1/2. Game is loose-passive, many calling stations, stacks between 200 and 700. Hero has 550. Everyone is open-limping and pays no attention except one V in the HJ who knows hero’s range is capped.

Button straddle, hero in the SB with 66? Hero calls. Four callers.

Flop JQ8r

Check, bet, etc. hero folds.

So completing a SB (with or without straddle) is not exactly open limping.

But sure, with certain table dynamics I will definitely overlimp small pairs and sometimes open limp them.

In general this seems fine to limp. In limpfest games you often get to see a cheap flop and encourage more dogsh*t hands to limp in that will pay off postflop with top pair

Overall strategy in the blinds vs btn straddle, I would have some LRR hands to protect my weaker limping range against active "limper punishers"

Yeah SB on button straddle would limp everything.

And would overlimp the small pairs from other positions.

Yep. Absolutely will open limp 66 or complete SB/BB in this type of game.

Yes open limping from EP is a thing in button straddle games. (I would fold).

I fold. Set over set + realizing equity + people raise at my game too often.

This is a 1-2 game and the rake is presumably horrendous. Don't open-limp anything,, in any position.

I wouldn't open limp. Limp behind over 2+ limpers, yes. Maybe iso raise depending on who limped. Probably just fold from SB when button straddles.

From SB in a button straddle situation, I like having a robust open-limping strategy with some parts of my range sometimes. If I were BB in a button straddle situation, I like having a robust open limping strategy with a lot of my range most of the time.

Raising QTs and limping 66 is too wide out of the SB after a button straddle. DonÂ’t use what you can probably get away with at a lot of 1/2 tables as a baseline. Mistrust people who advocate for alternative approaches in first to act spots.

The complete in this situation is fine. As for the question of open limping, it can depend on rake: the 1/2/3 game local for me has a rake of $6 per pot, making open limping hard to justify, the 2/3/5 game also has a rake of $6 per pot, and limping isn't as bad. There are other factors of course, I'm sometimes inclined to limp huge parts of my range if the table is maniacal enough, though I probably shouldn't lol

This, this, this, this, this!

It does not matter how bad the rest of the table is playing. When we are guaranteed worst position both before and after the flop, our range should be super tight and super playable. It is seriously difficult to realize equity out of position.

In a time game, perhaps, I can see an argument for perhaps having a "robust" limping range, including a "limp everything in our range with intent to reraise much of it" range. But seeing a flop in a limped pot in a high-rake game can be a catastrophe, especially if only the straddle sees the flop with you, especially in a California fixed drop game. You can, e.g., find yourself investing five additional dollars to play in a seven-dollar pot.

yes limp-call and showdown yours card regardless of action of win or lose is a better strategy than the badregs who muck winners

I don't play in high-raked games, so I don't take rake into consideration in this spot. The one to three times a night I can limp SB w/ a hand hand that can silently crush the table with the right flop is worth it to me, especially in the games where the whole table is full of loose/passive calling stations who are just going to limp in after me and then pay me off if I hit.

Never open limping here. Raise or fold.

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For those advocating a raise, these are loose/passive calling stations. Now you are just bloating the pot.

I was advocating for a raise or fold strat with our entire range. I'd most likely fold 66. But raising is probably better than calling, even if we just whiff and check-fold the flop. We're bloating the pot in the hopes we flop a sneaky set.

I've had EP limping ranges at times, to include LRR ranges. But lately I've come around to see the wisdom of using more simplified strats that avoid fancy plays.

Over-limping in LP may be fine. But I don't see big EV in open limping from the SB with the BTN straddle on, just hoping to set mine on the cheap.

Like, are we ever raising here? If so, how do we protect our open limping range? Are we also open limping hands that might otherwise raise? Which hands?

Even if we're lucky enough to flop a set, we'll be OOP to everyone else, making it hard to realize maximum equity. Do we check or lead out, and for how much? How often are we going to be good on the river if we continue betting and getting called?

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In some of the 1/2 and 1/3 games, there are a fair number of single raised pots but 3bets are rare and usually QQ+. (If that, since many players in rooms with jackpots want to see if they make a high hand)

In the more passive games you can limp pp's with relative impunity and expect a multi way pot. In those games you raise your premium hands bc no one will do it for you.
In other games you have players who like to sweeten the pot, or punish the limpers, or squeeze the button straddle. They don't 3bet so you would go for the LRR with your premiums and let them wrestle with it.
Basically you have to decide if game conditions or player profiles are such that limping upfront makes sense.

Raising early with a hand like this and building pot can be helpful to avoid situations where no one wants to take a stab or keep playing the pot because it's not big enough, I think. That happens decently often in limp pots.