NL Quiz: Pick a Hand any Hand

[sam h]

You are in late position. A semi-fishy EP player raises to 8XBB and you are fairly sure he will only do this with a big pair - QQ, KK, or AA. Two unknown MP players call. The button and cutoff are both tricky players who will play a lot of hands in this situation. Everybody involved has about 500 BB stacks. In order of preference, rank the following hands you'd like to look down and find and explain why.

88
66
44
AKs
QJs
89s
54s

[mojolang]

1)66
2)88
4)44
5)AKs
6)54s
7)89s
8)QJs

I'd take the small pairs because if you hit, you can play back over the top and they are very likely to think (assuming you are very aggressive, that you're trying to steal the pot). I picked 66 b/c it has more surprise potential than 88, but 88 has more high card value than 44. It doesn't really matter though. With AKs, you may have overcard value.

as for 89s, once again, surprise potential, same w/54s, but its weaker. QJs is almost certainly dominated and by far the worst hand to play in this position IMHO. I am, however by no means an NL expert, but these selections seem to me the most profitable. If anyone disagrees I'd be glad to hear why.

Joe

[adam74]

Nice post.

I'd have the pairs first, in no particular order. Hitting concealed trips would be the best way of doubling through. Then I'd take the suited connectors, hoping to hit a straight instead of a flush, with the QJ being my least preferred of the three due to its reduced straight potential. In fact, I might not call at all with the QJ. Last of all would come AK, which I probably wouldn't call with at all, unless I was confident I could get away from TPTK or even two pair. Hitting an ace or a king, or even both, on the flop, and you could wind up in big trouble.

[happyjaypee]

1)66
2)88
4)44

where's hand #3 ??? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[adam74]

Although I did all of that without considering the presence of the other players. Can't we just say that everyone else folded? [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[TAFKAn]

88
66
44
54s
89s
QJs
AKs

AKs suited goes last because you already said I KNOW the raiser will only come in like this with a big pair. Therefore raising with my AKs is a stupid move and I can't do it. In addition, there are callers who will see the flop with me now that I can't raise and thin the field.

Lastly, if the raiser has QQ or has lowered his standards to JJ, my AKs won't make very much if I hit, but if he has AA or KK, I may lose a fortune if I hit.

In this situation, AKs may as well be Axs, except that I have no chance of making money off a possible king high flush out there, and making a flush is really my only chance at a profit here.

The rest of the rankings should be self-explanatory.

[Guy McSucker]

I'm not going to rank them all, just to say that 88 is my preferred hand, because with the EP player on a big pair, I want to hit a set and have no big cards (say, no pictures) out before I get excited post-flop. In this situation, with 88 it's unlikely someone has a higher set; with 66 or 44 one of the other callers might have a bigger set.

Guy.

[Mikey]

without looking at any other posts, I would pick

88
66
44
54s
89s
AKs
QJs

[Daithi]

I think I'm in agreement with most of the earlier posts

1. 88
2. 66
3. 44

If I catch a set great, and the bigger the set the better so that I don't get beat by a bigger set.

I'd fold AKs since I'm pretty confident that EP was raising with AA or KK.

I am not as clear on the other hands. If I caught a flush draw I'd be worried about a bigger flush beating me. Even with position this can be hard to tell sometimes. I'd certainly prefer a straight draw, but with QJs the AA or KK may very well already be in EP's hand which means I'd be drawing pretty thin. So I think I'd fold QJs as well. I'd also lean toward folding 54s because I would be scared to bet a flush draw with it, and most of the straight draws are on the ignorant end. I'd rank 89s as 4th, but would still prefer a straight draw as oppossed to a flush draw.

[Mark Walkley]

In reality, w/ a 8xbb raise and 2 cold callers would you play any of these hands, even with a 500xbb stack?

If you had to I would prefer the suited connectors as you may end up losing set over set with the small pairs and overcards on the flop.

$.02