Limp fest and raises

[Wade]

So what adjustments do I make when the game turns into bingo. Everyone starts limping pre. Do you limp along with more hands or raise with more hands? For I while I stuck to my game and raised to 7 with my range. I was rolling good cards too. After a while it seemed to have little effect. Raise to 7 and get 4 or 5 callers. Do you start raising larger? Raising to 10 seemed to have little effect as well. Saw this from other players. So I just stuck to my 7 for a while and then just started playing bingo like everybody else. Feel like raising became pointless. Just lost more chips. So what adjustments would you make?

Game choice quite limited. Often only one table running.
Thanks.

[John S]

I used to play in a lot of games like this, and I never won consistently playing a normal opening range. The problem is when you open and get called 4-6 ways, you lose a lot of equity, and when you miss you often just have to fold since someone is likely to have hit the flop. If you raise to $10 10 times and don’t hit, you just burned a $100 buy-in. I’ve done it many times.

I found the most profitable way to play these games is to maximize value when you make hands. Raise only your strongest hands (99 or TT +, KQs+, AJs+, AKo). Raising anything less I feel is just burning money. Limp your lower pairs and your suited connectors, avoid playing big gappers or suited hands not suited to the Ace. A solid pre-flop range is most of the battle, and don’t be afraid to give up when you miss.

Avoid bluffing since it’s just not profitable long term. There are a few select instances when you can bluff (something like the flush comes in and you know the villain is scared of it), but long-term bluffing isn’t important at low stakes.

3-betting can be profitable if you do it correctly. If players are opening a lot, and there are a lot of callers, attacking this dead money can be profitable. Obviously you’ll have to know who is opening a lot and who is not, but this can be a way to take down money without seeing a flop. I do this a lot in smaller games when I’m waiting for a bigger table to open.

[Hans Griese]

My game’s can often become like this. It’s really down to the opponents – if they are limp-calling pre-flop, but then always folding to C-bets, punish them hard. if they are limp-calling and being sticky, then do as John says.

Keep trying to find sizes that fold out people pre-flop. Sometimes a $15 open on a 1/2 is what is needed to fold people out pre. You’ll catch flak for it, but you won’t get sucked out by 8-4 off. My last session I was playing around with my opening sizes, and found $10 was pretty good for getting rid of crap hands but keeping a few in. two weeks ago, it was $14, and last week it was $6.

[DeeKay]

I agree with what has been written above. But I also think you need to find the sweet spot. If you have a premium hand, and all the limpers are coming in with a full range… then you must limit the field. The goal is to adjust to your table… if its a limp and call fest… then you need to find the spot to limit this. Also, what information do you have on what they are limping in with. If they’re playing any two hands, charge a price for it. If that means pre-flop raise to $20. Then do it. This should limit you to one or two callers. Even if you miss the flop, you have to look at your potential showdown value vs. theirs. But this also means you have to play much more snug. I think you are still raising in position with the usual pocket pairs, decent suited connectors, Suited aces, etc. You want to play against guys who are playing too wide ranges of hands.

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