1/3 NL.

Hero is 50's white guy who probably looks like a nit. Been playing for 3 hours with villains. Card dead early led to tight image, recently has had some decent cards and played them well to get back to even after aggressive spewy Latino Kid (LK) just kept calling on a flush draw and got there despite me knowing he was on a draw and betting to wreck his odds. I've been bluffing recently with c-bets and one big re-raise over bet on the turn and haven't been caught.

SB is a tight aggressive who isn't really very good - main read is that he will raise to steal from limpers when in blinds.

Hero in MP is 50's white guy who probably looks like a nit. Been playing for 3 hours with villains. Card dead early led to tight image, recently has had some decent cards and played them well to get back to even after aggressive spewy Latino Kid (LK) just kept calling on a flush draw and got there despite me knowing he was on a draw and betting to wreck his odds. Hero has been bluffing recently with c-bets and one big over bet on the turn and hasn't been caught.

Cutoff is Latino Kid who is loose aggressive and not very good. Calls down with middle pair, calls on draws without odds, saw him make one ballsy bluff that worked and he proudly showed it. So far as I can see plays Ax suited every time regardless. His stack has been up and down the whole time, currently up.

Button is Granny calling station who rebuys for $100 after each felting.

SB $500, Hero $300, LK $500, Granny about $40. Both SB and LK have run hot lately to boost their stacks.

Two limps to Hero with 99 in MP. I'm trying to decide between raising and limping to set mine for stacks - SB might stack off light, LK definitely will, and I want them in the pot. I limp.

LK limps, Granny limps, SB raises to to 15. Previous limpers fold, pot is now about $28 after rake. Hero?

Obvious call. What is not obvious is what kinds of flops we should call a c-bet on. I would be calling on many flops, including some with overcards, because of your read that the guy will raise light.

Probably best to just call and set mine. Both players behind will call a good percentage of the time. Your plan/read is to make a big hand against these two players because they are likely to stack off light. Stick with that plan. You're getting a good price and it's only going to make it more likely to get stacks in with a raised pot.

Definitely just a call with 99s. Stick with your plan and don't squeeze this. Trust me people at 1/3 don't like folding.

It isn't. If that's your strategy, you should fold to the raise. As CMV said, you need to think about what board textures you want to become sticky with and steal.

Venice, is the reason that we should not set mine because we cant place V on a tight/strong enough pre-flop raising range? Or, is it that we should have more plans than just set-mining here? Or, is there some other reason and if so could you please expand on that?

The reason we aren't calling to set mine is because 99 is a really good hand, lol.

Think decision is a standard call as played. I would have raised.

Nevertheless, calling and playing ip is very dependent on how well you play post-flop. The V descript indicates not very good, but TAG at the same time, which seems inconsistent.

If you don't feel very confident with your post-flop game, 3-betting pre may be a better option. The downside: since his PF raising range seems wide, you may sacrifice additional value if he folds the lower part of it. If called, you will be ip and can control pot-size.

Raise preflop to avoid getting in this spot in the first place. Call for sure and I'd even consider 3 betting if you truly think he is on the steal as your description says.

Thanks for the replies.

Hero was very sure that SB was FoS with his raise and considered shifting gears to re-raise and fold out the limpers and, probably, SB, but decided to stick with the game plan and set mine. I thought stacks were big enough for this.

LK calls and Granny calls. Flop is Q75 rainbow. SB checks. Hero?

What hands is SB checking here? AK, AJ, QQ, JJ, TT and anything else he wiffed with if he was on the steal yeah?

I'd fire a bet about a third to half the pot. Pay off Granny's Queen, and see what SB has to say about it.

This is one of the flops I would have called a c-bet on, so it can't be too big a mistake to bet $35 or $40 here. If anyone raises, I fold.

B/F $35. You are unlikely to improve, an abundance of overs could hit the turn, attempt to iso. If called, I'd shut down on later streets.

Yeah this seems like a std bet when checked to

Pretty easy limp/call, imo. We'll most likely be seeing a 4way flop for just 5% of our stack (which is okish) and have two potential guys in the pot where we could play for stacks against if we flop a set.

ETA: And ya, as others have mentioned, we're not exactly setmining depending on what happens. When SB checks this 4way pot, our hand is often good here on this board, but very vulnerable to overcards (so we don't want to give a free card). I'd just bet enough to get the job done (i.e. hopefully take down this pot) and $25 into $60 should do that. Unlike others, I bet smaller because I don't think there is any difference between whether people are calling vs folding to $25 vs $35, and I'm not exactly thrilled if I get called (especially if we end up OOP) so I'm more for keeping it small.

Gpart1:seeaflop;part2:flopaset,admittedly,alittleb itmoredifficultG

There are 2 differences, one not such a big deal and the other kind of important:

1) TT/JJ might fold to a bigger bet and call a smaller one. It is really good if we fold out TT or JJ.

2) I want to bet enough so that if someone raises me I can be relatively sure I'm beat. With a $25 bet, and given reads, the CO or SB might try some hijinks.

Unless you are in a very weak game, people don't pay off sets often enough to make set mining by itself to be profitable. You're going to need to take equity from the pfr by collecting pots where their range likely missed the flop.

ty for the reply

As for 1, I just don't think there is typically any difference between JJ/TT/etc. calling vs folding to $25 vs $35 into a $60 pot. If they are calling, they are calling any reasonable bet; if they are folding, they are folding to any reasonable bet.

I agree more with 2, and I'll admit that betting small when we have a mediocre hand / betting big when we have a big hand is very exploitable to those who are aware / have a good read on our play, so it might make a difference who we are in the hand with.

GcluelessNLnoobG

One leak I have worked on plugging is set mining, whiffing then losing money continuing with underpairs.

If we plan to play 99 unimproved as an underpair post flop we should open raise IMO. We can vary our raise size to bring the fish in if we want. I prefer to potentially be able to rep TP/TK and over pairs post flop if I'm going to try to win this pot unimproved.

I join Samo in the minority. I hate playing a medium-strong hand so passively. In order to win the pot post flop you are likely to have to bluff.

I like opening for a raise and being able to rep a better hand if the flop is bad for us. (Most of the time is.) Suppose flop is A Q 10. No way you are ever getting second pair + draw off their hand.

I have no problem isolating granny preflop for her small stack.

I would have no problem raising preflop *if* there is a very good chance that will actually isolate someone.

The chances of isolating someone here with this mediocre hand in MP after 2 limps, with a loose deeper player behind us, with a loose granny on the button, and a deepstack in the blinds, at a typical table is approximately, what, do you think?

Glike,2%maybe?G

I normally raise this hand preflop too, but I think this scenario, with the reads given, is a perfectly good time to mix it up and limp.

Hero doesn't like the Q, obviously, and weakly decides to check and hope for a free card coming as a 9 or undercard. LK and Granny check.

(Flop Q75 rainbow) Turn is a J, pot is $40, SB checks.

Hero?

Limping pre is OK. You will often encourage a multi-way pot with the blinds calling and you can win a lot if you hit. However, I think raising is better. You almost always have the best hand, and getting people to fold over cards is a good thing (if they call with worse, that's OK too - we're gonna c-bet tons of flops). Getting the blinds to fold hands that will only put in money if they beat you (by limping we let the BB in for free) is also a good thing. A raise gives you a good chance of playing in position and isolating villains.

Definitely call the raise pre. Playing 99 in position with some overlay in the pot against one villain who is oop for like < 5% of stacks makes it a very easy call.

I mean, I think you should almost always be betting this flop when he checks to you, but there are some issues. An aggressive/TAG villain raised oop and then checked a very dry Q-high flop to you. So it's OK, but just keep this in mind.

So bet/fold the flop because a villain c/r is so often a monster.

But if you bet the flop and villain just calls, I'm thinking his most likely hands are under pairs to the Q, e.g. TT, JJ. Against a lot of TAGs, I'd probably fire against on almost every turn, though I'd especially like to see a K or A turn to fire. If he check/calls again, you need to consider a river third barrel. Of course, this is VERY villain dependent. Don't bluff a calling station.