Hi all! This is Uri, Guerrilla Poker. What's new? I've just returned from Amsterdam, where we rested with the whole family. I really enjoyed it – a beautiful city and great weather! I sat down to record a new video for you and halfway through I realized that I was recording the wrong screen. It's a shame because a lot of interesting action is gone nw, but oh well, I'll start again, albeit a little tired. The idea behind this video is to only open preflop with limps, just for variety and fun, although this play also has useful value.
So, the condition is only limping and calling, I can't 3-bet. From a theoretical point of view, if you force the solver to play only limps, it turns out that it plays about the same hands as with raises, expanding just a little bit. However, most people are used to isolating limpers a lot more than they need to. So I plan to limp tight and play post flop, where people will make costly mistakes by misjudging my range. It's hard to blame them – most limpers wind up with a lot of garbage and play poorly postflop. True, I will play under my nickname, and not under an anonymous one, which, of course, would be more profitable. The session was all played on GGPoker.
In the first part, which was left behind the scenes, I won a lot of small pots. Often I've been up against the big blind, who plays with a wide range and usually folds to a min bet post-flop.
I think I can bet here even against two.
Bets 1bb, both opponents fold.
The opponent min raises over my limp. It's hard to resist a limp-reraise in this situation. He may know me and set a trap, but I can't help myself.
Reraises up to 9 bb. The opponent calls.
A very good flop for my limp reraise range. I'll start with a small bet.
Bet 6bb. The opponent folds.
By the terms I can't 3-bet (only limp-3-bet is allowed), and the hand is too weak to call, so I fold.
I play blind for blind. I check the flop and turn because the texture is good for the BB player. I'll bet one blind on the river in case he makes a mistake and folds.
Bets one blind. Villain calls with .
Wow – he didn't even raise!
As a reminder, we're playing with a pretty tight range, QTo is one of the weakest hands and doesn't need to be defended against a 5x raise. Throwing away QTo, we will not overfold.
Here I like both limp-calling and limp-3-betting, both possibilities are perfectly acceptable. I'll call.
Easy check-fold. As a reminder, I open tight and call raises tight, so my range is pretty tight and strong here.
You can also call or re-raise here. I think it's fun to play a limp squeeze, so let's do it.
Squeeze up to 14.9bb. Button calls, BB folds.
As I mentioned just recently, good texture for my range. Even though my hand isn't as good as last time, I'll still make a small bet.
Bet 11bb. Quick call
With KQo we should continue often enough when we have the king of clubs – Villain is less likely to have a flush draw.
Bet 30.6bb, quick fold.
Villain doesn't c-bet. You can check and bet with my hand.
Bets 4.2bb, Villain folds.
I think this hand is on the edge of a profitable call against a 3x raise. I'll call.
You need to mix call and raise. I'll put in a raise.
Reraises to 11.3bb. The opponent calls.
On the flop, he called instantly, without even thinking about a possible 3-bet. I guess that means I almost always have the best hand. Without information, I would have checked quite often, but now I like to bet big.
Bets 24.5bb, Villain folds.
Playing with the same guy again. Maybe he's a little angry – all the more reason to limp-3-bet.
Reraises to 16.4 bb. The opponent calls.
Great texture for my range and not bad for the hand.
Bet 11.3bb. The opponent calls.
AQo is mixed, but the second barrel is more often right.
Bet 32.4bb. The opponent calls.
Hmm. I'm not happy with this situation, but, apparently, we need to bluff.
Well, they hit the flush draw that arrived. Happens. I still like my line. According to the GTO, it is better to have a heart, of course, but in practice, even without it, the bluff is profitable, because people will overfold a lot. And against his hand on most of the turns and rivers, we were doing great. There is no reason to reconsider your strategy or be upset because of the lost stack!
Early raise, we call with A9s. It is necessary to bet against his check and large. We're in tight positions, so it's not like we're checking behind A9s to win a showdown.
The opponent calls.
I think it's a check.
Checks again and loses .
Against this hand, a bluff would probably work.
Villain over limped from the small blind and now check-raises. I call.
Ha ha! 38bb is an insane sizing! I see no reason to be stubborn – I'll fold it.
Limped with K7s, I bet a standard min bet against the blinds. My range here is much stronger than my opponents.
Opponents fold quickly.
I'll 3-bet smaller because he has a short stack.
Reraises up to 11bb. The opponent calls.
Against such a short stack, there is no reason to bet. I'll probably check twice and hope he bets on the river.
Didn't bite. You'll still have to do it yourself.
Bets 20bb, Villain quickly folds.
On a monotonous board, you really want to see an off-suit turn, so it's better to refrain from betting.
BB folds, Uri calls.
I like kings a lot more on this turn, and against Villain's sizing it's just the nuts. He literally tells me that my hand is stronger. If so, the pot should grow a bit.
Reraises to 8.8 bb. The opponent folds.
I think this is a very typical hand for limping strategy: opponents often play surprisingly straightforward, almost open cards.
Oh! I already forgot that this happens.
The room adds 10 bb to the pot, almost 12 bb in the pot, that is, in terms of depth, we are actually playing $8/$16. The player in first position makes a very small raise. You need to call them wide, but J4o is, of course, a fold.
Players in the BB fold all the time on the flop, so I try to check to the river with top pair and get at least something there. This, of course, is categorically not GTO, but the limper can afford not to play GTO.
Villain calls with .
Ha ha! It worked!
Uri limps in 1st position with 98s, middle player with a stack of about 60bb raises to 4bb, and everyone folds, including Uri.
And now for exactly the same limp we play postflop against the blinds.
A good combination for a bluff, so I'll bet one blind. Checking next is also not a mistake.
Both opponents call. Turn - . Two checks.
Well, it's still an unraised pot! Rival ranges are so wide! Lots of offsuit cards, much more than we're used to seeing in standard pots.
Bets 4.5bb into a 6bb pot. The small blind calls, the BB folds.
Well, let's bluff. Come on, fold it, I put it in two bets!
The opponent thinks for a long time and calls with .
Okay, I got it.
In terms of dead money, he is effectively limping. In such small stacks we can call or shove, this time I will shove.
Bets all-in. The opponent thinks for a long time and gives up.
Under the terms, I have no right to reraise if I didn’t limp before, so I will cold call.
Calls. The player in first position bets all-in, the next player folds.
Well, everything turned out great!
We went under a min-raise, then a squeeze and a call. Oh, how much dead money... I really want to shove. All-in doesn't print money, but I think it's +EV.
Pushing. The big blind thinks for a while and calls.
Oh, this is a very bad sign. With usually go straight away, and his timing is usually an overpair.
Button folds.
This DocofSpades is kicking me out of the pot with overbets for the third time! On this texture, overbetting is not very appropriate, but if opponents never slowplay trips, he will not be punished. And in general, a big bet does not mean that he is necessarily bluffing!
Fold it.
Good hand to play a limp squeeze!
Can be played in several ways. I'll try with a check.
The opponent checks next.
The opponent folds.
With a gutshot and a high backdoor diamond, this is definitely a call.
Opponent checks. I have to decide if I want to turn my hand into a bluff. I think not – king-high will beat bluffs often enough not to complicate the hand.
Something like this I was waiting for. It doesn't make much sense to bet on the river either, although it would be a shame to lose to a three of a kind.
OK, it's all over now. I don't know about you, but I was very entertained by all these limps. Such a game is refreshing, excites the imagination, and helps to look at standard situations from a different angle. When you get tired of the monotonous grind, I recommend occasionally playing such sessions just to force yourself to think and regain interest in what is happening.
