Mid/High Stakes Limit Hold'em Poker Forums

Lately I've been working on preflop defaults for the common situations I find myself in. I'm having a difficult time with SB opening strategy. Any feedback would greatly appreciated.

20/40 and 40/80 live


Vs. the typical foldy TAG... open raising ~75%, never open limping

Vs. the loose passive bad players who are happy to check along and give free cards... mixed strategy of raising ~50%, open limping with ~25%. The limping range consists of a variety of hands.

Vs. the rare tough pro... open raising ~66%, never open limping

Thanks

are these raked or time games? location? i think chopping should be considered in bad rake environments.

Vs tough pros I open limp 75% and never raise, otherwise I play the same as you

how can limping SB be good???

how can limping SB be good???

Because it keeps the pot small against someone you dont have a sizable edge against?

Vs tough pros I open limp 75% and never raise, otherwise I play the same as you

Out of curiosity, do you limp the button in HULHE games vs tough opponents?

I'm just trying to get a feel for how much being out of position influences things here.

Time collection, so chopping isn't really a good option given the edge I feel I have over my opponents in BvB situations.

I've considered the 'always limp vs. tough players' strategy. Do you have a limp- 3bet range when the BB raises? Or do you delay your action until the flop/ turn with your premiums? I would imagine it's the latter.

how can limping SB be good???

Balance. In the same way that never 3betting your BB when HU and OOP balances your BB defense strategy.

Balance

so are you trying to balance a weak limping range with stronger hands?
because otherwise you'd make yourself less balanced or am I not getting this?

so are you trying to balance a weak limping range with stronger hands?
because otherwise you'd make yourself less balanced or am I not getting this?

if you were to raise when strong, and limp when weak, then that'd be unbalanced and opponents could figure it out. assuming we've decided limping is necessary, then you'll have to have some strong hands in your limping range too. you could either limp everything you wanna play, or limp some strong and some weak and raise some strong and some weak. limping everything you wanna play has the appeal of simplicity.

Out of curiosity, do you limp the button in HULHE games vs tough opponents?

I'm just trying to get a feel for how much being out of position influences things here.

No, position is everything. Someone smart just told me basically "play bigger pots in position and smaller ones OOP" and "tailor your hand strength to the size of the pot" so if you have one pair you probably want to manipulate the bets to play a small or medium sized pot, if you have a monster you want a big pot, and if you have a draw that will be a monster if it hits you want a big pot. If you think all those things are accurate than pretty much every decision vs tough players just stems from one of those axioms.

Time collection, so chopping isn't really a good option given the edge I feel I have over my opponents in BvB situations.

I've considered the 'always limp vs. tough players' strategy. Do you have a limp- 3bet range when the BB raises? Or do you delay your action until the flop/ turn with your premiums? I would imagine it's the latter.

No I don't 3 bet. I do all sorts of stuff that is sorta like this in other spots and people think its weird though, so I might just be weird. In 2/3 blind structure I coldcall small blind a lot, vs UTG tough players I coldcall small blind, etc.

No, position is everything. Someone smart just told me basically "play bigger pots in position and smaller ones OOP" and "tailor your hand strength to the size of the pot" so if you have one pair you probably want to manipulate the bets to play a small or medium sized pot, if you have a monster you want a big pot, and if you have a draw that will be a monster if it hits you want a big pot. If you think all those things are accurate than pretty much every decision vs tough players just stems from one of those axioms.

Given your second point, there must be some hands that you'd be OOP and still want to play a bigger pot. Never raising and giving your opponent a free option always seems quite extreme

Well of course I would *want* to but its not possible to maximally get what I want vs someone very smart without unbalancing myself. "free option" is a total misnomer, do you know how tough high limit guys play the BB in this spot? Many of them fold 0%, the rest fold like 10%, they 3 bet frequently (correctly of course), gone are the days of "fit or fold" on the flop, they will float, bluff raise, and otherwise fight for pots, in short they will abuse their position.

There is no profitable strategy for playing the small blind vs a tough big blind when its folded around to you, you will always lose money, the question is how little can you lose.

Well of course I would *want* to but its not possible to maximally get what I want vs someone very smart without unbalancing myself. "free option" is a total misnomer, do you know how tough high limit guys play the BB in this spot? Many of them fold 0%, the rest fold like 10%, they 3 bet frequently (correctly of course), gone are the days of "fit or fold" on the flop, they will float, bluff raise, and otherwise fight for pots, in short they will abuse their position.

There is no profitable strategy for playing the small blind vs a tough big blind when its folded around to you, you will always lose money, the question is how little can you lose.

I'd agree 100% with this, except most live players at a 20/40 or 40/80 won't fit the description of tough players in the blinds. I would default to just raising a lot (maybe 80%+ at first), because they will play too fit/fold. There are only a handful of people I would limp everything against right now in a live LHE game.