Limped Pot

“Don’t go broke in a limped pot” is right up there with “Never draw to an inside straight” as one of the most timeworn adages in poker. Like most of these bits of received wisdom, it serves as both a helpful warning to inexperienced players and a hindrance when those same players start trying to think about the game in more nuanced ways. This article seeks to extract the relevant wisdom from that statement and repackage it in less absolutist terms to help you better evaluate the strength of your hand in a limped pot.

Why Not Go Broke?

There are two major causes for caution in limped pots. The first is the depth of the stacks. Although it’s common to measure stacks in terms of big blinds, the more relevant metric is really the size of the pot. In their book Professional No Limit Hold ‘Em, Ed Miller and his co-authors use the very helpful “Stack-to-Pot Ratio,” or SPR, to measure stack depth.

In a game with 100 big blind stacks, if three players see the flop in a raised pot, there will often be 10 or so big blinds in the pot and 97 in the effective stacks, meaning an SPR between 9 and 10.

In a limped pot, even if more players see the flop, the SPR will be much higher. For example, if 5 players limp in, there will be 5 big blinds in the pot and 99 in the effective stacks, for an SPR of nearly 20.

“Going broke” in this limped pot would entail putting in twice as much money relative to the size of the pot as would getting all-in in the aforementioned raised pot. Even though you’re putting in roughly the same number of big blinds in both cases, you need a much better hand in the limped pot because of the higher SPR. It’s hardly a revelation to say that you need a bigger hand to play a bigger pot.

The second cause for caution in limped pots is “the big blind special” effect, the possibility of one of the blinds (or any player, to a lesser extent, since an investment of only a single big blind is required) seeing the flop cheaply or for free with very weak hands that would surely fold to a raise. If the pot is raised preflop, you wouldn’t worry much about running into two pair on a K-6-2 flop. In a limped pot, the big blind in particular probably has K-6, K-2, and 6-2 in his range.

I say “probably” because, despite the conventional wisdom that the big blind could have “anything,” his choice to check his option preflop does actually narrow and provide some information about his range. Although most players will check K-2 in this spot, most will not check A-A or K-K, so there are actually a few strong hands about which you can be less concerned in a limped pot.

When it comes to determining which hands are worthy of playing a big pot, there’s really nothing special about the fact that it was limped preflop. Ranges are wider (but also, importantly, weaker), stacks are deeper, but the process is the same: assess your hand, assess your opponents’ ranges, and determine your best option.

Middle Set

Suppose that you’re playing a nine-handed $5-$10 no-limit hold‘em game with $1,000 stacks. Preflop, the under-the-gun (UTG) player limps in, you limp behind with 6-6 in middle position, the button calls, the small blind completes, and the big blind checks. The flop comes K 6 2 flop. Should you be prepared to go broke?

That depends on how and to whom. No matter what, you should avoid playing your hand in a way that causes you to get action only when beat. As always when you flop a strong hand, you should think about which lesser hands you are targeting for value. Here you should focus on kings and try to get as much value as you can from hands as weak as king-rag or as strong as K-6. You can also get value from flush draws, though they shouldn’t be your primary target.

The action checks to you, and suspecting that no one will fold top pair or a flush draw to any reasonable bet on the flop, you decide to start building a big pot and bet $40. The button folds, and the big blind raises to $120.

As I argued above, the big blind is unlikely to have K-K, so I wouldn’t worry much about being beat at the moment. Your primary concern should be how to get as much money in the pot as possible when you are a big favorite.

Of course it depends on the player, but it’s a good guess that the big blind’s range consists mostly of two-pair, bottom set, and draws. Against players who have trouble folding seemingly strong hands, you can three-bet and be ready to get it in now. Just like any other situation in poker, you have to put him on a range and make some predictions about what he’s likely to do with that range.

If he himself subscribes to the “limped pot” mantra, then you may have trouble getting him to put a lot more money in if you make another raise. Even with 2-2, let alone with two-pair, he’d have to start wondering just what you are so excited to build a pot with. Against this player, it would be a mistake to raise again, because he’d fold most or all of the hands you’re beating. Although you’d win the pot almost always, the only time more money would go in would be in the rare instance that he slowplayed K-K preflop. Better to call, let him put you on a flush draw and try to “protect” his hand on the turn.

Of course if a flush card comes on the turn you’ll have more to worry about, but that’s poker. You can generally call a bet expecting sometimes to be ahead and sometimes to redraw to a full house.

Variation

What if, instead of the big blind, it was the first limper who check-raised you? Now you’d have a lot more to worry about. Limping K-K in early position is much more likely than checking it in the big blind, and unless this player is extremely loose, he isn’t likely to have two-pair. I’d start by calling, but if he continues to bet hard on the turn, you’ll have to decide how likely 2-2 or other hands are relative to the K-K that would have you drawing nearly dead. This might be one of those spots not to go broke.

Conclusion

The old adage about going broke in a limped pot is mostly a warning to those who make decisions primarily on the basis of their own hand strength. With deeper stacks relative to the pot and a wider range of hands possibly seeing the flop, it’s true that you have to raise your standards for putting your entire stack into the pot.

A limped pot isn’t grounds for excessive nittiness, though. All you have to do is play poker: consider what you know about your opponents and what you’ve seen them do so far, try to deduce a range of possible hands, and determine how your hand fares against that range. Focus on how to keep the hands you’re ahead of in the pot, and if it gets to the point where you no longer expect to be ahead of much at all, then don’t go broke. ♠

Andrew Brokos is a professional poker player, writer and coach. He blogs about poker strategy on ThinkingPoker.net and is co-host of the Thinking Poker Podcast. Andrew is also interested in education reform and founded an after-school debate program for urban youth.