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Hello,

Just last week I was invited to a twenty-three player, $50 buy-in no-limit. Later part I made it to the final table and was actually third placer in terms of chip count however ended up on the sixth.

I remember I was the dealer then and was dealt wired 99′s. There were six players at such point. Three limped in and so I raised two times the big blind. Do you think I should have just called? Then two players folded and the chip-leader who appeared to me as a loose-aggressive one re-raised me the big blind. I then went all in with about 3/4 of his stack. I considered what if he had high cards and he’d catch any of those to the river. With pocket ladies, he then called. At such point in time, I knew the game was finally over for me.

I know I’ve made some mistakes but I can’t directly pinpoint what are they. Please help me.

Best regards,
Jester
Jester,

You were in late position with 9’s. A raise is not a bad play here, but limping in may have been a better option. When you were reraised, then it is time to get out. Chances are you nines were beat, and they were. With 3 limpers and a raise, someone usually isn’t going to reraise without some type of strong hand.

Hello,

I’ve been into micro-stakes no limit holdem online. Typically I play at .10/.25, $25 max buy-in. Ever since, I don’t know already how to play pocket pairs, more specifically 10′s and lower. As of the moment, I’ve been applying what you advised before to a particular player and things have been running smoothly. But I still have some clarifications.

At what point do you stop limping in with pocket pairs? Is there any magic value I should consider so that I can isolate one or more players? 9′s, 10′s, J’s? Normally, it appears to me as good thing when lots of players are in preflop with a small raise and I call with a low pocket pair and hit the set, however it’s also at times a bad thing when I lost lots of money as I can’t get out of a set. I admit I can’t teach myself how to get out of a set and I don’t have the discipline as well. Oftentimes, I get burned on the turn or river bets and end up losing two times or more of what I typically win when I play with sets.

Any thoughts now? By the way, in order to have more money in the pot, will you not anymore isolate players with anything? Except A, K or Q’s?

I’ll look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thank you very much.

All the best,
Chris
Chris,

In early and middle position, I like to limp with pairs up to 9’s to try and hit a set. 10’s and up I tend to raise. In late position, I will raise most any pair above 5’s. Sometimes I will raise 5’s too if the blinds are the only players left.

You can try and isolate players with other hands other than big pairs, but if you do so, you must at least fire out a continuation bet on the flop, even if you miss. Otherwise, when you miss with you’re A-K, you will look like someone who missed with A-K.