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Dealing with limpers in MTT's
Andyl1986
Member Posts: 73
This is something that seems to occur most often at the lower stakes but that I always seem to struggle with.
Say you're on the button with a hand you'd open raise with such as A9, K10, 77 etc and you have 2 or more limpers in front of you.. how do you go about it? A raise would have to be larger than the standard 3x to take into account the limpers and in my experience players just don't fold pre flop at low stakes so you're playing a large multi way pot with an average starting hand (albeit in position). Cheers for any advice.
Comments
Possibly depends on your image to play some hands and your position on the table. TBH early doors why not just call to set ine with low to med pprs and forget about the likes of A9o as it will probably be behind even if an ace flops if inflated pots are costing you chips.
I'm also tightening up my range considerably. Just sit tight and wait for a big enough hand to punish the limpers. In the early stages, hands like K10 and A9 (even in position) just aren't worth getting involved with on tables like this imo.
As you approach the mid to latter stages the amount of limpers tend to reduce and then you can change your play and widen your range accordingly
Having said that I'm quite a tight player, a more aggressive player may have a different line of thinking but I play a lot of these small stakes mtts and this approach works for me (sometimes) lol
More than 40BB: I'm raising it up. I make it a standard 3x + 1 and I look to take it down with a c-bet on a good flop. Good flops are three low cards, preferably of three different suits. A Jack or Queen high flop is usually good to c-bet as long as the other cards are low. Don't c-bet monochrome flops unless it contains a 7, obviously. Don't c-bet A-high or King-high flops too often with more than one limp-caller since it's more likely than not that one of the limpers has an Ace. Ten-high flops are fairly bad to c-bet because Tens fit so much of a limpers range, including straight draws. Don't bet a T93 flop, for example, though T24 would be a nice one for you. So basically don't c-bet when it seems very likely to have hit your opponents' ranges. If we get it heads-up pre-flop we can c-bet alot more frequently.
25-40BB: I think this is a forgivable time to limp behind, as long as you think it's unlikely that the players in the blinds are going to put pressure on the limps without a big hand. You also have to ask yourself what other hands you would limp with here, and what other hands would your opponents give you credit for. You would never limp with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK etc so don't go crazy trying to represent those hands on later streets. A good player in the Big Blind is also likely to recognise that when you want to put lots of money in on a 732 flop, that you probably have a massive hand. So be aware of the image you're projecting when you limp. There is nothing easier to read than a player who raises time and time again and then suddenly wants to limp in. I'd personally still prefer to raise.
15-25BB: Just fold. You don't have good implied odds to set-mine and raising is committing a lage portion of your stack to a pot with a marginal value hand. You don't want to raise-fold with this stack but you're unlikely to get it in ahead if someone 3-bets. With this stack size you need to be looking for spots to make the 3-bet yourself. Just let the hand go.
15BB or fewer: Go all-in. There's already 3.5BB in the middle, which is at least 23% of your stack. If you're called by the limpers you're probably flipping and it's unlikely that either of the limpers is strong enough to call anyway.
Remember (alot of) this is dependent on the effective stack size. If you have 100BB but the two limpers have 25BB and 45BB, then the effective stack is 45BB. You must beware of that short-stacked player but you're playing for the stack of the deeper player. You can't set-mine against short-stacks and you can't put huge pressure on someone if you're short and they're really deep.
This is only a rough guide and obviously every situation is different. I try not to use definite rules for my play and you should grow your own game.
I use the example of 77 because people often play pocket pairs very differently. Generally speaking though, you need to be thinking about what you would do with various hands in this situation, not just "I've got 77, what do I want to do with them". Also think about what you'd do with bigger hands and weaker hands and bear in mind how it looks if you do something else.
Well, if we're going to be pedantic about it:
mon·o·chrome
Nerr nerr!! :P
If you haven't read 'Harrington On Hold'em' Volumes 1 and 2, then give those a run-through. They're the best books to learn the fundamentals, in my opinion.