How would you all play your premium hands, suited connectors, and lower pocket pairs, when preflop raise sizes are 5x-8x regularly, with many callers?

Ultimately, I am trying to minimize leaks in these type of games with substantial initial raises.

A background info:

Full ring, live game. Raises are typically in the 5x-8x range. A raise to 5x will likely result in 6 callers. A raise to 8x will likely result in 2-4 callers, occasionally more. About 1/3 of these calls stations are a little more aggressive, the other 2/3s are more likely to bet based on their hands postflop.

For this, lets assume I am in mid-late position in all these situations.

How would you play a premium hand like AK or AQ offsuit in this type of game, if everyone called the blind, and you know if you raise to 8x you will most likely have at least 3 to for people chasing? Should I instead raise to 12x in this case?

How would you play the suited connectors in this position, when someone raises to 7x-8x, and lets say, there are 4 other callers?

How about small pocket pairs with raises to 7x-8x with only 3-4 callers?



The most premium hands are easy to play in this situation, since the pot just needs to be hammered. But how would you guys minimize leaks in this type of game?

Thanks

sounds like your great/standard llsnl game where your opponents are calling with way too much pre flop. way to print money is to wait for premium hands, big pps and hands that can make tp type hands otf and value bet relentlessly.

you should constantly be adjusting your pre flop raise sizing to table dynamics. if 8x is getting 3-4 callers, then i'd probably begin opening my premium hands to 10-12x, or whatever gets it HU/3way to the flop.

I'd recommend just opening your premium hands and trying to see flops for cheap with your marginal hands like mid pps and scs. no use raising these, even in position, if you are very likely going to get in a bloated pot with little fe.

there are times you could open up your game ip if you can successfully iso some loose pre flop callers who play fit or fold post flop, and just cbet take it down frequently, but for the most part i'd avoid raising with marginal hands at these tables.

If you are late in position with the small pp or suited connectors, and a guy out in center field throws in a 6x-8x raise...how at what point do you think calling this bet is a good move, assuming everyone has a full buy in and equal stacks?

this is all dependent on your implied odds post flop.

some simple cookie cutter rules you can use when deciding whether or not it is profitable to call strictly for the purpose of hitting your hand and getting paid is comparing the original raisers stack size in relation to the size of their raise.

to be safe, you normally want your opponent to have about 15x the size of their raise in their stack to profitably set mine with pps and scs (some ppl will say 12x is good enough, but i'd say stick to 15x to be safe for now).

so if an opponent opens to 8x with a 100bb stack, you technically are not getting the right odds to set mine. this is not the only thing you have to consider, but its a good starting point when considering whether you have the correct odds to call to make up for all the times you miss and have to fold, and the times you hit your hand and don't get paid off.

you also have to consider who it is making this raise and whether or not it is going to go multiway to the flop. if there is a good chance that two or three other opponents are calling pre, then you can be more lenient when making these calls ip since your implied odds will improve post flop.

your implied odds also go down if a solid lag is the one making the raise, for example, since it is much less likely you will get paid off when you hit your hand, since they are opening with a much wider range of hands. if a nit is only opening with QQs+ and AK, you have a much better chance of stacking them when you hit your set.

I think a lot of that answer depends on do you have position, his prior aggression history (also his range here) and his tendencies post flop - obvious that a broad answer but I'll give some examples.

Easy response is if he likes to just do that with big pp or hands like a-k then I would call and prey to flop a set, or whatever non-sense I have in my hand

However, and I assume this is what you mean, if its more random there a probably a few tendencies you want to try to pick up on

1) His post flop behavior - Does he c-bet a lot? Does he slow down when he misses? Is he easy to move off his hand
Ex: I was in a game last night where the guy in the bb (when i was in late position) loved to raise it 8x or so when 4/5 limped pre. This typically got most people out and left me with a decision to call with suited connects or small pp and go forward. This guy also loved to c-bet and then shut down which naturally gave me a multitude of opportunities to either float and then barrel if I missed or just outright make a move on a flop

2) How many people call - this is probably more important. If you have a small pp and 4 people call I can't possibly understand why you wouldn't (assuming at least a 100bb buy). Your putting in what 8bb into 32bb assuming 4 callers - 4-1 on a call plus implied odds. I could be wrong (I'm not really 100% of the math here) but seems like a no brainer

Also something to consider is if there are no limpers before you and your in late position consistently make a small 4x raise. I do this a lot because very rarely do I find people re-raise you light and it allows you to play your suited connects and small pp for the price you want. Also when you do it with a huge hand and someone gets cute with you great spot to stack them. Even more, you can turn a 3bet of theirs into a move on your part if you haven't repped a big hand yet.

Obviously all this is open for debate but thats my 2 cents - probably all its worth too

I'm assuming 100bb stacks. Raise pre with 1010+ and aq+ from early, 1010+,aj+, kq+ from middle and 99+, aq+, kq+ from late. Just bet bet and get it in if u flop top pair+ on most flops unless u have reads that tell u to fold

Other hands other than pocket pairs should be folded to raises. I generally only call big raises pre with aq+ and pps. Scs can be limped in pre but if there are often raises pre I'd just open muck

Raise bigger pre. I'd make it 12x or even more to get 1-2 callers consistently

This. This so much. So many new players think they are getting value with sc's and low pps when the payoff of if they do hit is not actually there. Nits and stack sizes all come into equation when making this decision. If an old guy who just woke up from reading a book raises in ep to 13, and you look down at two ducks, and he is sitting on 250, then yes you should call. Making these correct decisions start to come naturally when stack sizes are fluctuating and whether or not you are up against a LAG/TAG when you have these hands.

Professional No Limit Volume I does a pretty good job explaining all the details. http://www.twoplustwostore.com/twopl...&productID=151

Thanks for all the great responses!