its 4 BB to you preflop, you must assume you are behind to a pair or a high ace. if you hit your Q or you jack, do you know that your ahead? he could easily have A-J/A-Q, JJ, QQ, KK, or AA. This is the kind of situation where you lose a lot of money.
in this situation (raise in front of you, you're in position pre and post flop) the only hands I tend to call with are suited connectors 10-9 or lower, pocket pairs or A-Q or higher. You could also play high suited cards hoping to hit a flush draw on the flop. The reason for calling with suited connectors and pocket pairs is its easy to know if you if you are ahead or behind. If you flop an open ended+flush draw with your connectors you are a favorite, but if you whiff completely you can fold with no tough decisions. When you play suited connectors you are looking to flop trips/ two pair or have 12 outs or better with flush and straight draws. The same goes if you call with 66 or any other pocket pair. If you hit a set you will be paid off in position unless they hit a monster. With a raise in front of me preflop, I tend to play only reraising cards (AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK) or call with hands that can hit the flop huge (pairs and suited connectors).
For this specific hand, the person making the preflop raised is short stacked, so you know hes probably going all in on the flop no matter what comes. In this situation I fold anything but AA, KK, QQ, JJ, or AK. But I raise with those cards preflop to narrow his range down and elimate others from playing the hand. You must take into account stack sizes for every hand you play.
If the stacks are deeper, I tend to call with a much wider range when in position. For example if I limp into a pot (rarely do it) I will call any reasonable raise from the blinds preflop if I have a dangerous hand. Position is key, but your start hands need to be able to hit big. QJ off will not hit it big unless you hit two pair/trips/a straight. You are limited to that. But if you hit a pair you have no idea where you are.
Last edited by chilipeppers; 11-04-2007 at 08:26 PM.
|