Opp was playing 23/7 over 80 hands. I didn't have any history with him. In general should I always be raising these spots to iso the limper unless he's a total nit? should I be limping behind if there's more than 1 or 2 limpers generally as well?


[converted_hand][hand_history]Poker Stars, $3 Buy-in (60/120 blinds, 15 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite. View Hand #12506232

BTN: 2,550 (21.3 bb)
SB: 11,345 (94.5 bb)
BB: 11,675 (97.3 bb)
UTG+2: 3,735 (31.1 bb)
MP1: 9,655 (80.5 bb)
MP2: 2,985 (24.9 bb)
MP3: 2,990 (24.9 bb)
Hero (CO): 7,040 (58.7 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 5 5
UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls 120, 2 folds, [color="red"]Hero raises to 420

I'd usually decide here based on table dynamics. With 55, you either need to be pretty sure you'll succeed in getting heads up, or you want to play cheap multiway and fold unless you make a set. So if I know that when I raise, I'll get three or four calls by people who won't lay down J7 suited pre, but if I also know I can overlimp without fearing any aggression from later players, I'd happily overlimp here. Most of the time, that's going to be better than raising 4 BB then folding 90% of flops. But if I thought I might be able to successfully isolate with a raise preflop, I'd raise, since then I have more ways of winning the pot than just hitting a set. And if I thought that someone would make a huge raise with any two cards if a few people limp, I'd probably raise myself something like 3 BB to set a cheaper price than the aggro villain will to get to a flop - that's kind of a blocker bet I guess.

First into the pot I'd raise for sure of course.