I think it was some sort of deranged complex. I don't know why the PF raiser wouldn't just raise when it got to him again. So in this case, limp raising actually indicated weakness.

[Paxosmotic]

Pop quiz hotshots [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Give a scenario in which limp re-raising is appropriate at a Party .5/1 table. Not a trick question.

[ktg2469]

You won't see a lot of people make this play in my experience. But the ones that do LOVE to do it. So just be aware when they limp in (especially in early position). The people that love this play will do it with a pp or two suited broadway cards most of the time. They want to take down a big pot if they hit their hand. The only other time you'll see it is against AA or KK. Probably only 1 in 200 players use this play with any kind of regularity.

[Bodhi]

I limp in the CO with 22 after 6 players limp, the Button raises, the blinds call and the limpers call. I reraise.

[UATrewqaz]

Against a very good or tricky player it quite often means AA/KK/QQ. The thought process of this player being.

1. If I raise I might scare people off, plus I wanna disguise my hand, oh look a bunch of people are in with a raise already, I'll reraise and build this pot sky high cuase I'll probably win.

or

2. I know I have an aggressive player that will raise thus I'm checking to intentionally do the above scenario.


HOWEVER, this also quite often means the person has somethign mediocre, say like 77 or AJ or something along those lines, or sometimes complete crap

That persons though process is as follows

"This hand is ok to play, oh crap a raise, well alot of people are calling, I'll raise because it would be awesome to win this huge pot"

AKA, the person either has a monster or not that fantastic, rarely do they haev a decent hand (AQs, TT, etc.)