08- 4-09, Clark Jensen:

Are Limp-Raises Always A-A?

I was playing in a tournament and the following happened: First position limped, there were two other limpers. I had KK on the button and raised 5 times the Big Blind hoping to look like I was stealing and maybe thin the field but get some action. The player in the first position re-raised to about 15BB, he was called by a limper in the middle. I was pretty scared that he had limp raised me with aces, but pushed anyways. He of course has AA. Should I have just called and seen the flop or simply folded? Do people commonly limp-raise with anything other than KK and AA?

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Thanks,

B

Hi Mr. B

In general it's hard to get away from kings and most of the times you shouldn't. If you're up against aces, well, tough luck. You just have to push all-in. In this situation, however, you could perhaps have gotten away from the cowboys - although the keyword here is "perhaps".

First of all you must try to figure out how good your opponent is. If he is a straightforward player, mostly playing the value of his starting hands, he will most likely have aces or kings just as you say. He doesn't care that you raised on the button. He planned a limp-raise and that is what he is going to do.

A more advanced player on the other hand may swallow your bait and make the limp-raise with a wider range of hands. I would say that the better the player, the greater the chance is that he is capable of limp-raising from under-the-gun with a smaller pair or perhaps a suited connector.

Another factor to consider is the amount of chips you have. If this was the first hand of the WSOP Main Event, your all-in is obviously only be called by aces. A call, or a smaller raise with the intention of folding against an all-in, sounds more sensible.

With smaller stacks compared to the blinds someone could try this move with, say, A-K, especially if your opponent thinks that you or any other player in late position won't stand a series of limps and will try to steal the pot.

 

What it boils down to is:

  • What do you think of your opponent?

  • What does your opponent think of you?

  • What does your opponent think that you think of him?

 

Folding kings is hard, but if your senses tell you to, you can lay them down a few times during your poker career. Was this one of those times? I let you be the judge there Mr. B.

 

Regards,
Clark Jensen
Learn Texas Holdem

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