It is a common situation to find yourself at a table full of limpers if you play lower stakes poker, whether it's a matter of cash or tournaments, live or online. When in this situation it's sometimes difficult to decide how to play at such a table and very often we might struggle on how to find the right response. Well, in this article we will go through the hands which are good to be over-limped and those which are better served to be raised. Hopefully, this will help you improve your game and show you one additional 'weapon' to
win at poker.
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If there is one thing novice Texas Hold'em players do more than anything else - something that basically screams that they are inexperienced - that is call. 'Should I Limp?' First order approximation of poker says 'Do not limp' This comes straight out of ' Miller & Hull 101″. It is a good assumption, it will get you to a profitable pre-flop strategy. Then you get to '.
Actually, speaking of low stakes cash games, there is another factor that players struggle with. Just as with limping, this option named the 'straddle' affects the action in certain hands. If you are not familiar with how straddle affects your play, for sure this link needs your attention.
Let us start with explaining what limping in poker means and what it says about the player who has decided to take this action. When a player just calls the amount of the big blind, we call this action 'a limp' and the player- 'a limper'. It is generally considered a weak play. First of all, just limping means that he will face the flop at least playing against the big blind. In other words, the player doesn't have the option to win the pot preflop without having to fight and see a flop. Not to mention the situations when other players will also just call the blind and the limper will have to play post-flop multiway out of position. Another tough situation will arise when a player raises behind him. The limper will need to often fold or call with hands that were not good enough to play in the first place!
Although ‘open-limping' is not suggested, 'over-limping' can be a good option. In fact, we have just three options here- to fold, to over-limp (to call one big blind behind the limper) or to raise. Which play to choose is a complex decision. We have to take into account a lot of factors such as our position; are we facing just one limper or has someone else already over-limped; how likely it is someone behind will call and how likely are they to raise; if one player does raise how many of the limpers will likely call. Now you see why we need to build a solid strategy versus limpers.
Good Candidates to Over-limp
As a general rule, we over-limp hands that are not strong enough to raise but at the same time are playable and profitable to over-limp. An example of such hands would be low pocket pairs, low suited aces, low suited connectors and low suited gappers. We do not over-limp off-suited hands because we miss the chances to flop a flush or flush-draw. Pocket pairs from 22 to 88 (sometimes 99) are good to be over-limped. Talking of low suited aces to just call, this would be A2s to A8s. The low suited connectors and gappers to over-limp are such as KJs, KTs, K9s, QJs, QTs, Q9s, JTs, J9s, T9s, T8s, 98s, 97s, 87s, 86s, 76s, 65s, 54s and sometimes even 43s. Here is a chart to help you visualise the range.
The position from which we are playing is also very important. To be aware of the position you play hands is actually one of the top tips for players who just start with the game of poker. We are more likely to over-limp from the late positions because we have fewer players behind who have the option to raise and put us in uncomfortable situations. For example, if we are in MP1 with 97s the right play is to simply fold. If we over-limp with this hand from this position there are too many players behind. This increases the possibility of a raise and we have to fold eventually anyway. The same hand, 97s, dealt to us on the button and facing one limper, is a good candidate for over-limp because we have just two players behind and we will play in position post- flop.
Good Candidates to Isolate a Limper
Some hands in our range will be strong enough to raise with even after a limper or multiple limpers. Such hands would be strong pairs like 99+, ATs+, AJo+, KQs, KQo and sometimes even 89s to give us some board coverage. As a general rule, the more the limpers- the stronger the raise range and the bigger the sizing. For example, we can raise 88 from the HJ against one limper but we will be more likely to over-limp against two or more limpers. Pocket 99 or a hand like ATs are strong enough to be raised against even two limpers without a second thought.
You have to keep in mind that a player who has limped or over-limped will nearly always be calling an isolation raise. That is why we need to have a strong range to raise with and to choose our sizing wisely. We can choose bigger sizings with our AA, KK, QQ type of hands but lower if we were dealt AJo for example.
Speaking of sizing, what is a reasonable one?The answer is- it depends. If you play cash games where the stacks are usually deep, you can raise five times the big blind and add one big blind for every limper already in play. Let us say you play $1/$2 cash and you have a hand for a raise after two limpers. Your size would be 5x$2 + 2x$2 = $14.
Here is a useful video on the limping topic in which James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney, an established Poker PRO, analyzes how to play when players just don't like to fold preflop:
Limp Hands Poker Club
In tournaments though, the sizing depends on the effective stack on the table. If you are deep stacked, meaning you have 50+ big blinds stacks, the raise size could be three times the big blindplus one big blind per every limper. If your stacks are around 30-40 big blinds, a raise like two and a half times the big blind plus one blind per limper would be more suitable. Again, your hand is also important. You can raise 3x+1 with 35 big blinds stack if you have AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs, AQs, AKo.
Another thing to consider is when playing lower stakes it is not so crucially important to be balanced because your opponents won't be taking as much notice of your ranges. Meaning you can make bigger raises with your premium hands and smaller raises with the rest of your range and not be worried that the other players will accordingly adjust their play.
Conclusion
Knowing how to respond against limpers is an important skill to develop. Also, building a solid preflop understanding of the various techniques is crucial to improving at Texas Hold Em. Agenda holland casino rotterdam.
Poker as a game is very dynamic and the final decision always depends on various different factors. We hope this article gave you a solid starting base when it comes to dealing with limpers and helped you adjust your range to crush these types of opponents.
Covering live poker tournaments for a living affords me the opportunity to see countless thousands of hands played out, many of which offer interesting and potentially valuable insights into how players — both amateurs and professionals — play the game. In this ongoing series, I'll highlight hands I've seen at the tournaments I've covered and see if we can glean anything useful from them.
The Scene
This summer, I had the pleasure of covering the Super High Roller Cash Game, a nosebleed affair involving some of the best and/or most affluent poker players on the planet. Sent back to the World Series of Poker beat afterwards, I did not get to return days later for the $500,000 Super High Roller Bowl, which was covered by my esteemed colleagues. That's the setting for this week's hand, which I happened to catch on recent TV coverage of the event.
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One of the biggest tournaments in recent memory, the Super High Roller Bowl drew 43 of the game's best and wealthiest, with the titanic buy-in creating a suitably enormous first-place prize of $7,525,000. At the point this hand took place, three of the game's best — Scott Seiver, Brian Rast, and Connor Drinan Mike leah poker. — were left battling, with substantial money jumps of about $2 million after each of the final two eliminations.
The Action
Play had recently moved to Level 22 (60,000/120,000/20,000). Rast and Seiver were playing fairly deep with about 10 million and 7 million, respectively, while Drinan lagged behind with about 4 million. Drinan got out of the way from the button in this hand to leave the big stacks to do battle, and battle they did.
Things started slowly enough as Rast completed from the small blind, but Seiver popped it up with a big raise to 420,000. Rast came back over the top for 1.13 million, and Seiver went into the tank for a while before moving all in for 7.195 million total. Rast immediately called with and had Seiver's crushed.
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Unfortunately for Rast, the board ran out , giving Seiver a winning set of eights and allowing him to fade Rast's backdoor flush draw.
Limp Hands Poker Play
Concept and Analysis
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Blind battles can be some of the most interesting and fun hands in poker. They usually involve two players going at it with the widest ranges they'll play, given that everyone else in the hand has folded to leave a default heads-up match. In cash games they don't come up as often, since many players will just chop. But that's not an option in tournaments, making the blind-vs.-blind hand an important part of tournament play.
In this hand, Rast picks up a monster when he sees kings in the small blind. Whereas many players would immediately raise in an effort to build the pot and protect their hand, Rast elects to just call.
When Seiver raises, Rast springs the trap, waking up with a reraise to just short of three times Seiver's bet. Holding two eights, Seiver is in a tough predicament. You're never thrilled about getting 60 big blinds in with eights, but his options are pretty limited. Just calling isn't a great option, as most flops will include an overcard to his pair and he will be left guessing at that point. He has to decide whether to go with his hand now.
Rightly figuring that two eights are usually going to be best in a blind battle, Seiver shipped it, only to be shown the kings.
Many players like just to call from the small blind with a wide range of hands, and who can really blame them? You're getting a great price — at least 3-to-1 depending on antes — and you have just one opponent who is holding any two. In the big blind, many players who see a call from the SB like to bump it up. Again, who can blame them? They know they are facing a very wide range of hands and they'll have position the rest of the hand.
Thus, it's important occasionally to limp some very strong hands from the small blind as part of a balanced overall strategy. Otherwise, it's just too easy for the player in the big blind to exploit you with raises and then taking down pots postflop with continuation bets on the occasions when you miss (which is more often than not). When players see you do this, they will be far less likely to raise your small blind limps in the future, enabling you to see more cheap flops and use pot control when out of position.
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This hand seemed to be an incredibly costly beat for Rast at the time. It reduced him to the shortest stack, while Seiver appeared to be in complete command with about two-thirds of the chips in play. Rast shook the bad luck off, though, and got the last laugh as he bested Seiver heads-up to take down the $7.525 million first prize.
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tournament strategyno-limit hold'emSuper High Roller Series$500000 Super High Roller Bowlblind-vs.-blind strategyBrian RastScott SeiverConnor DrinanRelated Players
Scott SeiverBrian RastConnor Drinan