Effective stacks 300, known lag players in 2 seats behind, no other reads. Is this an open or a fold? Or is this question way to general. If so, what in your opinion is standard, open or fold?

Stack sizes matter. What are they?

$300

What stakes though?

I think its way too general, but it's probably a fold more often than not.

The standard here would be fold. If my raises are getting some respect and I can take it down with a raise a fair portion of the time, I would raise occasionally with this sort of marginal value hand. If there are players behind who will call wide preflop, float flop a lot and take it away on turn then I'm less inclined to play. This is a hand I'm rarely going to want to build a big pot with even when I do hit. If the table has a lot of loose/passive preflop but fit/fold post types then I'll play ATs more often. Even under ideal situations, I'm still playing this less then half the time in EP and there are tables where I would never open ATs in EP.

That is assuming this is 1/2 or 1/3 and effective stacks are 100BB+. At 2/5 where hero has 60BB, this is a fold in EP.

Limp/ call is basically your best option if you want to see a flop with this hand..

Limp call from UTG is what the fish do in my opinion.

I'd occasionally open if the table is passive but more often than not 8-10 handed Im folding this UTG.

It's a trouble hand, very hard to play if raised. If you flop top pair, your can often be behind or uncertain having to put more money in WAWB multi way and it's difficult to draw and get paid.

@ a table with just one or two aggressive players I limp/eval a raise. At a tough table 3+ aggressive good players I just fold. So basically just fold unless flops are seeing 4+ players.

Depends on table dynamic.

All regs behind - fold

3+ fish behind - standard open

If you do not know everyone at the entire table - fold

I love it when i get called a fish!

It's ok, I am one too, probably more sizeable than you

At 2/5 this is a fold with 60 BB effective.

At 1/2 I say raise 25%, limp 25%, fold 50%....I would be more apt to come in raising at a more passive table and more inclined to fold at aggressive table...

Hope this helps some....not a standard play, really depends on table read and image.

The correct answer to this question depends on your level of skill. Are the LAGs aggro preflop? Are you capable of fighting back to their aggression? Are you competent post flop? To elaborate on post flop competency, are you a POW, do you fight for pots in which you have little to no equity solely based off your perceived range and your opponents range, do you find your good decisions massively outnumbering your bad decisions?

It can be the best play for a specific player to, raise, fold, or limp/call depending on their style of play, table dynamic, and skill level.

I don't really know your style of play, but I can explain why you would want to do any of the above actions.

Fold: You don't feel you make money with the hand. People give your trouble on board often enough. You feel like you cbet and then shut down on the turns very often and have the pot stolen. You get in one of two value bets when you hit an Ace or Ten and then end up check guessing on the river and don't ever feel like you know for sure if you made the right decision.

Limp/call/decide: I added /decide because we might limp/fold depending on the sizing they raise. If we have players that love to raise limps with a wide range of hands we can limp call this hand and expect to be dominating their range. Depending on how they play post flop, we can check/call with Ace high on some flops, check/raise some boards despite having no significant hand or equity because they will have flopped nothing so often, and donk the majority of turns once villain checks back any flop.

Raise: You are able to call or fold to villain 3bets depending on their range. Ex the laggy player 3bets and you have seen him do this with nonsense plenty of times and call, yet you have no attachment to the hand when the SB TAG 3bets you and it's an easy fold. You also don't make tons of mistakes postflop - mainly being attached to one pair and overplaying draws.

That's pretty simple, but I hope it helps.

The OP is missing a lot of relevant info that has already been mentioned (stack sizes, your image). Most of the time this is a fold.

You could also consider a limp/fold or a limp/raise.

If the LAG raises and nobody calls, you are likely ahead of his range and could raise. This essentially turns your hand into a bluff but it shows tremendous strength.

If the LAG raises and there are callers, whether you call or fold depends on the size of the pot when comes to you. Not too excited about this hand OOP, but you may have the odds to call and pray for the NF. I am not continuing here past the flop unless I have the FD, or 2 pair or a set.

If the LAG PF and another player raises, I fold unless there are a few callers.

Most of the time this is a fold pre.

I am sorry for the lack of information. Not usually a mistake I make. It is a 1/2 game and it is 9 handed. The players are all familiar with one another for the most part.

I probably have a somewhat TAG image, but have some history with pretty much every reg present (i.e. calling down light, squeeze plays, etc.). Note this history is not something that happens often, but when you play with the same people over and over, it tends to happen.

I think the question as posed was to general but I do appreciate all of the responses. I think for me, this is a fold with the table as it was. Perhaps on a good Friday or Saturday night game, it could be an open. I really don't like a limp call, but I'd be interested to hear the merits of that as well.

Thanks again.

If I am in a really weak game (lots of limping, etc) I have no problem limping. If I am in a game with a ton of implied odds I don't mind limp calling it (this is the game I am usually in). If I am in a fit or fold game, really weak players behind me, I don't mind raising. Folding is not a bad option either. In your spot it's probably ok to fold because you have a ton of history therefor the game is probably tougher (not always tougher, but probably).

Kydd nailed it... Read what he wrote and you'll be fine.

+1

This is usually a really easy open limp for me at my 1/3 NL tables. We're investing a mere $3 to try and see a flop with a nice multiway hand. If things go awry and someone raises and ends up totally thinning the field (or raises too big), big deal, we fold and lose $3.

I'm not a huge fan of folding us our goal at most tables should be to see flops with poor players. ETA: If your table doesn't have a lot of poor players, the table beside yours probably does, so we've already screwed up by sitting at the wrong table.

I also don't like raising here in EP. We have no idea how many people are interested in the hand and a raise could still see a very multiway flop, where we are now in a bloated pot OOP where TP hands can be very difficult to play and set us up for making a big mistake (folding the best hand in a big pot or calling off big chunks of our stack with the worst of it). Even narrowing the field can get us in tricky spots OOP, especially when we flop TPmehK, and/or are up against a tricky player OOP. Suited broadway hands play fine in multiway high SPR pots, so I attempt to get myself into this situation by limping (especially OOP).

I'd much rather raise this hand in LP since we'll be in position postflop, plus have a much better idea what raise size (if any) is going to be able to narrow the field.

GimoG

I've become more on board with limping in EP. If I get to see a flop, sweet. If I have to throw it away, shrug. If everyone else calls the raise, too, well, wtf. Sometimes you just gotta see a flop, you know?

Anyway, long story short, I dont' think anything you do here is that awful.

This is the VERY bottom of my opening range from UTG at a 1-2 table, and even then it's a mixture of limps, raises and folds.

The issue I have with opening is with the propensity of lower limit players to not 3b JJ-QQ or AJ+ we will often be in a TP type situation where we're still crushed in a single raised pot.

vs unknowns I am folding a lot.

I can't imagine any reasonable table conditions where I'd open fold this hand $300 deep at 1/2.

At most typical tables, this hand UTG is going in my limp/decide range along with a whole bunch of others. It's nice to protect a small pair and SC heavy range with some non-premium broadway. Some examples of times I'd raise instead are if:

1) It's an usually tough table with a couple internetish players in LP (who respect my UTG raises quite a bit, and punish limpers relentlessly.) This is very close to the bottom of my range though. I'd usually fold ATo and A9s, and would obviously be looking for a new table.

2) There is a complete and total maniac at the table whose 3-bet range ATs is wayyy ahead of, and I don't feel like the rest of the table is really adjusting to him much.

3) There is a 100% VPIP mega fish at the table. I'd much rather raise and likely see a flop 2-3 ways with him than start a family pot limpfest. I I flop TPGK or better against him I can play to the felt. This hand is nowhere near the bottom of my opening range in this particular case.

Note: The tendencies of the two players to my immediate left are the least important IMO. Even LAGs have to play fairly honestly in EP. I'm much more likely to be making adjustments based on who is in LP or the blinds.

Really nice to see you slide in here Kidd. Been a long time.

I agree totally with the above, as well as i would L/3 bet the lags many times from UtG if deeper with this hand vs them. My sizing would narrow calls to reasonable readable ranges.

As always, none of the creative plays unless you have the skillz post to follow thru.

You limp and then on the flop you got an $8 pot you have to try and build up from OOP. Fun, fun, fun.

Lol don't get used to it ANL.

Fwiw I would raise here pretty much every time and I think that's the most profitable style of play, but you need the post flop skill set to go with it.

As far as limp raising... Let's say you're right sometimes and wrong sometimes. You can guess right or wrong with the same frequency by opening the hand and the putting in a 4bet as you can limp/raising. As long as you are making good decisions, both plays are profitable. The difference is we make more money by picking off 3bets and take a lot of our opponents positional advantage away by lowering the SPR as opposed to limp raising where we make far less money when we get a fold, and still have decent room for play when we're OOP.

I have limp/called in a spot like this once ever bc a fish had straddled and the BTN was super aggro so I didn't want to open, get 3bet and have the fish scared away.

A "worst case" scenario in a 5way pot where a flop PSB bet gets this HU right away and Villain calls us down PSBs on turn/river enables us to get in 65bbs postflop. That's not bad. Throw in an extra flop call, or a raise by anyone at any point, and it's laughably easy to get in ~100+bbs versus poor opponents.

Gstep1layagainstpooropponents;step2:step2doesn't evenreallymatterG