NL 1/2
Hero has serious nit tendencies. Hero is not deep at 185, in for 200, with 55 in MP.
Button is a 50 yo WG Maniac. He's about 80 VPIP and 40 PFA. He's tilted the table. Hilarious guy though. He straddles to 10.
SB calls the 10, BB calls the 10, UTG calls the 10. It folds to HERO who calls the 10. Button maniac raises to $47. SB calls, BB calls but is short with only 25 bucks or so. UTG folds.
HERO has to call 37 for 159. Do any of you call here? Should I consider it in a wild game? Again, I appreciate the advice in advance.

Calling is the least attractive option IMO, you're not getting the right express odds to set mine and you don't have much behind when you do hit. Folding is not bad, but 55 against a 40% range... I might go for a squeeze and rip it in. Not too worried SB is going to call, unless he has been playing very loose passive, and think about main V's range...sure 9 pocket pairs have you crushed but there's so many hands you're ahead of.

Also FWIW this kind of spot is why it's always preferable to play deeper if possible. This would be an easy call if you stood to win more like 150-200bb when you hit your set.

To call you need to be able to win something better then $600 total with $159 in the pot. Your stack isn't nearly deep enough to consider a call. Even with some more people in the pot there just isn't enough money in play. Depending on maniac and BB a shove might be workable. This really depends on the players and what sort of ranges they are on, there are lots of possible combinations.

With a maniac on the button calling was a huge mistake in the first place. You need the maniac to go first so you can see what your price is when you have small pairs. With better hands you can raise yourself or go for a limp/raise. In effect you are playing super short with the button straddle in play. You are at 18BB effective for this hand and need to be looking for strong hands you can shove preflop or on flop.

Calling is the worst. Folding and shoving seem fine.

The math on this is way off. Hero needs to profit $450 or so when considering implied only. For expressed odds he needs to profit about $315, and there's already half of that in the pot.

OK, phew, glad I wasn't nitrolling myself by folding, thanks for the feedback!

You should have shoved the first time. 55 is not really strong enough to be thrilled about l/rr against a spewtard. It's a great hand to pick up the limps though.

Shove the second time around too. 55 is doing well enough against a spewtard (just better as a shove the first time)

you knew that he was going to bump it up way upon the button, why did you call the 10 unless you had a plan for his raise?

its 169 not 159 before you have to call 37 more. that gives you 4.6 direct odds to try to flop a set. And, with two other live players in the hand after the flop, you will get paid off on the remaining 138 in your stack. maybe even the full triple up with would be 276. So you are essentially getting at least 8.3:1 on your money to flop a set, which makes it a mathematical slam dunk to call pre.

let me guess, you folded, the flop came with a 5, and the table mocked you for not calling the 37 pre.

yes. the table was right. you should have called the 37.

No, I don't discuss what I fold with the table. I try not to be results oriented but this one made me think.

I started replying to this last night when it had 0 replies but I was kind of stoned so I thought better of it. Looking again today, my opinion hasn't changed, and it's this:

It's a somewhat surprising fact that when dealt 55 at a 10-handed table, you are a 2 to 1 favourite to have the best pocket pair in the deal (and 70% fave when 9 handed). So far nobody has really hinted they have one, so just shove and hope for the best. The dead money you get will more than make up for the times you run into a higher PP.

I absolutely did not know that! Very surprising. Thanks for the information Chris as always. I need to consider implied odds more in these games.

Here's a chart of how likely it is that a higher PP is out there, charting which pair you are dealt and how many opponents there are.



It's definitely counterintuitive. I would not have guessed that 22 on a full table is a 60% fave to be the only pocket pair out there.

Thanks! Where's that from? Just cut and pasted it and saved the file.

here

Edit: Check out the "Gordon Pair Principle" in comments. Might try to remember that one.