First hand, I have [Js] on the button. Unpredictable LAG player limps in UTG+2. I have seen him do all kinds of crazy things but he does seem to know what he is doing (getting lucky too). He has table covered. Two more limpers, and I make it $35. Folds to LAG who puts in $100 on top. Back to me, what do I do? My stack is about $700 after the $35 raise. I would think my table image is fairly tight-aggressive, but I doubt LAG cared a whole lot.

Second hand, I have 88 in CO (~900). Crazy LAG makes it $40 from UTG+1. One caller in MP (~400) and I call. BB (~1000) also calls. LAG has us all covered. MP plays by the book, BB is a calling station preflop but gets aggressive postflop.

FLOP [8s][Td] (Pot: $160)

Great flop. BB leads out for a $100. LAG makes it $300 to go, and MP is all-in for like $80 more. WTF????? What's my move here? This one had my head scratching for a while.

Results for both hands later.

I fold the first one, because you will never be able to make a strong bet here. Even if you get a J, what happens if an A-Q pops up as well? If you don't get a jack, you have no idea where you stand. Against an aggressive better this is a problem.

Hand two I call. That hand will pay you off more than you think. Even if you don't have the best hand you can flop a boat, and with that many callers it's worth it. But you're still going to lose it most of them time. Just your % to win > % of your chips in the pot = good, but the variance is high.

Oh yeah, one more thing. If you're play JJ and you have some crazy betters preflop, limp. It's really not that great of a hand. I only bet with JJ if I'm playing against callers who seem to be passive and I can knock a couple of them out.

Hand 1-If you think your read on the LAG is correct, you should reraise and protect your hand. You would mostly reraise with AA-QQ, and if you think you have the best hand, you should here. Is LAG tricky enough to have a big pocket pair and limp-reraise?
Personally, I would like to have a more solid hand against the LAG if I am going to reraise though. But, if you can represent that you have the AA-QQ hand, maybe he lays down preflop.

Hand 2-I think second set seems pretty impressive here, and would be almost impossible to lay down. I think MP player might have a really good hand as well, but if it's set over set, then what can you do? I think BB is on a good draw and might give it up, and LAG has an overpair here, but possibly a nice draw as well. If you can induce continued betting and calling from the LAG, even if one of the other two players hits his draw, then you can make your whole stack back here if he doesn't hit and you don't beat the MP player. This seems like a dangerous hand, and I don't like all the action here, but it is too big of a hand to give up here.

Personally, I love the move one other stated. I did not think of it myself but the more I think about it I love it. For hand one I love the re-raise. Raise his bet up to 300. He's only playing KK and AA for that price. He will most likly lay down q's here if hes got them too. If he moves in your done. If he calls, you play it out according to what you feel. Only hand he calls with is AK and thats if he is super loose which I doubt.

For hand 2 I move in feeling my 88 is best. I put LAG on an overpair, even though he is loose I dont think he's raising 9J maybe though, if he is I have plenty of outs to fill up. Big MP Could easily be on flush draw with overs. I am unsure on what BB has but I expect him to lay down his hand when I move in. Dont have too much time to think about this hand, I gtg in a sec to play a game with friends, 10 dollar buy in woot! PC

I am 100% with you on your raise preflop with the Jacks. They can be tricky after the flop on occasion but you are in position meaning you will have more information to work with in order to play them better. Raise it up and thin that field! I don't know about what to do about the backraise though. On one hand he is a LAG, but I thought that more typical LAG play is to outplay an opponent when the cards are on the board--it is hard to outplay someone preflop. You said he was capable of back-raising with junk, but had you actually seen him do it? If he is flashing his cards maybe he has been setting up the limp-re-raise with an overpair for awhile now and he could be trying to spring it on you here. I don't think you can assume he doesn't have a hand here.

I liked the point made about coming back over the top of it as opposed to just calling and see what happens on the flop. If you did make it something like $300 to go then he really has to put you on a nutty holding because you came over the top of a backraise! Sure he can move in and you can't call without a better hand than you have, but you are representing so much stronger if you were to come back over the top that he would have to be expecting a call if he went all in.

On the next hand I would actually be really concerned. The BB betting into the field and into a preflop raiser on a very coordinated board is showing a ton of strength in my mind. The LAG raised preflop and he's come back over the top on the flop so I think it is reasonable to put him on an overpair here. The BB might have you killed with a monster but if you are going to play the hand I think moving in is the right play.

Bob - I don't know if he is raising with junk or not. That's the thing about this guy. One time I saw two limpers to him, he was in the CO. He threw $100 into the pot, and everyone folded to him. He flashed K5s and said he had to raise cuz they were sooted. He was capable of making moves with any two up til the flop, although his turn and river play was solid from what I saw. With a big stack I felt that he might be making a move on me.

In hand 1, I ended up raising $300 more. I was gonna call an all-in (since it was only $300 more) but I raised $300 as opposed to going allin because I wanted him to think I had AA. This is the exact play I would make with AA, as it commits the opponent but lets him in for cheaper. He flipped his AKs over and said, "You got Aces." I lied and said, "Good Read."

Very nice! Sweet way to push out those overcards preflop. What happened with the second hand?

Hand #1 I think you have to choices. Reraise to $300 or fold. No way Im calling. Against any sane person I fold. Against this yahoo I reraise.

Hand 2 I think I move all in and pray I dont get outdrawn.

Wonderful play on hand #1. Reraising hadn't occurred to me before I read some of the posts...but now that i've seen it...a reraise or a fold seems most proper here.


Hand #2...Huge pot, you've got middle set. I sure as hell wouldn't let it go. Even if someone flopped a straight the pot is huge and you can still pair the board. I play my trips fast and furious. I would move all-in here as there is more then enough in the pot already.

Blah, sorry, for some reason I thought I read you were in BB on hand 1 - so never mind the silly comments about raising. By the sounds of it, you did a great job that night. You read the player correctly, assessed his hand correctly, and then bet accordingly and made him pay.

Hand 2 - I move all in and hope if anyone has you beat with TT or the straight, you either out draw them or they are one of the smaller stacks and you at least get some of your money back from the side pot.