Seeing Cheap Flops with Weak Hands

[lwestatbus]

I regularly find myself in a situation, often in the blinds but sometimes in late position, where I can see a cheap flop or a cheap multiway flop with pretty weak hands. E.g., I could be in the small blind with really weak cards but have 3-4 limpers. Or I could be on the button with a weak ace or weak suited king with several limpers ahead of me.

Most of the time the flop misses me completely and I'm gone with the first bet. I have also made (a few) monster killings in these situations but also dropped a lot of chips when I've caught part of the hand or a draw. The worst losses have been when I've hit a weak ace. I really don't know if I'm ahead or behind with these hands overall.

Harrington and others advise against playing many weak hands (up to AJ unsuited) because they are so hard to play after the flop in that you just don't know where your kicker stands if you hit top pair.

What do any of you do both pre- and post-flop when you have the opportunity to see a cheap flop?

[jimmer]

The first question is; are we talking about cash or tourneys?

If I'm playing cash games my hand criteria tends to be higher than my tourney play. So for example; if we are on the first round of a tourney and the blinds are 10/20 with most players having an average stack of 1500 - I will limp from the button, cut off (or maybe even sooner) with something as week as 64 offsuit. In a cash game i want to see J9 on the cut off minimum AND then only if i have info on the remaining players at the table.

We also need to look at the pot odds. In the tourney i was in last night the blinds were 500/1000 with 100antes. I was in the sb and everyone folded to me. There is already 2,400 in the pot and i need another 500 to call. Thats nearly odds of 5/1. I'm happy with that. Visa-versa - a $1-$2 cash table in the same situation I need to bet $1 into a pot of $3. Of course, as i found out last night, in both instances that doesn't mean you get to see the hand so the last thing is really important:

The information you have on the players and table. I've been sat at a cash table and seen hand after hand after hand everyone fold around to the big blind. I've sat there for an hour and raised 90% of my hands and taken the pot down most times. Yet I'm sat at the same table 3 hours later and it's full of players looking to raise and re-raise preflop. You have to have a feel for the players and table as a whole.

On all accounts - seeing a cheap flop is fine if you can make some money when you hit the jackpot. If your 74 offsuit hits a straight on the flop and everyone folds to you min bet - you are probably not on the right table to be limping with that hand anyway as you don't get paid off when you do hit big.

On the whole, I limp with weak hands far too much.