Limp re-raise with pocket pair

[speirs]

I was thinking about this scenario that doesn't come up very often but still: Is this a play or just crazy? I play $2-$4 limit.

Say you open-limp with a pocket pair like 77 or 88 or maybe even 99, which you will open-raise more often than not, but for the sake of discussion, you limp.

Now one or two people also limp and the big blind raises. He can do this with a range of hands, not all being monsters like AA and KK but also QQ JJ TT AK AQ AJ AT KQ KJ suited or not. The first half have you dominated, the second not. You open-limped. Do you

1. Just call?
2. Raise, trying to isolate?
3. Is this question totally stupid to begin with and/or will the limpers call anyway?
4. Other...

Does it matter

1. What pocket pair you have? How high/how low?
2. How many limped?
3. If the small blind completed?
4. Other...

[W. Deranged]

In a small stakes game, this kind of isolation play simply will not work often enough to be valuable, in my opinion. Take the blind's raise as a pot-builder, and don't try to play this like you might in a tough, aggressive mid-limit game. Three-betting will likely only get the hand 3 or 4 handed, which is not a great position to be in.

Then flop a set and proceed accordingly.

[crunchy1]

[ QUOTE ]
Say you open-limp with a pocket pair like 77 or 88 or maybe even 99, which you will open-raise more often than not, but for the sake of discussion, you limp.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is fine if you're open-limping in EP. If you're open-limping these pairs MP or later I think you're making a mistake.

[ QUOTE ]
...not all being monsters like AA and KK but also QQ JJ TT AK AQ AJ AT KQ KJ suited or not. The first half have you dominated, the second not.

[/ QUOTE ]
You do not dominate any hands in this range.

[ QUOTE ]
You open-limped. Do you
1. Just call?
2. Raise, trying to isolate?
3. Is this question totally stupid to begin with and/or will the limpers call anyway?
4. Other...


[/ QUOTE ]
(1) Yes.
(2) No. You are not likely to isolate with a 3-bet in a SS game. The remaining players are likely too loose and will call or cap (just for the fun of it)!Furthermore, I can't see why you would want to isolate against the range that you provided for BB.
(3) You're not going to get too many folds from a limp-reraise. Likely, it's just going to get capped and now you've put in 4SBs to see a flop against a multiway field with your small pocket pair.

[ QUOTE ]
Does it matter
1. What pocket pair you have? How high/how low?
2. How many limped?
3. If the small blind completed?
4. Other...

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't think any of this matters. If you limped a small/medium pocket pair from you did so to see a cheap flop and encourage callers when you hit a set or good draw. If you're limping TT or higher from EP I think you're making a mistake. Likewise, I think you're making a mistake limping small/medium PPs from MP or later.

[speirs]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Say you open-limp with a pocket pair like 77 or 88 or maybe even 99, which you will open-raise more often than not, but for the sake of discussion, you limp.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is fine if you're open-limping in EP. If you're open-limping these pairs MP or later I think you're making a mistake.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...not all being monsters like AA and KK but also QQ JJ TT AK AQ AJ AT KQ KJ suited or not. The first half have you dominated, the second not.

[/ QUOTE ]
You do not dominate any hands in this range.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK that's my bad then. I thought heads-up you would be a mathematical favorite (only slighty though) with your pair against 2 overcards.

Thanks for the respons.

[krimson]

No, we're at best a coin-flip vs the hands you mentioned that are raiseable from the bb, and dominated by the bigger pairs, therefore we don't really want this headsup. Even if we did, our raise will not fold all the limpers. We might however fold out one or two players reducing the pot odds and implied odds we need to make hitting a set profitable.

[callmedonnie]

The limp reraise is a move I never do in 2/4. In fact, in early position I never open raise with it either. I play it cheap, call a raise preflop, want to play it against many players in fact, and usually the flop either gives me an easy raise/fold situation.

I understand the play you're talking about, but I think it would be better at higher levels or at a table where the reraise will actually push people out and leave dead money in the pot.