Range trouble in pre-flop bingo type sessions

Hi everyone,

$1/2 NL live action games often seem to play out like pre-flop pot building (multiple limp/call) bingo. I'm finding it hard to put folks on ranges pre-flop when I run into these games.


In a recent session at Harrah's Vegas (and also separately a session in Riverwind in OK) I consistently saw 4-6 way multi-player limped pots on MOST hands. When the limpers were faced with anything between $6 - $12 open raise they ALL typically called; that is, rarely would limpers fold and even more rare 3-bet after an open raise pre-flop. This pattern left me quite confused about the cards opponents could be holding and therefore scrambling on the flop to put the opponents on a range. Though I tried to put the opponent on a range, most of the time I was surprised by the showdown (most pots got to showdown with 2 players).


What are ideas about how to narrow each opponents range pre-flop in these limp/call multi-pot scenarios?


Thank you in advance for your thoughts!


scubed

Any two is a range. It happens to be a wide range but sometimes it is your opponents pre-flop range. Further action in the hand may help to narrow the range. For instance any two might be good enough pre-flop but they may only continue if they hit something.

Update: I am learning to beat the bingo folks pre-flop by determining what their threshold of pre-flop raise pain is!

In $1/$2 at Mandolay Bay & MGM in Vegas I recently experimented with increasing my pre-flop 2bet raise size to fold out the marginal hands that previously were calling a $6/$7 open. In some games $12 would fold out a few, whilst other games were $16. I played in one game where a $22 raise was required from early position to ensure the pot was only contested by 1-2 players.

This pain threshold approach was a little nerve racking & pulse racing because it made the pots really big, really quick, but at least I had a better place to start with trying to identify and then narrow the ranges of my opponents.

I was going to say "raise bigger pre" but I noticed you have already started to figure that out. find the sweet spot raise size where you are going 3w max to flops (including yourself).


As for ranges, here is an easy clue.... if you get raised by some passive 1/2 player, it's going to be 2p+ nearly always. Always pay attention to the action when you aren't involved, and note the players (mentally obv) who will raise draws, or some players raise top pair also to "see where they're at."

The range is ATC, the deck. if they become aggressive, like C/R, they have 2p+ man, until proven otherwise. EZ game. It doesn't matter that the flop is Q-6-2r, they will have Q-6, 2-6, etc, or a set. Most live players have an element of fear in their game, and they will raise super dry boards frequently because they don't want people sucking out. People don't bluff very often, seriously. If it feels "icky" you are behind most likely. You can adjust to players who raise less than 2p+, but only after you see proof they are capable of raising with less than 2p+. I mean actually seeing the hand go to showdown, not just strong suspicions they are out of line or they are bluffing.


I hope this helps.