Villain was 13/6 over 31 hands
He is a longterm winning player.

t30/t60 Blinds - 8 players

MP2: t1575 26.25 BBs
CO: t2510 41.83 BBs
BTN: t1275 21.25 BBs
Hero (SB): t1265 21.08 BBs
BB: t1935 32.25 BBs
UTG: t1085 18.08 BBs
UTG+1: t285 4.75 BBs
MP1: t3570 59.50 BBs

Pre Flop: (t90) Hero is SB with 9 8
6 folds, Hero raises to t150, BB calls t90

Flop: (t300) 8 7 5 (2 players)
Hero bets t150, BB raises to t750, Hero ?

Preflop I think opening is good. He will fold a dozen of times. When he calls I put him on low to mid PPs, some facecards and some Ax hands.

On flop I cbet to fold out his boradways and maybe small pp-s. Don't wanna get him a freecard with a possible draw either.
And get an awkwardly gigantic raise... No sets there for sure. I cant really think he doesnt 3bet pf with AA-JJ. The chances of 99 is reduced since i have already one.

I really have no idea with what could he do this except tens or nines and some higher 8x but even that would be weird. Maybe nutflushdraw+overs is a possible hand too. Or maybe 66.

Opinions?

Imo there could be sets.

i think you are flipping here at best...

why should he 3bet his KK/AA? i like flatting monsters against regs(?) BvB

But why the awkward big raise?

I imagine he has a big combo draw maybe with overs to your pair. I think you can possibly just give up here, but it's not cut and dried.

Id say he will have some kind of good draw or draw+pair most of the time. The other times will be higher pairs, air or sets, in this order. Looks like an easy fold unless you have reason to believe he has air a lot here or bets 2nd/3rd pair like this.

OP have you made similar raises in this tournament or do you have any sort of history with this guy heads up in the blinds? How do you think he reads your raise from the SB. He may well be adjusting his range. I agree with Mckrogh you cannot rule out a set here.

I would probably not be messing around playing this hand against him at this stage. If he is a long term winning player he will adjust and make you pay in these spots, I would not expect him to be a standard nit who will just fold all but his premium hands to your steal raise.

You would fold pre?

Against certain opponents, yes. Since BB is another top winning reg I am not looking to get into these type of spots against him. I am not counting on him folding all but his best hands but instead expect him to adjust and start looking to exploit my play, especially if I had made steal raises in this spot before. My approach with BB in this tournament would be to use him to my benefit later by shoving into him when the stacks get to around 11 BBs knowing that he will not make bad or spite calls.

I don't think he will be able to exploit you, as a technical matter. You raise 120 to win 90 so he's going to have to call you an awful lot to make a raise unprofitable in a vacuum. I've never known a reg who would do that. Worst case, you can just limp here and limp stronger hands to punish him if he raises too wide.

No history with the guy so far. This was my first SB open, so I expected at least some sort of respect.

Idk I usually find quite easy to exploit the tightness of winning regs on the early levels. Few play back. Do you think that this kind of loose early game would make me lose credit on later shovespots? If yes which route would be better to choose?

The flop rly doesnt hit me a whole lot of time and a half pot sized cbet can seem quite fishy from his perspective imo. Basically thats why i was in trouble.

Guys forgive me if I ramble a bit here. Just tried out these Pokerstars home games and beat the crap out of some dear old friends of mine and won the tournament. Anyway I am just thinking from BB perspective. I see this alot against me because I play tight early. I know the SB views me as tight and I know that I can exploit him post flop. From personal experience I definately notice when players are raising into me from SB in spots like this heads up and I adjust my range fairly wide pre flop, knowing that I can put them in tough spots post flop. So in this particular hand I am thinking BB based on OP's read may be going thru the same thought process. That is why I am not crazy about playing 98s oop in a raised pot here at this stage of the tournament. Just my opinion.

MB- The limp approach and stab at most any pot is a play I would make at times here to vary my game. That is definately an option. Does not build a pot oop pre flop and let's you get away cheap if you get played back at.

I'd certainly agree with you that you want to play very cautiously when he calls, but that's because I expect a tight call. In his shoes, I don't adjust much because I would rather give up the odd blind than get into reg on reg pissing matches. YMMV.

late to the party but wanted to comment.

as played I fold. I don't rule out sets and I don't see the raise as that awkwardly high. it's a pot sized raise and villain is basically saying "I am committed to the pot... are you?". well this early with a marginal hand I'm not committing all my chips. it's just not worht it. I mean if he is a reg is he really looking to get into a pissing match against you? I wouldn't. I think he's got you beat most of the time here. the board is brutally hard to read on whether the turn helps or hurts you. thus he is making a pot sized raise to charge you hard for the fact that he is never folding his hand. the best you could hope for is that your 9s are ahead and he has some kind of monster draw. not worth it so I fold.

as per the thoughts about playing pre. I don't limp very often but I like limping. it helps you in a few ways... you get to see the flop cheaply with a hand that has value but since the stacks are deep and it can hit a draw. Also, you get to see how he reacts to a limp. I also hate playing hands OOP against any reg. especially when it is B vs B and you are both deep. it's too hard to read hands so I just keep my head from exploding and avoid it. If villain checks his option then I would half pot bet most any flop.

it's ok to be really tight early. I'm with monkey and viking. I just don't find much value in fighting against another good player early on.

Aright thanks guys. Was just wondering about this spot a lot so I thought other opinions may help. They did .

For anyone who is wondering:

sick... u sure he was a winning reg?

I don't want to make these stupid short thread replies, but yes, he is a winning reg.

ha.. sorry... Anybody here who's read the spoiler have any comments on the villain's play? How would you play his hand pre and post? Is it too nitty for me to feel that villain should just be folding a weakish ace pre to a raise? seems like most of the time it would either win a small pot or lose a big pot.