Unorthodox pre-flop betting strategy. Will it work or hurt me?

[DougI]

Hi,

I wanted to get some opinions on a theory I have that is nothing like what is considered normal pre-flop betting strategy.
I'm quickly becoming an intermediate player online, and recently got neighbors together for a weekly HL holdem game with .25/.50 blinds.
The problem I have encountered is that my neighbors are novices who play loose and call almost everything to the river. You would think I could make money on these guys, but they are so erradic, I'm having a hard time adapting.

However, for the last several weeks, one pattern of play is constant, and I want to know if I could use this to my advantage, even though it would normally be considered poor play by most poker players...

I noticed that in our 6 player NL home game, almost nobody (except myself, of course) ever raises beyond the initial big blind bet during pre-flop, and they rarely fold their hole cards pre-flop. All these players are under the assumption that it is always worth looking at the flop before considering to stay in the game.
Now I know that this is poor play, but given this fact, is it safe to say that I should consider limping in from any position (except maybe 1st) with almost any nominal hand also (i.e. play preflop hands like 2-3, 4-5, A-<anything>, 10-2,J-2,Q-2,K-2, etc.), if I am certain I will not be raised during pre-flop?
After all, with 6 players playing to the flop always, my pot odds would be 6:1 every round of play. Isn't it worth it for me to use this strategy and then get out if the flop doesn't at least pair me up with something? Is 6:1 odds too little to make a difference in value?
Until they start learning how to play better, I am under the belief that I might win a few more hands if I limp in along with everyone else. Of course, I'll raise when I have decent pre-flop cards, and fold immediately if nothing strong develops.

What are you thoughts on how I might win some more hands given this evident pattern of betting during pre-flop.


Doug

[PITTM]

there are pleeeeeanty of people who play in games like this and the long term profitability will still be much better if you just have better starting hand selection, that simple. and why arent YOU raising preflop with the best hand? even though your pot odds are 6:1 why not fold the crappy hands and go into situations where you think you have a better than 6:1 shot?

rj

[papawawa]

yeah, you hit on a very valid conventional fact: limping in NL is completely legit. Ideally you should be limping with about one third of your starting hands. The reason that this can be profitable in NL is that your implied odds go throught he roof.

[benfranklin]

Normally you wouldn't play a marginal drawing hand UTG that you would play on the button under the right conditions. The drawing hand plays best with a multiway pot and with seeing the flop cheaply (no raises). Since you know there will be no raise and the pot will be multiway, many of your reasons to fold UTG are gone. There is still the potential problem of playing out of position, but this is probably minimized in a game like this.

I'd loosen up my starting hand requirements a little at a time. Don't play rags, but if you are in EP and have a hand you would play in LP, go ahead and play it.