I'm a beginner and I have a beginner question. :-)

Say standard $1/3 game (some loose players, some tight players, no one that great). $200-300 stacks, you have $300. Lets say 4+ limpers and the SB completes. what are you raising, what are you checking? if you're raising what do you raise to?

This is one of the tougher spots in live low stakes, a lot of LPs tend to limp early position with relatively strong holdings planning to flat any raise, and once they do, suddenly all the limpers are going to get odds to call and you’re just playing a bloated multiway pot out of position. Generally I think sizing is more important than the range itself, but I’d use a pretty snug range in this spot. 1010+, AK, maybe AQ. If you do elect to raise, make it expensive.

yeah i find it really hard when I have like TT or JJ here and i have no clue what to do, lol. Ive tried both raising to like $30 and checking and both result in the hands being impossible to play postflop! at least with AK if i raise to like $30 and more than one person calls i can just play fit or fold postflop. if i have $TT or $JJ and the pot is bloated and i have an overpair it sucks vs. multiple people OOP!

Another very general question.

I go pretty wide from the BB, especially with hands that play poorly multiway. I would raise something like 88+/KJo+/ATo+.

i know but im trying to learn fundamentals that show up a few times per session.

youd seriously raise KJ offsuit? because if you are on the way to stack committing on top pair assuming more than one person calls...seems too aggro

Yes. Cross that bridge when you get there.

It’s really not worth worrying about dominated hands. You’re rarely flopping the same pair.

Aslong as people are limping weak capped ranges then johnny's range is fine

The most important thing though is raising to a good sizing, after 4+ limpers 10-12x sizing is good

Yeah, I take some of Johhny's stuff out of my raising range, as I find that for many of these players their limping range isn't capped (or at least is capped very high). Depending on the table and the limpers, of course, but in general I'm raising 99+/AJ+.

My sizing is usually whatever the table's normal open is, +1BB per limper, +1 or 2 BB for being OOP. So in what was my normal 1/3 game before I moved to a poker wasteland the standard open was $12, with 4 limpers if I raised from the BB it would be $27-30.

The goal is take the pot down or get it heads up right?

Every table is different and there are plenty of profitable playing styles. In my daytime nitty games, Ill raise a wider range than Johnny listed. Not for value. Because those clowns fold almost every time. 2/5 game....4-5 limpers. I raise $45 from the blind. QJ / T7s / A5s / anything playable that could hit a big flop. They all fold. Rinse and repeat. They fold often enough that if even if I closed my eyes, didnt look at the flop and check / folded every time I got called preflop, the play is still profitable.

Now in the evening in my room, or in most other rooms where there's more action, Im only raising for value and would raise something like JJ+ and AQ+.

There are lots of times not raising AK in a spot like this will make more money from somone one who thinks A8 is the nuts on an Axx flop.

Again...it all depends.

As a beginning baseline, I'd suggest TT+/AJs+. More experience and specific table dynamics will widen this range over time.

Start with 5x bbs, so $15 + $3 for each limper. If you are getting multiple callers, start at $18 and adjust from there.

Topping off stack to 100 bbs will allow flexibility on flop misses / over cards. GL!

HU is preferred. TID or 2 callers is fine. More than 2 sucks, as there is no FE post, we're OOP, and hands are hard to make.

My preferred result is HU and c-betting most flops. People tend to play pretty fit-or-fold after limp/calling a big raise. I

With all stacks in this 66bb - 100bb range, I'm likely raising to $30+ with AK/TT+ to setup a stack off situation postflop with TP+. As stacks get much deeper, I probably tighten way up even more (at some tables sometimes even to just AA/KK as position starts becoming more important than preflop hand values) unless I don't think anyone in the hand is looking to outplay me postflop.

GcluelessNLnoobG

I'd raise AQ+ 10s+. You are crushing limp/calling ranges with these hands. Raise 5x +1x per limper +1x for playing out of position.

FWIW, the deeper you are / the trickier your opponents are, the less this matters.

GimoG

I'd have to have seen limp/rr at least once or twice in the last hour to tighten up my BB opening range. At your average 1/3 table limps mean suited crap, suited and unsuited weaker Broadways, suited ace-rags, and low to med pocket pairs. If you get re-raised, you can adjust accordingly.

The comment wasn't with regards to being limp/raised. The comment is with regards to getting in an insignificant percentage of our stack preflop OOP "crushing the calling ranges" isn't the coup everyone might think it is in every situation.

GimoG

You're also not going to see 4-5 people limping up front with 400 BB effective stacks so it's kinda moot.

*johnny has 1000s of hours of live experience. Much of it playing 2/5NL. I would not even think of recommending that range to a beginner.

*When he raises pre in the BB with KJo, his holding is not what he considers to be the most important element behind his reasoning for the raise.

*Only a coach, who has talked with you for a few hours & has a solid grasp of your poker knowledge could begin to consider themselves qualified to make a recommendation.

I will give this bit of advice: you can win enough playing the Button, CO, HJ, LJ & Steal seats to overcome lost revenue folding OOP pre-flop. Your win-rate won't be as good as johnny's, but what do you expect as a beginner? Master those seats where you can get absolute position vs your Vs. Don't try & master the whole game at once.

For me, it’s something like TT+, AQ+, AJs, KQs. That last one may seem strange but unless you are finding people limping AK or AQ, top pair is still the nuts, and an ace is check-fold land but you were already behind A6o that limped anyway.

Yeah, for a beginner you should have a really tight range here, imo. With 100bb stacks, only AA/KK might not be that far off optimal for a beginner in a lineup where he is outmatched postflop (and not to mention OOP), and ~nutmining with the other big hands (or perhaps raising to lol large amounts whose only goal is to end the hand preflop).

Gthewidertherange,themorepostflopskillzyouneedG

In a standard game with normal stacks, I favor Garick's approach for all the reasons he outlined above. A very strong range (TT+, AJs+, AQo+), with the appropriate sizing to thin the field to one or two opponents at most.

And I am usually pretty happy just winning the pot preflop, unless of course we have KK or AA.

OP, most of these answers don't really apply to you because you are asking guys that have much more post-flop experience and/or play at higher levels. Who are the limpers, loose or tight? What positions did they limp from, utg or btn? Have you seen them show hands down after limping/raising? Anyone likely to limp AKo or >TT? If you raise, which positions do you want calls/folds from? Anyone likely to come over the top or shove on you? How would you honestly describe your post flop play? (Your second post indicates not very strong if you flop over pair and don't know what to do.)

You should probably be posting this in beginner questions if you are just starting out, but if you can filter the suggestions above and account for situations, these guys are going to give you better advice. It will all depend on situations and reads. There should be a disclaimer to that effect stickied somewhere.

I agree with Garick here, also from the sounds of OP and follow up post you may want to look into how to play this post flop. If you size like this, based on who calls in what position, you should know what to do with an overpair without much concern.