I almost missed an excellent question that came up during our coaching today.
Clawdel basically asked: "How should we change our range when players limp in front?" This is a very common scenario at micro-stakes so its important to answer. Lets consider one scenario:
I'm on the Button and two players limp in front of me. Which hands should I definitely raise against this action? also, Which hands should I limp?
$0.05/$0.1 Fixed-Limit Hold'em (7 handed)
Preflop: Hero is BU with ?x, ?x.
2 folds, MP3 calls, CO calls, Hero raises / Hero calls...
Basic Solution
Spoiler
When faced with a preflop decision we refer to our starting charts.
- The Basic chart says to Raise [99+, KQo, KQs, ATo+, ATs+].
- Calling or folding any of the above hands vs 2 limpers is a mistake.
- The Basic chart also says to Limp [88-22, JTo, QTo+, KTo+, A9s-A2s, K9s, 98s, 87s].
- Folding the above hands on the button vs 2 limpers is certainly a mistake.
Advanced Solution
Spoiler
"What should we raise:".
- First we ask, is our hand in the Open Raising Chart for our position?
- To decide, we would consult our charts and find that, had all players folded we would raise [22+, JTo+, QTo+, KTo+, ATo+, A2s+, K9s+, 98s and 87s].
- Second, Is our estimated equity greater than average equity against the action in front of us?
- To get average equity we divide 1 by the # of players. (1 divided by us and the 2 limpers). 1/3 is 33%.
- To get estimated equity we need to "GUESS" our equity against the players that limped in. Its an excellent skill to get very good at this guessing, but we know we need more than 33% equity.
- At 33% Average Equity and against two 40/5 players (vpip/pfr) we can raise for value with [44+, A2s+, K9s+, QTs+, JTs, ATo+, KTo+].
"What should we Call?"
- Here we ask "What is the Required Equity to call". at 3.2:1 immediate odds and 8:2 vs a raise it would seem like 20-25% is enough. But we still need to consider that the hand is not over. We may be investing on later streets. On the conservative side we can say hands with more than 30% equity are enough to call preflop vs two 40/5 limpers.
- At 30% Required Equity and against two 40/5 players (vpip/pfr) we can call profitably call with [33-22, K4s-K8s, Q8s-Q9s, T9s, 76s, K9o].
- NOTE: In both cases, as our opponents hand ranges change, our estimated equity changes for a given hand. As a result, the range of hands we can play for profit changes.
