UTG betting early on, 9 max, $6.50.

[sbarber]

OK, with most players left and blinds low I've been doing something like this:
JJ-, Axs, AT/AJ/KQ I've been limping, folding to big raises, no need to be 50/50 or worse at this level
QQ+, AQ+ betting 2.5 or 3BB, hoping to get all in when re-raises come, with the occasional call or fold to re-raises depending on situation

The limping is new to me (playing more cash games limping made me pretty sick to start with) working better than expected. You quite often get to see the flop without more bets and with the implied odds for your pockets or nut flushes, it cheaply adds chances to make big money early.

The raise scares people off too much. Not always, but enough to make me question that part of it, andd when called I can only extract money after the flop a few times, and end up OOP when I miss the flop.

A couple of questions:
Is this similar to what others do from UTG?
Is it too obvious, like if I hit a set, are people like "oh yeah, limp then bet/call/raise the flop, set!!!" Or if I bet a rags board after betting 3BB's, has to be an overpair.

Also, because I'm OOP, quite often I'm check/calling or check/raising when I've hit on the flop, does this sound reasonable? I'm getting a lot of wanted action this way so far, but want to know whether that's a good way to approach a flop UTG in SNG's.

[vers]

early on utg I am only limping like 22+, AQo+, anything less I think is kinda spewy

[sbarber]

So you do limp your monsters, QQ+?

[vers]

sorry I meant 22-99, AQo/s I limp, otherwise raise 3x-5x depending on what structure (4-5x on stars at 10/20 for example but 3x on other sites).

[asillars]

It depends on how aggresive the table is. If aggresive (lots of preflop raising) i will usually be folding small pocket pairs, limping middle pairs, and strongly betting high pairs. Will limp with small pairs on tight table, raise with any other pairs. Usually 3 blinds for middle pairs, 5 blinds with high pairs.

[vers]

varying the size of your opening ranges depending on strength of hands is a leak and is readable by good opponents (maybe there are none at 6.50s).

[asillars]

Yeah im guessing i would get slaughtered at bigger levels but at these levels it usually works out well. Though these are generalisations of my play and i do mix it up depending on blind levels.

[Takeover_inc]

I play very very tight utg in the first few levels. 77+ and AK+ and i usually limp 77-10s and raise 4bbs the rest.

Too many times you limp and get raised off of your hand, and even when you do get to see the flop your are oop against a ton of players with no information about there hands. Yes its fine when you flop a monster, but it doesn't happen enough to justify a lot of limping from utg for me.