The limp-reraise: +EV?
I have been struggling with this question for many moons. Personally, I rarely ever limp. If I am the first person into a pot, I am raising 99% of the time. By raising every time I enter a pot, my opponents have a bigger problem trying to figure out where I’m at preflop. However, at the micro limits I play at, I don’t think the other players are overly observant about my tendencies. I have been contemplating whether or not to implement some limp-reraising into my game. However, I’m not convinced it is a positive EV play. In micro limits, an open limp usually sets off an epidemic of other limpers. Very rarely will another player raise if he can see a flop for cheap with many other players already having limped (This is another area where I differ from the usual micro-donk. If there are a number of limpers in front of me and I have a hand worth limping, I am going to raise almost every time. I suppose that makes me susceptible to the limp-reraise).This is where the problem lies in limp-reraising. If I limp with a big hand (AA or KK) and it gets limped around, I am seeing a flop against three or four other players and I have no idea where I’m at in the hand. As the adage goes, “Never go broke in a limped pot.” If there is no raise behind me before the flop, I really have to tread lightly on the flop and my attempt at building a big pot with a big hand has deteriorated into an exercise in caution.
Aces are a bummer to play post flop with multiple opponents. The obvious upside is that if someone raises behind, my reraise might look like a resteal, inducing a reraise from the initial raiser (what a convoluted sentence!). My problem is that rarely happens in micro limits. I would love to hear some opinions about whether the limp reraises is something that can legitimately work at the stakes I play. This is clearly a very player-dependent question. If I am at the table with a player such as myself who will often raise multiple limpers, it is certainly +EV to limp-reraise with a big hand. However, as previously stated, there are very few players willing to put in a preflop raise big enough to drive out multiple limpers.Lets say for instance a limp-reraise will work as planned about once every five times. The four times there is no raise after my limp, I am seeing a flop in which I have trouble knowing where I am at in the hand. The one time it works, there is no guarantee I will stack my opponent. AA and KK should be very profitable but by limping I am risking having lay it down post flop when I would have built a bigger pot and would have gained more knowledge by raising preflop. With this in mind, I revert back to the original question: is it a +EV play? Is the one time I stack an opponent worth the other times that I have to ditch the hand? Here is one example of the limp-reraise paying off in a recent session. I was playing five-handed NLHE at the .05/.10 level on Full Tilt. I had AhAc in second position. UTG folded and I called the big blind, fully intending to reraise. The player to my immediate left raised to .45. It folded around to me and I made it 1.10. He threw me for a little bit of a loop by just cold-calling (I was expecting either a fold or shove since he had only 3.80 behind). The flop came 3h 2s Td, a beautiful flop for AA. I bet 1.50 and he called. With no draws, I am thinking maybe something like nines or jacks. The turn was a queen of diamonds, somewhat concerning because QQ makes a set and it also brought backdoor diamonds into the equation. However, he had only 1.65 behind so the money was going in anyway. I put him in and he called with AJo for a gutshot with one to come. The river was a deuce and I stacked him for 4.25 total. He played the hand pretty atrociously after the flop but there are a number of players like that at micro limits (I may very well be one of them). If I’m at a table of players willing to go broke with AJo, the limp-reraise is obviously +EV. Unfortunately, there are plenty of competent micro players. I look forward to reading your opinions!
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I think you answer your own question here, you just need to take the next step and figure out how often they are stacking off.
I’ve never played .05/.10 but I would think that if an opponent or two are calling your raise then just raise with it. If an opponent behind likes to reraise w/AQ or 99 then just raise with it. If you limp/reraise and always get folds then limp/reraise with junkier hands.
When you say that you almost always raise after limpers, does this mean that you raise 78s after several limpers? I think you’re at more of an advantage to see a cheap flop there.