Suppose you're in early position with a monster hand and you're sitting 30bb or 40bb deep. Under what conditions might going for an LRR, or perhaps a minraise, actually be correct?

I'm trying to avoid FPS but at the same time if there are specific conditions under which these plays might actually be correct I don't want to completely eliminate them from my arsenal.

When I'm shortstacking, the #1 table condition I'm looking for is multiple (at least 3, preferrably 5 or 6) villains who will not fold once they've limped into a pot. It is very rare to find a $1/$2 or $1/$3 table where this condition is not present, especially on the weekends. Usually, if I see this condition I stay at the table regardless of any other conditions.

But I do find tables where though the villains won't fold once they've limped into a pot, they're less likely to CALL a raise when the raise comes from early position. This is unfortunate because you don't want to raise and then scoop the blinds. Even if you only get one caller it makes the short-stack strategy harder to play, because, for example, if you start the hand with 40bb, raise to 5bb UTG and only get one caller, you still have 35bb behind and the pot (after rake) is only 10bb - you're not shortstacking there, you're playing at least two more streets of poker.

I rarely find $1/$2 or $1/$3 tables where there's at least one villain raising 20%+ of his hands. Even then, a 20% chance of a raise behind you isn't particularly high.

Minraising UTG can at least sweeten the pot past the point where the rake takes a huge percentage of it - at most tables, villains will call a 2bb raise with the same range they'll limp in with.

The problem though, is it's a huge risk - you limp or minraise in and nobody raises or reraises behind you and now you're playing a multiway pot out of position, and you're going to have to play at LEAST 2 more streets for sure.

I feel like I'm talking myself out of this the more I type. If you're at the type of table where early-position raises aren't getting called in more than 1 spot I think you just have to accept that you're not at the best-possible shortstacking table and not try to get fancy. Picking up the blinds isn't the end of the world. Getting only 1 caller and having to actually play both the flop and the turn shouldn't be the end of the world either. I prefer both of those options to playing a multiway pot out of position.

The only reason I'm really even CONSIDERING this play is because if you limp, someone raises to, say, 6bb and gets 1 caller, you can re-raise all in and either pick up a reasonable chunk of change or get a premium hand all in against either a probable underdog or coinflip. That's a good prospect, don't get me wrong, but you'd better be DARNED sure it's going to happen based on your table.

If I'm missing anything else that should be considered regarding the LRR or MR plays, I'm all eyes.

Thanks
DTXCF

We should play tight in EP with a short stack, maybe a range of 88+, AJ+, KQs, ATs.

With a short stack and a table of somewhat aggressive players, a hand like AJo or TT/99 probably works better as a LRR, since there are often tough flops to navigate if you raise and get called in 1-2 spots. Even AK and AQ might be good candidates.
If there are more maniacal players to your direct left, you can LRR your big pocket pairs as well as the hands mentioned above.

Your over stating that problem. It might take two bets but there still isn't a lot of poker. With SPR < 5 it's almost always just a question if you are committing on the flop or not. Your committing with any good top pair or better, most good draws and rarely with a bluff. Most other hands just give up.

Minraise opens are always a bad idea. It's the sort of "win a lot of little pots but lose the large ones" strategy that is -EV in the long run.

Limp/reraise depends on how aggressive the table is. Every now and then you will run across a pathological raiser who can't resist squeezing limpers. At that sort of table the limp/reraise works as an open. At more typical tables it's a bad idea because there are so few hands you would open limp that it becomes obvious what your doing. You only need one aware player limping in from LP to make limp/reraise bad.

At a typical low stakes table with a short stack just open your value and be done with it. So few opponents will understand what your doing that having a complex strategy isn't worth the trouble and the EV your giving up from moving away from straight value. If the table is so weak that your opens are not getting called then open up your range slightly and mix in a few bluffs.

It's funny, I sometimes see the opposite - a table full of opponents who will call an EP raise more often than they'll over-limp. I think the logic is, "there's not enough in the pot to get involved" when no one raises, but if someone does, they call really wide.

Personally I don't buy in short at low stakes games because of how call-happy the player pool is. Even if you double up - what then? Now you're playing 60-80bb deep, and the SPR's will often be awkward.

I don't like the idea of min-raising from EP. I'd just open to whatever the standard open size is at the table, or go for the limp-3B if there are enough players left to act who are likely to raise. If we open and everyone folds, so be it. We shouldn't let our opponents' bad playing induce us to play bad.

Even though I consider myself a shortstacker, I never sit with less than 66bbs, where I think a LRR strategy is a very good one in EP (and even MP), although obviously this is a very contentious strategy.

However, at just 30 - 40bbs, probably either method is fine (i.e. opening or LRR), so long as your opens get action. At ~$100 stacks at 1/3 NL it will be trivially simple to raise an amount that denies reasonable IO and sets up trivial comfortable commitments postflop. Still, LRR is fine too (although if you are horrible in high SPR pots when it fails then you might be better off opening).

I hate the idea of minraising on a shortstack as it sets up the worst situation: a very multiway pot with a very small SPR where anyone can commit us postflop (and yet we gave everyone terrific IO).

GcluelessshortstackingnoobG