Cash game - QQ pre-flop

[kinboshi]

OK, here"s one from last night.

9-handed table £1/2 cash table at DTD.

Table has been pretty wild and people are having a great time throwing their money around and straddles are the norm.

Approx. stack sizes:
S1 - BB (me) - £360
S2 - £400
S3 - £180
S4 - £400
S5 - £350
S6 - £250
S7 - £120
S8 - £220
S9 (SB) - £320

I"m in the BB, with  qh  qd.

As was the norm at that time of the session, my BB was straddled round to £16 virtually every time.  The three players doing the straddling to my left have been very loose, and very willing to get in light and call or raise with less than optimum hands.  Because of this, their stacks have fluctuated wildly.

Everyone folds round to the SB, who raises up to £60.  The SB has been one of the tightest players at the table, and seems to know what he"s doing.  Whenever he"s been involved pre-flop, he"s had a decent hand.  He"s been on the table a while, and knows that the players to act after me have been very eager to call or re-raise with a wide range of cards.


What should I do, and why?

[Jon MW]

I can"t be bothered to read the whole scenario, but I"m pretty sure the answer is "fold".  

[kinboshi]

I can"t be bothered to read the whole scenario, but I"m pretty sure the answer is "fold".  

Not your usual incisive, analytic reply - but I like it!

[Chipaccrual]

In my opinion, you should never have left the Gap photo shoot to play the cash tables.

Nice pose.

[duke3016]

BIG raise -- and the only reason is because i"m me -- As for you being the super cash player you are (no joke I mean that) you could consider a flat call to see what the rest do considering the loose btards behind you

EDITED COS I"M DRUNK

[Santino67]

How much did you start with Daniel? I"d be tempted to re-raise as it"s only KK or AA that"s beating you. If the SB has either then he"s definitely calling or going over the top but the other muppets will surely get scared off if they even have half a piece of grey matter in their skulls.

[kinboshi]

How much did you start with Daniel?

I sat down with £200, but there"s no cap on the max sit down at the table.

I"d be tempted to re-raise as it"s only KK or AA that"s beating you. If the SB has either then he"s definitely calling or going over the top but the other muppets will surely get scared off if they even have half a piece of grey matter in their skulls.

What range do you think he could have, considering that he"s a tight player and knows there are some maniacs still to act (and me of course)?

[AMRN]

If the guy suspects that the LAGs after him are likely to give him action, and if as you say he is tight and knows his game yet still prepared to play this hand heavily, then you gotta think he has a monster..... perhaps prudence is best here and a fold is in order.

[Santino67]

How much did you start with Daniel?

I sat down with £200, but there"s no cap on the max sit down at the table.

I"d be tempted to re-raise as it"s only KK or AA that"s beating you. If the SB has either then he"s definitely calling or going over the top but the other muppets will surely get scared off if they even have half a piece of grey matter in their skulls.

What range do you think he could have, considering that he"s a tight player and knows there are some maniacs still to act (and me of course)?

If you re-raise and he comes over the top then you throw the Queens away. If he calls then chances are he"s playing with AK imo. He may well still be playing KK or AA but calling pre-flop would only encourage a muppet show post flop so better to get this guy 1 to 1. The only alternative is throw it away pre-flop...........but 3rd best starting hand in a cash game when you"re already £160 in profit?? I"d be re-raising him in a heartbeat coz he"s almost certainly by now also identified, with any decent hand, that there"s money to be had from the fish on the table. He may well be raising pre-flop with that in mind.

[lukybugur]

SB has 4 guys to act behind him with £31 in the pot already so the £60 is a massive overbet. Given that it"s been passed round to him with you (tight?) and three LAGs yet to act, I"m thinking he has a marginal hand that he wants to take the pot down there and then to save him having to play it out of position - anything from AQ and better.

I"d be tempted to raise it up to around £140 to get more information in that no one holding less than KK and AA will have the right / balls to call. It would be a loose and probably uncharacteristic re-raise by you and it may be giving your hand away as if you held KK or AA yourself, you"d prob flat call and want to see him make a standard 3/4 pot continuation bet (£100ish) on the flop.

It"s v likely you"ve got at least £140 goin in on this hand if you do decide to play it at all. Pushin that £140 in OTT pre-flop WILL get respect and if he calls or re-raises, yeah, he has you beat, you have all the info you need and can fold leaving yourself £220 left to play with.

That"s how I"d be looking at it anyway. I"m a donk tho!

[kinboshi]

Interesting thoughts, and obviously it"s impossible to know all the nuances at the table from a post on a web forum.

I"ll let a few more people respond before I post what actually happened (not that it"s particularly important, but it"s interesting nevertheless).

[Swinebag]

I am no cash player, but I"m bored and free at work so....

call isn"t too bad, but you will need to flop the set to win, assuming the straddlers are along for the ride(I think the implied odds are good for calling here). If you miss then one pair OOP will almost always result in giving the pot up

Folding has to be out of the question, your hand is too strong

Any reraise pretty much committs you to the hand, so the best raise IMO is the shove.

I think just because the SB is tight, it doesn"t mean he cant raise it up with a big range and does not neccessarily have to have AA or KK.

My preferred choice is shove.... If SB has AA or KK, you can always suck out, or you can reload (you"ll get it back off the maniacs) If SB is tight because he"s playing scared (out of his bankroll) he may fold KK to your shove.

[noble1]

Posted by: Kinboshi
Everyone folds round to the SB, who raises up to £60.  The SB has been one of the tightest players at the table, and seems to know what he"s doing.  Whenever he"s been involved pre-flop, he"s had a decent hand.  He"s been on the table a while, and knows that the players to act after me have been very eager to call or re-raise with a wide range of cards.

right if i"m reading this right , its no-limit your playing [i ask because i associate straddling with limit poker] and i take it 3 are in the pot when SB raises [is this a re-raise Kinboshi as again i find it confusing when u say everyone folds round to sb]
how much in pot when sb raises
anyhows going on what i make of it    trust your read on the sb if he has raised 3 call stations like this chances are he has a big hand looking to get paid off by them,so going by your read QQ is a fold , you cant call it [NOT ENOUGH IMPLIED ODDS IF HE HAS AA OR KK AND YOU NEED SET] look for a better spot in position and play more post flop against the weak players and isolate them when you can..

also change seats and get the loose players to your right !!!  

[noble1]

SB has 4 guys to act behind him with £31 in the pot already so the £60 is a massive overbet.

where do you get the £31 already in pot , i cant see that in history ??

[lukybugur]

SB has 4 guys to act behind him with £31 in the pot already so the £60 is a massive overbet.

where do you get the £31 already in pot , i cant see that in history ??

As was the norm at that time of the session, my BB was straddled round to £16

so ...

Seat 9 (SB) £1
Seat 1 (Daniel on BB) £2
Seat 2 has straddled with £4
Seat 3 has straddled with £8
Seat 4 has straddled with £16

Everyone else folded round to SB

So £31, no?