Raise pf. 88 is a solid starting hand that plays alot like 99, and 1010. All these hands have two things in common, 1)they're favorites against suited overcards and 2) they like non-paint card flops. Therefore, a pf raise from a tight player in EP would limit the field and so increase your equity. You flopped a monster but checking feels wrong. C-betting following pf raises is standard and so it doesnt tell your opponents much about your hand but checking might. Checking might allow it to check through and you miss a bet or three, particularly from flush draws or passively played 99+ and even smaller pairs who are hoping everybody else has Ax or Kx. The turn is where you should think about getting creative. If a non A or K hits or the flush is made a check might allow you an opportunity to c/r and put two to a few players. If its a brick lead out again hoping the draws and pairs come along and by the river it should be playing itself.

i don't want to distract from Alb's post, so I will post a kind of similar hand in the LC thread.

Id go ahead and bet the flop for many of the standard reasons.

+1

Raising 88 UTG is awful. 7-9 handed pots will give you set equity without even considering implied odds. Don't be UTG with a mediocre hand like 88 for 2 bets when 50% of the deck is an overcard and you'll have no idea where you're at.

lol is this a level? half of your posts are just trolling iirc so i wouldn't be surprised

Why would you not want as many opponents as possible for as little money as possible? 88 flops a set against the entire table as well as it does against 2 or 3 opponents so you might as well get them to come along too, and you're probably going to need to improve to win whether you're against 3 opponents or the entire table.

I agree with this. I have no qualms with limping 99 and lower here. Lets us see the flop 7 ways and play a big pot when sets get hit.

Anything other than betting out on the flop doesn't make me happy. If your opponents are all going to fold overcards when you bet here then they are unbelievably exploitable. I don't think players who create this type of loose-passive game are going to fold gutshots, overcards, pairs or strong backdoor flush draws when you bet the flop here.

Yes, your image should never be like this, very unprofitable.

In a 3 way pot I have lots of ways to win. In an 8 way pot I get to flop a set or fold.

BTW, your argument holds for AA.

I'm ok with limping this pre. Bet the flop and get those bets before the possibility of runner runner evaporates (you know the deal with loose bdfd and a-hi peels).

I don't think check raising is a bad play here on the flop if one of the 2 players on your left bet the flop. Reason for this is b/c you will get 2 SB's from a couple-few players, and one or two of them may have the five, flat call your flop c/r, and raise when u bet the turn, where you would then re-raise, then get paid off w/ a river bet. This senario will get you max value out of your monster hand.

Well if the 2 players to your left play a wide range and bet many mediocre flops or draws, chk raise like i said above. These guys like to play back at u on the turn, plus u may get another five to stay in and if your lucky a flush draw as well. But really it does all depend on what kind of table you're playing at on how you would play this hand and others. Hope this helped, I'm new here =). Like the site guys and what you guys are doing, very cool