Quote:
Originally Posted by longspring
I think the softwares always raise first in because that's how they programmed it, as an abstraction and simplification of the full NLHE game.
I don't think they gave the option to the simulators to limp first in. (except in heads up)
I don't think is true. With Snowie, for example, the "bots" were allowed to randomly pick from several options: fold, call (i.e. limp), open 1/4p, 1/2p pot, 1x pot, or 2x pot, and then simulations were run over billions of hands until the approximate EV of each option was established.
Through trial and error, Snowie learned that playable hands from UTG-BTN had a higher EV by raising first in, and open-limping appeared to be a dominated strategy, so it stopped doing it. (Some hands are +EV as limps, but raising them has an even higher EV). In the small blind, however, Snowie found that limping
can have a higher EV than raising.
Something similar happened with Cepheus (the FLH bot), although that played heads up. It was allowed to limp, raise or fold pre, and very occasionally it chose to limp.