Our casino only offers $2-$100 spread-limit. For those unfamiliar, that means while the blinds are $1-$2, the maximum you can bet or raise at any spot is $100 over the previous bet. So if you raise to $8, I can raise to $108, and then you can raise to $208, and then I can go to $308, etc.

I am trying to adjust my strategy to account for that. Last session I had this scenario and I'm wondering what your computers think:

I have AdQd in the cutoff. Stacks $500 effective.

EP raises to $8, one caller, I 3-bet to $36, the Button 4-bets "maximum" to $136. Everyone folds to me. It's $100 to call and there's $191 in the pot.

*Live* 4-bets are, of course, a much much much tighter range than you'd see online, so this is QQ+ about, oh, 98% of the time.

In live *no-limit* hold'em, this is a trivially easy fold. And I did in fact fold it in real life. But my question is: should the fact that we're playing spread-limit--meaning the most he'll be able to bet on the flop would be just $100 into a $291 pot--make me more or less likely to call with a hand like AQs in a spot like this?

I fold and don't even think twice about it. As you pointed out AQs is usually dominated by this action and you only have a ~6.5% chance of making a flush if you see all 5 cards and you are nowhere close to deep enough to call and try to do that.

Nice fold.

It’s an easy fold, but to answer your question on adjustments: this is a spot where you can theoretically cap your “investment” at $436 (pre $136, 100 flop, 100 turn, 100 river). And, instead of facing a likely ship on the flop, you only have to call $100 to see the next card, allowing you to realize your equity with more clarity.

That said, there just isn’t that much of an adjustment to make. You’re still crushed by his range. SPR is still low. You’re still committed at the same level. The majority of stacks can still get in here with b/b/b.

For broader strategic considerations, I find that playing speculative hands for their value in stacking another player to be slightly lower (I.e. suited connectors, suited aces, low pocket pairs) because it’s harder to stack someone in a high SPR spot.

The opposite is then true for high value high card hands. I would place a slightly higher value on hands like KQ and AJ for example because you can get value with good top pairs but your downside is capped the times when someone flops a set or hits a disguised draw.


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