Not a real hand.

Let's say your LP
a few callers.
Do you call or raise to thin out the crowd for show down value?

Just call it.

it all depends.

You should be asking yourself questions like How much is in my stack? how much are their stacks? How have I played against them in the past? how have they played against me in the past? if the limpers limp with AA should you raise?

if your playing with 200BB stacks you can bet or limp really depending on factors.

if your stack is 5BB and its a tourny you should be all in/shoving.

we need more information.

Not helpful

This question is impossible to answer without a ton more information. Suffice it to say, there are plenty of situations (think late in a decent buy in MTT) where 99 is an absolutely crushing value hand that should be played hard, and there are times (think a loose live $1-$2 game) where you will fold no one with a preflop value bet, and now you will be playing a mid strength value hand against multiple callers with a bloated pot and almost definitely 1 or more over cards on the board.

What you need to do, though, is be consistent in your approach. if you are playing the hand as a value hand, play it like you would any hand in your value range. if you are playing it like a drawing hand, don't suddenly shift to trying to play it for value or as a bluff. You will tell an inconsistent story and will get called out by hands like top pair, no kicker.

Except.....

fold

I sometimes raise and sometimes limp. I might limp with it and a few orbits later at the same table be in exactly the same situation and raise. I think you should know how to play it both ways.

i actually agree now with kelvis since op doesn't want to give anymore information to us. you can't lose what you don't put in the middle.

Fold OP. its the best play.

7s+ is always a raise.

This is a great way to play for stacks with middle pair. That is not a good thing.

What about a situation where you can’t raise?

If people are overlimping and overcalling, it's actually a great way to get value from bad players when you make your hand and 7s+ actually do have a decent amount of flops that you can throw a cb on.

Realistically, you're not going to be losing money even if you just set mine v bad players who over limp and over call, but you will build massive stacks and get paid when you hit your sets.

In the long run, it might be only slightly+ ev, but that's not how to think about these situations, losing 3-4 bbs isn't the end of your tourny, but sometimes winning 100+bb can propel you to place very well and that's exactly what'll happen by isoing.

What do you mean? Sub 15 bb? Just jam then, so much dead money in the pot.

What is a few callers? If two players limped and I have 99s in late position I will nearly always be raising. I'm raising for value in this spot. The raise would never be to thin the crowd. I'm not sure if raising for showdown value is a legit strategy.

Sub 1BB ldo.

You "raise for value" yet don't "raise for showdown"?
What's the difference?

I raise for either
A) Fold equity
B) Showdown (Value)

The difference is that ‘value’ and ‘showdown’ are two totally different things?

In a cash game I think a lot of people end up losing more then they make by playing it fast and aggressive. They end up triple barreling in dumb spots and hero calling a lot. Now if your a good player obviously this shouldn't happen, but it does...a lot. Not to sound cliche but live poker really is an art form as much a technical game. You have to be aware of the flow of the game, everyone's current mental state and tilt level, everyone's skill level, and try to think the way each individual thinks. You may get 99 4x in a night in the same exact position and play it different every time. Live poker is about getting a lot of hours in and analyzing every single second. You can't just post a hand online and get an answer. Ive played hands I made a call on the end with crap and every single player knew I was good at the table before I showed my hand, yet if I posted it online its a clear fold. Long story long get in the hours, obbsess about it, and you'll get your answers. One last secret, there is no perfect play and secret to poker

Exactly. Full ring NLHE is all about out nitting your opponents. Everyone wants to be Tom Dwan these days. Keep your head down and wait for the nuts, that is how you make money at a nine or ten handed table.

Actually he was helpful, he gave a bunch of things to think about. You're getting free information from better players here...you might want to think about meeting them halfway.

That’s even less true today then it was 10 years ago.

In 2008, good LAGs already had significantly higher winrates than good TAGs. But the fact that the first group usually maxed out at 16 tables while the second group could play 24 tables, which also meant significantly higher rakeback, kinda leveled the playing field. That’s not true anymore with the lower rakeback and higher average skill today, nobody wins at NL100+ today by waiting for premium hands.

In live poker, being nitty can still make decent money in weak games, but the biggest winners are always the ones who engage a lot with the bad players. Hard to stack somebody when you finally have aces but they left the game 10 minutes ago because they busted their second buy-in and that was their gambling budget for the day.
I don’t think I’ve heard anyone post BF saying they wanted to be like durrrr? TBH I didn’t even think anyone who didn’t follow RailHeaven back in the day or the short live poker hype around him that followed that, really knew who he was.

I mis understood what you meant in the op. I think your using the term showdown incorrectly though. Normally showdown value refers to a hand which you can't bet for value as there are hardly any or no worse hands that can call. The hand is still good enough to get to the river cheaply hence the term showdown value.
I'm not trying to have a go at you but what is raising for showdown? Your never going to be factoring showdown value into your decision making pre flop as even the worst pre flop hand can be a monster by the river.

There is no one way to handle a spot in poker .. thus 'It depends' is pretty much always an appropriate answer to such an open ended question.

The 'middle pair' is handled very differently by the various types of players. I tend to agree that you need hands like 99 in your 3-bet range to offset the predictability of AA-QQ. It is pretty easy to fold to most opponents if you miss. It pays off well if you hit and has 'ok' showdown value should you get to a River on some Boards against callers who are typically 'Broadway' players.

You can play ABC poker with 99 or you can make advanced plays with 99. What you, and most Players are looking for , is where is that line for you. Is it 99? Or anything from 66-JJ that gets put in this 'category'? GL