Defense against aggro LAG who limp-calls + bets flop
 

How do you guys defend against very aggressive LAGs who often limp-call, and then come out betting about half-to-75% of pot whenever they hit something (a draw, any pair to an xy-hand etc), or just believe that you missed your AK/AQ?

I know a lose dude who will limp-call and bet any flop not including an Ace, in addition to the times when he gets any piece of the flop. He only bets half-to-75% of pot. He claims he is making a nice profit doing this with all small-med pps, suited connectors and Axs, since there is no good defense.

That got me thinking about the situation.

Clearly, he is hitting on the missed AK/AQ opening hands with these steals. My best estimate is that when this occurs, he’ll be weak at least 85% of the time (with low pairs facing overcards, or just nothing).

Only counter I’ve come up with is to play back with a mini-raise on any value (obviously) such as decent pps or AK/AQ which hit the K/Q or a good draw.
And to also mini-reraise with all the missed opening hands.

Rationale:
Suppose bet preflop is R1; then pot is 2*R1 + blinds.
Flop-bet: 75% = 1.5R1.
MiniReraise = 3R1
Also, miniraise puts some pressure on without escalating the pot out of control with a marginal holding.


If the dude folds the weak 85%, and calls/pushes with the strong 15% and you fold - you’ll be +Ev on the missed AK/AQ as well.

Any thoughts on the above?
Agree? If disagree - please suggest better defense!

Cheers,
jaxz

Re: Defense against aggro LAG who limp-calls + bets flop
 

i use the same defense.. i guess next to min-raise theres goin over the top hard haha. i dont know. i do whatever i can to slow them down and if their really runing me over. i just avoid them

Re: Defense against aggro LAG who limp-calls + bets flop
 

OK!
But surely, the very aggressive move by the limp-caller has to be -EV?

I mean, at least half the time he'll be up against an overpair (assuming my preflop opening standrards), and when there's the AK/AQ/AJs miss, I'll probably be drawing to about 6 outs on average (including my back-doors, and 4-flushes).

The cost to always come out betting the flop against a likely miss must greatly reduce the overall profit to be made with hit pps.

Any other thoughts on this matter?

Cheers,
jaxz

Re: Defense against aggro LAG who limp-calls + bets flop
 

Sounds like a delayed bluff might be the perfect weapon against this type of opponent. If he's very observant you could check/call some of the flops you hit for value and to mix things up too. The problem I see with min-raises is that it's basically nothing more than a continuation bet and once he realizes this he will start calling you down and you're back to square one.