Open Completing / Open Raising from the SB

sikes

Hello,

I am looking for advice about open completing and open raising from the SB. We will asumme we have 100BB effective stack.

Here are just some of my notes/thoughts, but they are very thin on the ground and I cant find any decent article on the subject. Apparently there was one on 2+2 but it was taken down.

BB is LAG: In this situation, I would mostly never raise. But when i limp, i am always at least calling his raise. As long as i think he is aggro enough, is it ok to play suited connectors etc like this? Obviously my implied odds are very good. Of course I could repop him preflop with my big hands.

BB is Loose Passive: If i feel he is calling my raise regardless, I will still raise with my premium hands, but will still call with other hands and bet the flop with a very high % of the time.

BB is Tight: I might raise preflop with Ax, Kxs, broadway cards, pairs etc, but i would never limp. However, is it wrong to raise so much from the SB considering our positional disadvantage? Is limping into a tight player ever a good idea?

Of course everything here could be a big pile of crap, and what I am really looking for is how to play from the SB in this situation.

Also as an aside, is it ok to always raise when the SB (unkown) who open completes?

BigCityBanker

your ahead of me Sikes - the completing the SB thread was only part one of a hopeful series.... this is no.2, Hands for playing from UTG etc are also on my list.

cardshark202

Ok assuming 100BB stacks these are my thoughts.

I had written loads of waffle but when it comes down to it I pretty much raise every hand I plan to play, raising more hands against tight players and bad loose players, raising less against good loose players.

If a weak tight player completes from the SB with me in the BB, I will raise quite a lot here as he usually has a hand that wants a 'cheap flop'. If a bad loose completes, I will only raise premium hands cos I don't see much value in creating a raised pot otherwise. If a good loose player completes, I will sometimes raise a hand like 98s just to mix things up and to make my game less predictable vs him.

Anyway those are just some general ramblings.

sikes

BigCityBanker wrote:

your ahead of me Sikes - the completing the SB thread was only part one of a hopeful series.... this is no.2, Hands for playing from UTG etc are also on my list.

sorry, didnt mean to jump the gun!

cheers for the reply cardshark, im probably a bit too passive in the SB, but as HJ said in another thread, its about minimising your losses.

Anyone else with anything to say or is it just boring?! How about to the questions in the original post?

Jaden

Completing the SB is very often a sign of weakness. It's a half a blind, and it doesn't belong to you (it's in the pot now) - let it go.

Against a tight BB player I will raise with ATC. 3xBB is enough to dislodge a good tight player every 2nd orbit or so. Bet the flop most of the time, let it go if he calls/raises.

Against a loose Passive, I raise 3xBB every 3rd orbit or so, and bet the flop every time.

Against a Loose Agressive - I let it go unless I have a PP or A,>J. I CR the flop, and let it go after that if he calls/raises.


All general play aside, I sometimes pick a card value (let's say, a five), and raise any hand that has one in it. I find this a good way of planning a random play. The last thing you ever need is a BB who has copped on to how you are playing against him.

Ste05

Also assuming 100 BB stacks, here's my default thoughts.

I pretty much raise every hand I get when I'm in the SB and it's folded around to me. I'll try and use a ratio of 3:1 (Raise:Complete), this way I'm stealing the BB enough, and keeping the BB guessing enough that he can't make a simple re-steal once in 3 hands to make a profit off me. He'll also be kept guessing about the hands I'm raising with and what hands I'm completing with. This obviously changes and adapts depending on my opponent but it's my standard.

I'll also open fold the bottom 5% of hands, like 92o, 82o, 73o, etc. to make it look like I'm actually a tighty.

As to your specific examples:

BB is LAG: (I know alot of people won't agree with this but anyway, here it is) Alot about how I'd play a LAG would depend on how the table was playing at the time, as I play quite a SLAG myself so usually we'll have butted heads a bit already. But I'll raise alot, but not as much as against a normal donk, I'll also often 3 barrel PF the first time he comes over the top of me, I want to keep him whipped if he has a hand, so be it. After a rhythm has been established my play will vary but I like to use these blind on blind battles when I'm OOP to a LAG to put manners on him, as I like to play quite a SLAG game and I hate someone messing with my mojo. Especially if there's an uber-fish at the table and he's preventing me from getting at him. So I use these hands for keeping a player afraid of me.

BB is Loose Passive: Here I'll probably complete more and try and see cheap flops with marginal hands and then try and win a decent pot after I hit, I'll raise all my premium hands and some speculative hands hoping to win a huge pot.

BB is tight: I'll raise nearly every time, if he's not going to protect his BB I'll take it everytime until he adjusts, at which point I'll re-adjust.

sikes

cheers for the replies, keep them coming. Playing against loose players, and especially aggressive ones is something i am really trying to fix a better plan for.