Shallow money, multiway action

[Pensive Gerbil]

While this issue is more frequently relevant to tournament play, I would like to explore it in the context of a ring game to avoid the extra complicating variables of tournament play. Suppose your stack is 10x the big blind, you are a favorite in the game, and you are not able to buy more chips for whatever reason. It is a loose-passive game in which 5-7 players usually see the flop in unraised pots, and a standard raise of 2 to 4 times the BB is likely to be called in a few spots (and even large all-in raises are often called). Let's also say that about 65% of pots are not raised preflop, 25% are raised a standard amount, and 10% have someone moving in for a large amount. Assuming the opponents are not particularly observant, I would think that only very premium hands (AK, QQ-AA) would be worth raising in potentially multiway pots. Agree? What are the weakest hands with which it might be profitable to limp in this situation? What are the weakest hands with which you would consider calling a standard raise?

EXTRA CREDIT: Would your advice change if this were a tournament, you were not close to the money, and the blinds were doubling every 10 minutes?

Regards,

PG

[The Next WSOP Winner]

The fun thing about loose passive games is that you can often play a lot more drawing hands like suited connectors hoping to make a big hand since you know you'll be able to see your draws for cheap, and they'll pay you your implied odds when you make your hand. I wouldn't necessarily only be raising premium hands, but looking to get in cheap preflop with a number of holdings (especially from position) and looking to outplay opponents after the flop defines hands a la Mike Caro.

[Pensive Gerbil]

I'm not sure whether you grasped the point of my inquiry. Would you still try to limp with small suited connectors if your stack was 5x the big blind? 2x? Where is the cutoff?

-PG

[The Next WSOP Winner]

I would say that if you only have 4x - 6x bb, you are in push or fold mode. Your stack is in trouble at this point, and you want to be aggressive fire away with weaker hands. This means moving in with anything from premium hands to suited connectors, any pair, any two face cards, and any ace. You want to be the first one in moving in with some of these hands, and not a caller.

[radioheadfan]

You're hypothetical situation sounds alot like the Foxwoods Act I and Act II one-table satellite tourneys - and those definitely become push or fold when you're stack is in the 6-10 BB range IMO. At the 10 BB range you might limp with a suited connector from the button - but do it ten times and you're out of the tourney.