Some general preflop-stuff NLTRN
 

In my day-life, I'm a 6max limit player. I've taken up NL HU SnGs just very recently, which is quite daring as I'm far from stellar in HU play, pretty bad in SnG play in general and outright suck at NL.

Still, going from my limit background, I think I have a realtively decent understanding of how blindsteals work and what the balancing forces are between fold-equity/hand strengh/dead money.

So, going from what I'd usually do in a 6max blindsteal situation, I'd guess my opening ranges are relatively ok and I think I'm adapting fine towards the particular players tendencies (i.e. steal-raising less vs. 80/2/0.7 I-call-everything's, rasing more vs. tighter players)

What I have difficulties are

- limping when otb

- calling raises

Taking those one at a time.

Limping: I understand that vs. above 80/2/0.7 players, a lot of hands are profitable, but probably don't play too well in big pots. Namely many suited trash like T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] or offsuit-stuff like K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. Also many small SCs and probably the middleish offsuit connectors like 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
SHOULD I be limping them? What's the rationale behind that? Even though I give villain infinite odds, my hand still figures to be better than his and plays better in small-middle pots?
Besides that, doesn't stacksize play a role in that? I.e. I could imagine 54s to be profitable vs. such players, but most of the time we won't be particularily deep (seeing that even on the 2nd level, if we still have roughly even stacks, we only have 50bb behind and I would assume that most of the value of small SCs is the expensive river bets - which I won't be able to collect very often). And esp. how does that change in the later levels where either me or vill usually has something like 20-40 bb?
Well, I'm somewhat lost there (i.e. how stacksizes figure vs. hand strenght). I've watched some NL vids and if someone limps with 67o or similar he's making a comment like "We're both deep so it's ok to play this in this particular situation". Well, in HUSnG's, you're usually NEVER deepstacked...

Calling raises: Here I'm just about completely lost and go by gut feeling most of the time. Again, I think know from LHE6max what a good defence-hand is, so I don't think I call the WRONG hands. Though, I'm not sure about it. For example, in LHE, K7o is a no-brainer call vs. a steal. However, I usually can limit my losses to 3.5bb overall - something that's obv. not as easy in NL. So taking into account that by definition I'll end up with more marginal hands if I call with sub-premium hands, how do I adapt to the fact that kicker-problems can become a lot more expensive in NL than in limit?
Besides that, I have not clue as to how big a raise I should generally call and how the equity calculations should look like I SHOULD be doing. So assume I have K7o and villain (50/35/3 openes to 3xbb [2xbb; 4xbb; 10xbb]). Can I call an if so, why? What if villain always raises to more than 3bb? Should I adapt ranges or simply be willing to play for bigger pots (this is assuming the same range - say a 50/30/3 who standardly openes for 3bb, vs. some 50/30/3 who makes it 5bb).

If vill. minraises - I get 3:1. If I have suited trash, I need 5:1 to profitably call. Considering implied odds, I should be calling any suited to a minraise? What about offsuit connectors? ATC?

I know this stuff is somewhat general - but please give it a shot. I guess what I need is some succinct answer as to how to adapt from limit-hot'n'cold equity thinking pf to NL pf-thinking and adapt that to the specifics (smaller stack sizes than cash-game) of SnG's. Easy, right? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Thanks if you can give me a push in the right direction. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Some general preflop-stuff
 

Position is going to matter a ton in your preflop decisionmaking.

Calling almost no raises from the BB is fine if he's raising over 3x. Even at 3x, you can fold a lot of hands for the most part OOP.

As far as the button, you probably want to raise no less than 35% of your hands on the button, and probably around 40-45% total, at least in the lower blind levels.

You should worry more about pot odds preflop when the blinds are higher or in a 3-bet situation. For the most part you can call a minraise in any position preflop with any two cards. You can call a minraise on the button with any two IMO.

Hands HU are not very far off one another as far as PF equity goes and the edge and position that you have on your opponent on the button make up for the few times you're not getting pot odds on minraises.

Generally you can limp hands like "big-littles." K3o, Q4o, T3, etc. type hands on the button. Most of the time players will either almost never raise OOP when you limp, or will raise too much. You can limp anything you don't want to raise on the button if the first is true, if the latter is true then you wait for a good PP and limp-raise them. Try to mix in a limp or two with [censored] cards as well so it isn't suspicious.

This stuff is pretty player dependent, these are just some very general strategies that you can follow for now.

I'll add/refute/agree with some other stuff as other people post.

Re: Some general preflop-stuff
 

Ok, thanks.

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Generally you can limp hands like "big-littles." K3o, Q4o, T3, etc. type hands on the button. Most of the time players will either almost never raise OOP when you limp, or will raise too much. You can limp anything you don't want to raise on the button if the first is true...

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Stove tells me that K3o is a 51/49 fav. over a random hand, T3o a 47/53 dog. So I assume it's the general idea that I want to play a lot of pots with villain if I assume I have a postflop edge, rather than definite equity considerations?

Re: Some general preflop-stuff
 

play a lot of pots in position

Re: Some general preflop-stuff
 

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...SHOULD I be limping them?

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If the villain is passive and calls too much you might limp hoping to flop big

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What's the rationale behind that?

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3-to-1 odds + you have a position on later streets

Re: Some general preflop-stuff
 

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What's the rationale behind that?

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3-to-1 odds + you have a position on later streets

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And I assume those are good odds? I'm perfectly aware that I'm just documenting my ignorance of the most basic NL knowledge, but in Limit, 3:1 wouldn't exactly be seen as stellar odds.

In limit, it's easy: If I get 5:1, I can call because with any two suited (and slightly less but similar with unsuited connectors), I'm 1:5 to flop 2pr+ or a FD.

Here, am I just assuming I make up the rest as implied odds?

Re: Some general preflop-stuff
 

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play a lot of pots in position

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lol Sometimes it's that easy to put into words. Thanks. (seriously)

Re: Some general preflop-stuff
 

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What's the rationale behind that?

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3-to-1 odds + you have a position on later streets

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And I assume those are good odds? I'm perfectly aware that I'm just documenting my ignorance of the most basic NL knowledge, but in Limit, 3:1 wouldn't exactly be seen as stellar odds.

In limit, it's easy: If I get 5:1, I can call because with any two suited (and slightly less but similar with unsuited connectors), I'm 1:5 to flop 2pr+ or a FD.

Here, am I just assuming I make up the rest as implied odds?

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3-to-1 is fine but the most important part is *position*. Dan Harrington described HU as 'fight between unpaired cards'. Since both of you will miss most of the time you really want to be last to act and see what he does.

Re: Some general preflop-stuff
 

sorry for being an idiot but the abbreviation NLTRN is on the topics list like 20 times, what is it? No Limit TouRNament?

also what is 50/35/3 and 80/2/0.7 mean?

Re: Some general preflop-stuff
 

[ QUOTE ]
sorry for being an idiot but the abbreviation NLTRN is on the topics list like 20 times, what is it? No Limit TouRNament?

also what is 50/35/3 and 80/2/0.7 mean?

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NL = no-limit
LIM = limit
TRN = tournament
CASH = cash (ldo)