..I thought his play was adventurous to say the least...
says he who limp/calls pre with 84, then calls a pot bet on flop with a gutshot
this
his play was pretty standard IMO. surely being aggressive in a huge limp and peel fest is the best way to play.
Your spot on Rob imho, strange how the thread views it...
Meh it plays well multi-way etc etc and calling may well be +EV in some of these situations BUT there are many players who for one reason or another don"t even consider the +EV situation a raise would set up for them and how much greater that EV would be than that of calling... [especially so versus limpers with wide ranges, likewise 3betting say 98s versus a wide ranged button or CO raiser is perfectly fine]
Whether Mr 98s realised it or not
by raising those pesky limpers he does gain momentum, he can over-rep his hand and force them/bhoywonder etc to make a hand, and his raise/re-raise range obviously increases in the eyes of the more observant, Mr 98s becomes tougher to play against, by doing what he does his opponents if they call will face decreasing implied odds, afterall they are calling to try to crack his big hand
,,, also by mixing it up will increase his action on his big hands... Does it look +EV calling pre oop versus wide ranged limpers? or does raising look more +EV [in the long run] ??
Mr 98s might find his variance shoots up, but the number of bigger +EV situations he will be involved in does too