Adjusting LP opening standards with loose players on your left

[GrandmaStabone]

Recently I have been making an effort to loosen up somewhat and (obviously) the best spots for this are in late position. I have been showing a lot of success (and also getting more action), by opening a lot of hands in the CO/BT (and to a lesser extent MP3) when it is folded to me. When I first started playing NL (coming from LHE), I avoided a lot of these spots because in LHE they were primarily blind steals, and I had heard several times that blind steals are somewhat trivial in NL. What I am realizing now is that a raise of this sort (even with a pretty medicore hand) is not intended soley to steal the blinds. IMO, raising fairly light in LP is profitable for four reasons:

1.) To steal the blinds
2.) for value, even with some of the more marginal holdings in my LP range stack up pretty well to the random holding from the blinds
3.) When I do get a call, I will have position most of the time and have a good shot at taking it down in position with a c-bet.
4.) Even though I am making these fairly light raises only in good position and I am not investing much with them, opponents will often get the impression that you are 'splashing around' and you will gat a lot more action on your big hands.

So a raise can be profitable for many reasons.

However, I have had a lot of trouble when the players on my left are loose and/or passive. If these players are tighter players, they are likely to fold a lot of marginal hands, many of which have me dominated. For instance, if I raise K9s in the CO, a logical SB is likely to fold KTo. Yet when these players are loose, they aren't folding these kinds of hands - so the profitability of the raise lower. Additionally, your c-bet is less likely to succeed; Meaning that you are going to have to either show weakness on the turn or fire a double barrell with a very marginal hand (and IMO the more you have to invest and the further the hand is likely to go when 'making a play' the less likely I am to make it, especially vs. a player who I have low folding equity against).

I am curious how you guys handle these types of situations, as they often confuse/frustrate me at the table. For me, there is a direct correlation to the VPIP of the players on my left and my opening requirments. The looser they are, the higher my standards are when raising light in LP (value raises are obviously unaffected, except that I am probably raising somewhat more when raising pf if I think they will call it).

So lets say the 3 players on your left are 34/10, 58/4 and 29/6 respectively, what are the lightest hands you will open (and why) from

1.) MP3
2.) CO
3.) BT
?

Now say the three players on your right are 16/6, 14/8 and 10/2 respectively, what are the lightest hands you would open (and why) from:

1.) MP3
2.) CO
3.) BT
?

I'm not saying that my ideas on this subject are correct, as I said these are spots I struggle with. I just wanted to lay out my thoughts on these situations and see whether I am on the right track.

[D.L.M.]

tldr. i really didnt. but i like to accually raist light when there are limpers rather than no on in that hand. that way i am accually stealing somthing. if you do that often you can either count on the whole table tightening up to make your reads more reliable or youll get players who want to play back(my favorite). then its time to change gears and collect the moneys. if no one is in the hand i only raise light from the button becuase i hate it when the button calls me and i have a weak hand oop. but if there are limpers the button will not like to call my knowing a limp rr is possible and the fact that my raise is usually larger with limpers.(forgive my poor writing ability)

[nation]

i mean, i agree with all your comments. i raise less when i have loose calling stations on my left because my cbets are a big % of my profits.

as for the questions about position/stats, i have really weird hand ranges as i get better position so i would say its either do i raise or don't i. the worst hands i would raise pf with in the first set is probably like kj, qt, any of the big cards really and some of the higher suited connectors.

[Isura]

"avoided a lot of these spots because in LHE they were primarily blind steals, and I had heard several times that blind steals are somewhat trivial in NL. "

GS,

This is incorrect. It is less important in full-ring than 6-max but playing in position aggressively and correctly contributes greatly to your winrate.

For the first case, I will tighten up considerably. Those stats are extremely loose for full-ring so my range from MP3
is something like: 22+, AJo+, JTs-54s, Axs. I will dump some of the suited connectors or suited aces if my image is shaky.

In the second case, you can open up more with big cards (which are good to play when you buy the button, but blow when you get callers behind you). So my range is something like 22+, A8o+, Axs+, JTs-54s, KJ+, QJ, J9s-64s.

This is from MP3, and I would slightly loosen up in the CO, and REALLY loosen up on the button. So against tight and poor blinds I'm opening close to 100% of hands on the button.

[los_toros]

I think adjusting to people who have adjusted their LP game is also a big deal. I feel like I'm getting floated a lot more often in a 3/6 or 5/10 game than at 2/4.