Re-Raising PF

Here's a question I'm hoping to get some clarification with. I'll start with an example from earlier today.

I was dealt JJ sitting at CO orbit goes around 1 caller and MP1 raises 4XBB. From what I know about MP1 is that he will only raise when he's got group 4 and up type cards. So my intial reaction is that he may have me beat, but I'm not looking to leave just yet. Everyone else folds and when its me I give him a little raise

Now I did this raise because after reading so many threads here and hearing that positions on things it sounded like this would give me an idea where I stand with him. However, many times when I throw that raise out I begin to feel a little committed to the pot and if I get re-raised I have a hard time throwing the cards away. Also I find that some of these guys will push AKo without any sign of even a pair on the flop.

So back to my story, I raise him, everyone folds and he goes all-in. Now I'm in this position where I'm not sure he has AQs, AKs or something worse like AA, KK, QQ. But now I feel like what the hell go for it your already in this deep. I know this is probably the wrong mentality but its the way I get on these raise battles.

I guess my question is, when is it OK to call someone's preflop raise when you to feel like you have a winning hand? Or is it never ok to call a PF raise if you feel you have the nuts and you should always raise to see how the person counters? And if that person counters how do you react?

Oh and the end result of my story was the board:[7s 8c Qd][Js][2c] he had AA and I won with the trip jacks...Phew!

Out of curiousity, How big was AA's stack? How big was it relative to yours?

When he went all-in on your re-raise, you kinda got the answer you were looking for and therefore you probably should have folded (unless you had a read to suggest otherwise)

You kinda got lucky hitting one of your two live outs on the turn. (Oh no, I see the potential here for the positive reinforcement of not so positive move.)

If he had just called your re-raise, unless you can credit him for setting a trap, you probably could have taken control from then onwards.

That's my $0.02.

for basic rules of thumb,
1. I call most pre flop raises with pocket pairs, looking for a set. up to about 5xBB

2. I re-raise with something good or something horrible, like AA or KK or 74, but these are pretty rare.

3. I'll call good hands with position, and no other callers AK AQ...

mostly i fold to pre flop when someone shows aggression. why gamble? soon enough you will have the cards, or the position and can put them to the test, rather than having to play out the second best hand.

I raise him, everyone folds and he goes all-in.

You gotta think pretty hard at this point, slow down and take your time. you *know* he's super tight. I'd be thinking my jacks are no good. I'd actualy just try to see the flop as cheaply as possible with that PP, skipping the re-raise. The all in tells you everything you need to know. That is, unless you're holding the other two aces, he's got ya beat.

Originally Posted by RiverMonkey

Out of curiousity, How big was AA's stack? How big was it relative to yours?

He was about half my chip stack at the time...

Thanks for the replies guys...its seems to be one of my biggest problems that I can see. I know I should probably get out in these situations but sometimes I find it difficult.

mostly i fold to pre flop when someone shows aggression. why gamble? soon enough you will have the cards, or the position and can put them to the test, rather than having to play out the second best hand.

this is good advice and I'm gonna post it on my monitor to keep reminding myself

The problem with calling is it gives you a calling image and perhaps even a calling mentality in yourself. I try to never call preflop unless it's a limp with a suited connector or something like that. Anyway, back to calling preflop, I really don't see the point. What you want is position and to be the aggressor. Reraise him. If you're calling a preflop bet you've either conciously or subconciously told yourself you're not playing unless you hit something and you're therefore at a disadvantage, you're basically chasing. Reraising gives you the aggressive edge and puts the other player on the defense. When he reraised it was pretty obvious he had a monster. I would have put him on AA or KK (unless you already had a read on the guy and he's a moron or tilted).