$60s - lvl 1 - the limping revolution will not be televised

suzzer99 · #1 03-02-2006, 02:08 PM

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (8 handed) converter

BB (t1500)
UTG (t1490)
UTG+1 (t1340)
MP1 (t1470)
MP2 (t1910)
Hero (t3080)
Button (t1370)
SB (t1340)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, Hero?

Would anyone ever just limp here? I *know* this is against conventional wisdom, so I'm not really looking for "no" as an answer. I'd like to try to understand the *why* of the conventional wisdom if possible.

Also even with the new structure on PP, it's still like you get 50% more chips on PS. As the blinds on PP start at 20/40. Right? So this may be one of those PP/PS differences as well as a preference for playing SCs early. I like to. My game seems to do a lot better when I double up early. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] I treat lvl 1 like a deepstack MTT, lvl 2 a little less, lvl 3 not much at all. So maybe only people who play SCs lvl 1 should chime in. I dunno. Or you can try to convince my why you should never play 89s lvl 1. That's cool too.

Here's my thinking, the last thing I want is to start aggravating the blinds this early, nor do I care a whit about stealing the blinds, nor do I want to build a big pot that I have to try to take down. But I like this hand. It's pretty. Is limping just terrible here? If so please explain why. The best reason I can think of is that if you do hit, it's often hard to extract any money as the pot is so small. I'd like to hear more reasons.

psyduck · #2 03-02-2006, 02:10 PM

I would actually open to T60 here.

psyduck · #3 03-02-2006, 02:11 PM

It also doesn't really matter what you do with this hand.

suzzer99 · #4 03-02-2006, 02:15 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I would actually open to T60 here.

[/ QUOTE ]

open-limp?

MikeMcQ1 · #5 03-02-2006, 02:16 PM

I'll limp this a small percentage of the time, but given your big stack early, I might standard raise this puppy from the CO. How did you get that big stack? Is your image a good one, or a LAG one?

durron597 · #6 03-02-2006, 02:17 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I would actually open-raise to T60 here.

[/ QUOTE ]

I edited instead of just quoting for suzzer's benefit.

AnthonyV · #7 03-02-2006, 02:21 PM

early on (in PS format) if it's an unentered pot to me in the CO, i'm open-raising with a lot of hands to 3xBB, including 89s.

Gobgogbog · #8 03-02-2006, 02:21 PM

If you get to see your flop cheaply, it's going to be in a small pot, usually against 1 or 2 guys, one of which could have position on you and none of which were terribly thrilled with their hand preflop. I don't see you extracting when you hit there. Maybe you can make up your lack of implied odds when you hit by taking the small pot down when you miss, though.

When you have a limper in front of you, it's at least one guy you already know is interested in the pot and that you have position on.

suzzer99 · #9 03-02-2006, 02:27 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I'll limp this a small percentage of the time, but given your big stack early, I might standard raise this puppy from the CO. How did you get that big stack? Is your image a good one, or a LAG one?

[/ QUOTE ]

I flopped a set on the first hand. Villain had KQ for TP.

But my point about raising is I don't want to get the blinds all riled up and defensive now, thinking I'm picking on them for their measly chips, since I will want to be stealing from them later. I'll end up getting a spite push at BB150 because of some [censored] I started in lvl 1. A lot of these guys don't think "20 chips, let it go". They watch a lot of WPT and think you have the defend your blinds, no matter how small. Can't send a message that you're a wuss who won't defend.

Also I don't want the blinds, I want to stack someone. I hit a OE straight/backdoor flush draw, and villain is weakly betting his top pair, I have a decent chance to take a lot of his chips if I hit.

That's the thinking anyway.

To be honest my gut tells me there are a lot of things that can go wrong with facing 2-3 limpers in a small pot. I just really don't like raising there. Maybe I should just fold.

MikeMcQ1 · #10 03-02-2006, 02:37 PM

I think everything you said has some merit. There is going to be a lot of poker played so I wouldn't worry too much about pissing the people off to your left, especially when you are going to be playing a tight game.

By raising, however, I think you might be more likely to "stack" someone because a caller is going to have a decent hand that might pay you off handsomely when you do hit your hand. Whereas a blind is going to have to hit something unlikely.