Optimistically Raising Limpers

I was recently browsing the user-submitted hands on the ShareMyPair hand-sharing mobile app when a hand came up that I thought was particularly educational. This hand is from a local tournament. The buy-in wasn’t listed, so I will assume it was between $60 and $250. The blinds were 1,000-2,000 ante 100.

The player in second position and the lojack (three to the right of the button) both limped. Hero, with a 48,000-chip effective stack on the button, looked down at A 4 and decided to raise to 12,000. I am not a fan of this raise unless Hero is convinced the limpers are incredibly weak. I imagine in most small-stakes games the limpers will frequently call the preflop raise, resulting in Hero having a pot-sized bet with a junky hand going to the flop. In games where you expect the opponents to frequently limp-call, your raises would primarily be for value. A 4 is too weak to make a substantial raise for value.

To my surprise, the player in the big blind called and both limpers folded. Perhaps raising these particular limpers with a wide range is ideal. It is difficult to put an unknown big blind on a cold-calling range, as it could vary wildly from quite wide to overly tight.

The flop came K 7 2. The big blind checked and Hero bet 16,000 out of his 36,000-chip stack into the 29,900-chip pot. I think a smaller bet size would accomplish the same result while risking fewer chips. Notice that if the big blind has nothing, he will fold to any reasonable bet. If he has top pair or better, he will not fold to any bet. While a smaller bet of 10,000 into the 29,900-chip pot may get called by a slightly wider range, I think it is mandatory that you conserve chips when the pot gets huge, especially when you have a short stack. As you experiment with small bet sizes, you will be pleasantly surprised to see that your opponents fold a large portion of the time.

The big blind called the 16,000-chip flop bet. The turn was the 9, giving Hero the nut flush draw. The big blind checked and Hero pushed all in for 20,000 into the 61,900-chip pot. I do not like this bet unless Hero thinks the big blind will fold all marginal one-pair hands. The problem with trying to make him fold marginal pairs is that many of them will have a flush draw, meaning he will feel roped into calling, given he is getting 4:1 pot odds. Notice again that if the flop bet size was a bit smaller, the big blind would be getting worse odds to call on the turn, making a turn bet acceptable. In this situation, given the pot is bloated going to the turn, I think the ideal strategy is to check behind and hope to improve to a flush or top pair.

The big blind called the small all-in with K K for top set. Hero was fortunate enough to make the nut flush on the river, winning a big pot. Especially in live poker, it is important that you accurately assess your opponent’s range. In this situation, I don’t think you can assume the big blind has only the nuts, but his range should usually be decently strong after cold calling a preflop raise and calling a sizable flop bet. If I was in Hero’s shoes, I would have simply folded preflop, opting to avoid this situation entirely. Do not feel as if you must blindly attack the limpers and barrel off your stack when your preflop steal fails. Sometimes the best play is to get out of the way. ♠

Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion with more than $6 million in tournament winnings. Each week, he posts an educational blog and podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com, where you can get a FREE poker training video that details five things you must master if you want to win at tournament poker.