These are 2 hands I played and always wondered abt. O8/S8/Razz are my best games but LHE is my weakest game in the rotation and have trouble with 3/4b spots.

1st hand

Limits 400/800

Hero 8k from 4.5k starting in BB~image probably tightish but still pretty early and just been playing solid.
HJ is Chris Tryba and he raises, BTN is baddish but running like the wind and 3b.

SB Folds. Hero has TT. Both cover though less important in LHE.


2nd hand

Orbit later and Hero in SB

CO is bad player raises, BTN flats and Hero has 66.


1 is the more interesting spot to me. I assume hand 2 is a fairly easy fold??

Hand 1 - run the 4b-n-go. Chris is a LAG and you're crushing both their ranges. Folding and calling are awful.

Hand 2 - ez fold in this spot, a bit closer in a cash game but still usually a fold.

Might get more/better answers posting in HSLHE

1 if BTN is aggro bad I prefer flatting pre planning to iso-raise his cbet a lot. I assume HJ is folding very little pre, if he does fold a decent % of his range then cap

Flat 2

if you're hj and bb cold 4bets you flat qjs? dont really know limit that well but it seems like cap 1 fold 2 are your best options, though w 77 in hand 2 maybe 3betting is better? certainly seems so with 88 esp if co is bad though im not sure how effective overflatting is.

HJ is getting 5.3-1 and should/will usually call. I would never expect him to fold QJs.

If HJ had limped, then he should fold almost all of his range to a cold 3-bet not closing the action.

Cap 1 call 2 if stack sizes aren't relevant, but in a tourney you could make a case for coldcalling the first one. I think TT is too strong to do it though so it's definitely a cap. Second one if stack sizes are anything reasonably deep I'd call all day. You're getting a good price already to proceed with 66 on a favorable board for you. Even if BB calls you can just play boards where you make (set; straight draw; second pair) profitably. I'm shocked you fold here, Devo.

And if we cap first one, HJ should fold more hands than he is likely doing. I'd never fold a pocket pair but I would definitely fold AT and I think probably AJ would be a fold against the right players. Prob not folding KQ. Call anything suited though.

I love limit threads.

I assume Hand 1 is really easy cap it , your hand is crushing their opening / 3betting range pretty hard


Hand 2 is tho bit tricky. Its really close between folding > 3betting > flatting. I would probably fold it tho , since our hand is a bit too weak still.

Hand 1 is a very easy 4-bet. Hand 2 is interesting, what is your stack and blinds in Hand 2?

LHE is just hard for me.

I cap Hand 1 and both call. Flop AQx. I check Action goes bet, raise, i fold.

Gobbo what is your threshold for a 4b here...you 4b 88? What abt AQ?

Hand 2 I only started hand with like 7k and folded pre. Some of my peeps thought it was a flat but I just felt like I was folding so many flops.

I'd bet/fold hand 1 planning to bet turn if I get called and c/f river. You're getting a massive price that neither one has an ace. Depends on the players/game flow but when I have 5 big bets it changes things a lot. This is less a limit holdem question and more a tournament/stack size question since that really determines everything here.

In cash games the solution is pretty much as simple as can be. In this spot, folding hand 2 is definitely best. The edge is clear but small by calling and you can find better spots easily.

TT has to be the bottom hand you cap right? what u do with 99? if btn is baddish i assume HJ almost never folds

ud never fold a pocket pair but you'd be open folding like 22-44 right? if aj could be a fold how is kq more of a call?

also not really convinced you should be betting flop w tt as gobbo suggests if you're not going to bet 3 streets to fold a queen, which seems ambitious in and of itself(lol limit, lol pot odds). maybe im just not imagining ranges correctly or just not accounting for how god of a price you are getting to win the pot without showdown.

Gobbo is right. You don't understand limit. If you 4-bet preflop, there are 12.5 small bets in the pot. You are only risking 1 bet to take it down. Against 1 caller on the turn, you are risking 1 big bet to win a 7.25 big bet pot. You are also often ahead. C/f flop would be terrible, for one thing, you improve to set on turn 1/23rd of the time. Think folding to a raise and firing the turn if called, c/f river unimproved is standard.

If you're planning on betting flop and turn you're risking 1.5 bb's to win the 6.5 bb's in the pot. Look at ranges and see how often someone has something that can call two streets. I say two streets because someone can easily peel the flop with a hand like KJ to see if they improve but they're never calling the turn. The flop bet is not an attempt to get them to fold better; it's to protect against getting bluffed and to protect our hand. If they happen to fold JJ or KK or a queen it'd be a nice side effect.

My opening range in the HJ with plenty of chips in a limit tournament would be any pair, A5+ A2s+ K5s+ K9o+ 54s+ and any two broadway. I'd call the 4b with any two suited any pair AQ+ KQ. KQ is significantly better in this spot because it's easy for people to make the assumption they would have to call down with ace high when it's a trivial fold a lot of times on a lot of boards and KQ doesn't have nearly as high reverse implied odds when you have nothing. It also makes more straights and better top pair hands and if you even want you can still bluffraise ace high flops which most people will bet/fold too many hands on.

My capping range in the BB could be super wide here depending on how wide I think button is. If HJ and button are both capable of getting out of line I may cap ATs AJ KQs 88+. If my stack were deeper I'd coldcall almost any pair, 98s+.