Playing against the limp-reraise

[Dominic]

Say it's your typical SS NL game...lots of limpers, lots of all-ins with TPTK, etc.

If you're a decent poker player, you find a hand in MP or LP like AQ, you raise after one or two limpers, it goes around and gets reraised from one of those limpers - well, we're taught that warning bells should be going off - lots of sneaky players love to limp in with AA or KK and reraise a LP raiser, right?

Well, I'm finding that not be the case as much as you'd expect.

Instead, what I'm finding is that a lot of these limpers are limping in with small PPs...you raise, they assume you're raising with two big cards, so they reraise you - hell, it seems a lot of these players will even re-raise you all-in (if they're on a short-stack) with something as sketchy as 22!

How do you combat this play?

If they're on a stack that's bigger than mine or around the same amount, I call their re-raise and will bet any card over a 9 that flops - since they've got a small PP, all but the most aggressive of players will have to fold.

If they are on a small stack, my implied odds aren't great, so I put the re-raiser all-in. This way, I get to see all five cards for my money while not risking my whole stack.

These two strategies also protect you somewhat from a legitimate re-raising hand like a big PP:

Since you're just calling their re-raise in the first strategy, any strength they show on the flop is easy to get away from if you don't flop a piece of it. It's a little tricker if you do flop a piece, though - then you're just playing the opponent from that point on.

If you're up against a short-stack, put him all-in and he turns over AA - oh well - at least you get to see all five cards and not lose a big chunk of your stack.

What do you think?

[tbach24]

Get a big pair. A couple times when they have a smaller pair against your large pair, and they will stop doing this.

[flavaham]

[ QUOTE ]
What do you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the chick dancing next to your name is hot.

No, really, I like the strategy that you brought up. I'm having some trouble with players like this and that might be a good way to go. I do have a small problem going all-in pre-flop w/ AQ though. Is calling the limp/raise a bad play here?

The only other thing I can think of is if you know this player is capable of this kind of play and there are not a lot of people already in, maybe you should just limp as well. You might hit a big flop and your opponents might be less likely to put you on a big hand since you did not raise.
-g

[Dominic]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What do you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the chick dancing next to your name is hot.

No, really, I like the strategy that you brought up. I'm having some trouble with players like this and that might be a good way to go. I do have a small problem going all-in pre-flop w/ AQ though. Is calling the limp/raise a bad play here?

The only other thing I can think of is if you know this player is capable of this kind of play and there are not a lot of people already in, maybe you should just limp as well. You might hit a big flop and your opponents might be less likely to put you on a big hand since you did not raise.
-g

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm only going all-in with a hand like AQ if A) I feel the other guy is making the play with a small PP, and B) he's on a short stack. Otherwise, I'm just calling.

Obviously, the situation is also read-dependent. If you know your opponent well, there are other strategies that might be better.