SSLHE

The HJ open limps, A Tag raises the button, What do you do with these? I am in the SB. The BB is tight.

1) Qh9h
2) QsTc
3) 77's
4) As6s
5) As9c
6) 6h7h

Fold
Fold
3!
Fold
Fold
........sometimes fold sometimes 3! depending on live read

Wow, I couldn't disagree with Crispix more. I would not fold any of these hands. How to play them (call vs 3b) is probably open to debate.

I'm definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to LHE but just wondering why you would consider so many hands where you seem to be pretty dominated against a tag button. Also in the worst position possible.

I start from the baseline that none of these would be folds at equilibrium against a button open. So, then the question is whether we should deviate from that on account of (a) the button being a "TAG" and (b) the presence of a limper.

We don't need to deviate on account of the button being a TAG because we know that a GTO preflop strategy will not lose to any counter strategy. And without knowing more, I'm not really inclined to try to make exploitative adjustments based on the "TAG" moniker. Optimal preflop play is pretty TAGgy, so we don't know how much tighter, if any, this player is versus a GTO preflop strategy, especially on the button in particular. Nor do we really know postflop tendencies. So, I'm not going to risk substantial deviations based on button being a TAG.

As for the HJ limp, it's usually a weak range, but more importantly, it really pads our odds. We're likely getting like 4:1 on a cold call here. And position is a lot less important in a multiway LHE pot than it is in NLH. People just can't do that much to you. Like, it checks to the button and he gets to put in a bet against which you'll be getting 8:1 immediate odds. Terrifying.

If it’s a true tag button then he should be opening pretty wide from the button after someone limps in. And we should want to play a lot of pots against someone who limps in from HJ.

Usually I think I would call the suited hands and fold the offsuit ones. The 77 I might reraise, especially if I think it may cause the BB or the limper to fold.

I’d fold that A9

I fold A9o and would call with all the suited hands. I would probably 3bet the 77, though it's close. The relevant variables are: (a) how tight the BB plays; and (b) how foldy HJ and BTN tend to be post flop.

This.
Playing otherwise just had variance .
Far from convince u actually increase profitability at all by playing the folded hands .

I might play it if u add 1 or 2 players more .
Those kind of hands vs tag , potentially ending up 3 way OOP seem pretty bad to me .
It would be much better if we had the button for many reason tho I wouldn’t call all of them on the button still l, but would more then 77.

Nits, all of you! We want to play more pots with bad players, and invite variance. And in a modern LHE environment, we don't want to be perceived as nits. Even if these hands were breakeven (and I think they're better than break even unless we play lolbad), there's good reason to play them.

Fwiw vast amount of money I do is because I get a lot of « free » uncontested pots .
It’s hard to extract money from TAG, much easier vs LaG or maniac shrug .

But yes if u are a pro u can play more hands , like I said it just adds variance with a slivers of value IF u really are that much better then your opposition.
But again u are OOP probably missing some value in the hand in the majority of hand too.

If someone has any sort of data base and play those hands ( beside77) I invite them to tell us how great value those hands are really in that particular spot in the SB …

I was talking about about metagame considerations w/r/t not being seen as a nit. I want bad players to want to play with me and to play longer sessions with me. There's obviously limits to how splashy I can be in service of such an end, but hands like this are easy fodder.

it seems quite odd to me that you want to cap hands vs strong ranges but then fold hands in the small blind vs wider ranges.

I think this really depends on the specific players in general.

I'll put it like this. If I were up against a random 8-16 or 20-40 player, I would play 77, 67s, and JTs exactly the same(under the conditions presented above). If I were playing against a bunch of 2+2ers, I would add in A6s, A9o as playable in SB.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of playing our local California Elephant and he sat on my right. If he were to open CO or BUT, I would slam dunk raise A8s and 66.

I wonder what is more profitable, bring seen as a nit but can play LAG in some sorts....or

Being seen as a LAGTAG but you always have to prove the hand you are repping....

I find it hard to believe that the bad players are sticking around longer because you choose to play a few extra hands to keep them happy. I think bad players just do what they do. Unless you are mistreating them I don't think how you play makes much of a difference. There are usually a few other players who naturally provide the action needed.

Is anybody calling with worse hands here?

A9o is weird because I feel like 3 betting this but I would hate to play this MW OOP. It would be gross if the BB called. I usually just fold it. I could be talked into calling since a lot has changed since I first read HFAP.

77's seems to be the point where I would consider a 3 bet. I would always three bet 88's+

The rest of these seem like reasonable calls. QTo feels a little sketch but is probably fine.

Bad and very loose aggressive pre and post player open limps UTG...He likes to donk the flop with all kinds of stuff. , It's folded to a solid TAG who raises in the LJ. I am next to act. The pots have usually been ending up 4-6 way. The final pots have been huge due to a lot of action and a lot of chasers. The TAG will often check the flop it it's MW and he missed. The BB plays every hand. The CO and Button are TAG/Fish/Regs.

I have 9s7s.

This depends on a fair number of things, including the size of your market. And I think the LHE market is probably shrinking every year everywhere. But at least for now, sure, if you play in like L.A. it probably matters close to none and my experience in Vegas is that those misregs will show up no matter how bad the game is, and tourists came to play so what choice do they have?

But in smaller markets, my experience tells me that there are definitely bad players, some of whom are substantial losers, who care a lot about playing in a fun, social game. And after they lose their initial buyin, their willingness to turn a 2-3 rack night into a 4-6 rack night depends on whether they are having fun. And whether they come back the next week or take a break from poker after a bad night is also informed by whether they had fun.

Nobody has fun in a game that they perceive as being full of antisocial nits. It's a bit better of you're a social nit. Yes, you can rely on other people giving action and being social, but it's a tragedy of the commons type situation, and I'd rather be part of the solution than part of the problem.

Again, my point is not about how one's image impacts their EV in individual hands. It's about generating substantially more EV overall for yourself by cultivating a better game.

FWIW, in LHE I also happen to think a looser image is better for strategic reasons, but it's not part of my argument.

I'd call with some worse hands but not a ton of them.

I think this is a slamdunk fold. We don't know this is going to end up multiway for two bets, and this could easily be a l/rr from the maniac and we're going to end up in a capped pot. If this is going to be a big multiway pot, we gobble up equity in those by having big, nutty draws, not middling ones. It really does matter that a lot of the time we're up against a better flush draw and other scenarios where our odds are far worse than they appear.

I fold. Our absolute and relative position is not great and the players don’t play passively enough post to justify a loose call.