What is your strategy when playing 60-100 $ Tourns. with Limpers?
When playing in small stakes Tourns. how do you play against the constant limper? They play hit to continue, and often hit two pair or trip up. Even raising they often call in position, and if I don't hit it is difficult to play against these non folders. Some books say raise against them in position and blow them out when you hit. This is tough against multiple players of this type, who often get lucky.
Example : Early in Tourn., I'm in the bb with KK. all fold to the button, who raises with junk, sb calls his raise with 8-9s, I re-raise to 2.5-3 times the original raise. sb calls, out flops 6,7,10. Go figure! He checks, I 60% the pot bet , he goes all in, I call and of course , I'm out.
Do the button and SB both still call if you shove pre-flop? I realize you may bust out with this move, and it's not the most elegant poker; but if one or two are calling light you should be OK in the long run, right? I don't know how else you'd deal with players like that.
I've actually never played a tournament over $100. In my experience, there are a couple of players like you describe at every table, but there are also usually at least 1-2 players that you can rob repeatedly with position. So as long as you can maintain your stack, you can pick a spot to shove on the maniacs, probably getting your money in with the best of it.
I agree with mattbob. If you can ID these players, shove it when you have position on them. It literally becomes the only way to ensure they pay if they want to call.
Whenever I think about playing small tournament I try to find a brick wall and bash my head into it repeatedly. It hurts less and the win rate is almost the same.
I don't think it's true that these players often hit because they are often playing weaker hands which are harder to hit. These players actually hit less often. Try playing hands like Q6o and see how often that hits compared to AQ.
I feel like this thread is really asking how to beat calling stations when they're running very well. Unfortunately, in those situations you are going to struggle a lot more because anybody is much tougher to beat when the cards are coming their way. It's not just the calling stations that are harder to beat when they keep hitting.
The hand described in the OP just looks like a cooler to me. I wouldn't be overly concerned about those. Also 98s isn't a bad hand. To me, someone that is a "constant limper" is playing worse hands than that.
Also, I only like shoving if I think someone will call.
"Some books say raise against them in position and blow them out when you hit"
Hmm. I don't remember ever reading that in a book although it is something I'd expect to hear from regs. I'd prefer trying to get someone to pay me off instead of forcing that player to make a correct fold. I do like raising them in position though. That makes it easier when you miss the flop.
Maybe one reason it seems like they hit so much is they're playing so many hands. The more hands you play, the more flops you will hit. But the percentage of flops they hit will be lower.
Another reason it maybe seems like they hit so much is there could be multiple calling stations. Obviously if several calling stations are seeing the flop then the chances of someone hitting will go up. The chances one of them runs well also goes up.
Thanks for the comments, i guess playing position is more important than some authors think. Been watching some wsop , and it appears that there is a lot of folding when max. pressure is applied in position, IE : betting at least 2 if not 3 streets in position.
Always adjust your bet sizing (and shoving ) based on your opponent's willingness to call or fold. Also you should base your hand selection on that too. and be cautious on connected flops like 7 8 10 with big pairs.