SB strategy with limpers (MTT)

GaryQQQ

 Q7 is a very interesting holding and so overplayed by most players. The analysts have stated time and again that it is the average hand and people play it for this reason. But in my opinion it is not a good playable hand. If you are in a multiway hand and you hit the Q then you are probably outkicked, if you hit the 7 then you only have a small pair. It is also very limited in terms of straights. I would much rather be playing smaller suited connectors with are much better drawing hands and work really well in multiway pots, giving you the odds to play them.

  The only alternate to folding is to raise but with 4 limpers the raise needs to be in the region o 7BB to make it realistic and if you get a caller then you know you are in a bad way against them and have lost quite a chunk of your stack

GaryQQQ

I'm playing a MTT, 3rd level. Still sitting with the same 5 players that were there with me for the first hand. Play so far has been fairly tight, nobody throwing their chips around. Stack sizes are all within 20% of the where they started. My table image is tight.

Sat on the SB I pick up Q7 off-suit.

All 4 players before me limp into the pot, each posting 1x BB. Only the BB is left to act after me.

pr1nnyraid

lay it down, solidify your image and steal some dead money in a better spot later.

Dudeskin8

Fold it, know no need to get in a sticky situation.

GaryQQQ

Thanks guys.

I did put 'em down instantly. But maybe a bit too quickly, I was left wondering afterwards with 5.5 BB on the table whether I should have at least paid the 0.5 BB to see the flop, that's why I posted the situation here. I'm now re-assured I made a good decision in the circumstances after reading your replies. 

BigBluster

Never fold here in a MTT unless you know the BB is going to raise it up. Those who are saying you should do so are probably cash players.

The pot is 220 and you have only to put in 20 to make it up, it's got to be worth that miracle flop (probably best to fold in cash as all these limps add up, but in a MTT you will be moving all-in at some point with maybe 1,000 chips left so saving 20 is irrelevant).
Also, this pot could be well over 1500 by the end of it - you're possibly getting about 75/1 implied odds, not 11/1.

Limp - then fit or fold. You either hit 2 pair, a set, or a straight flush draw, or you're out of there.

PS: Don't squeeze - it's become so overused that people are tending to limp with monsters more often just to snap off the squeeze.

FlashFlush

You have huge odds, so I would limp, if you dont hit 2 pair or trips then fold, you have only lost half a blind more than you would of anyway, chances are if you re-raise you get called by at least 1 if not 2 players and from there your out of position and hoping they havent hit the flop.

silentbob

I'm with Flash & Big here. In this situation in the very early stages I think it's worth having a look cheaply. Occasionally you'll hit that miracle flop and as Big says, in the grand scheme of things at some stage you're gonna be shoving somewhere down the line and the extra 20/30 chips or so here really ain't gonna make any difference by that stage.

Once the blinds are bigger then these get mucked in double quick time

phil12uk

What happens then if we call and the flop is Q,4,3 for example?  We're now OOP and playing with a headache for the next couple of streets.  Fold and preserve chips for better situations imo.

BigBluster

In Response to Re: SB strategy with limpers (MTT):

What happens then if we call and the flop is Q,4,3 for example?  We're now OOP and playing with a headache for the next couple of streets.  Fold and preserve chips for better situations imo.
Posted by phil12uk

No headache at all - take a free card if offered, otherwise fold (unless the bet is something silly, like 20).
This is all about discipline. Two pair, a set, a straight flush draw - that's what you're hoping for. You are not trying to hit a queen so don't get excited if you do.

"Fold and preserve chips for better situations" applies in cash games and with bigger bets or blinds. Those 20 chips are probably the only ones you will get such massive odds on - heck, you won't be getting 11/1 or more on any chips you bet with AA!