I mentioned j10s and 910s because those are the only hands I can even THINK of that I would limp with, it would be rare I would limp with those. I just hate to throw those two hands away for one bet, correct poker would probably be to raise or fold.

Back to the question, the issue at hand is that there are not alot of limit hold'em hands you want to play four way - which is what you will get if you limp behind. Obviously, reads on the limper and blinds are important, but they are important to decided whether to raise or fold. I think limping is bad no matter what your cards are in a four way pot.

Mid and small pocket pairs, suited connectors - don't have odds for set or straight/flush value four way.
With two big cards you are generally better off raising to get the blinds out and take control of the hand.
Big pocket pairs you want to raise for pot equity advantage purposes.
Marginal hands like J9o there is no point in limping because there are not enough people to make the implied odds correct to limp.

It is difficult to think of a hand you WANT to play four way. Raise if the original limper is weak postflop and the blinds aren't tricky players - with marginal hands. Fold marginal hands if the blinds are really tricky or the limper is a rock that would only limp with really good cards.

Try raising or folding ONLY for a month and I bet you will find these situations much easier to play postflop.

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1) But you are raising up those mid and small pp's here right? I like to try to isolate the limper in these spots....I'm assuming thats correct.

I look down and see KJ offsuit. raise or fold?

I look down and see A8 off.......raise or fold? If raise, how low does X have to be before we are folding?

I am assuming villain is weak to be open limping so I can reduce my raise requirements here.

Sorry if this seems tedious....

KJ, A8 those are folds. Unless your opponent is a post-flop folder to any pressure. Than it's a raise

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It's not tedious, but it is an unanswerable question as it completely depends on the other three players involved.
I have raised A2 in these situations and folded A8. I find that the hands people are limping with are often pocket pairs, suited connectors, two random cards above ten,etc. There is a risk they have Ax and have you dominated but if they don't hit the ace they are typically folding the flop and you have position so if an A flops, and they call flop and turn then I am typically checking river so you don't lose tons with the hand anyway. It is unlikely they will raise you with Ax unless they hit two pair.

What I mostly want is someone that is not tricky. I am more concerned about that than the cards. If the limper will checkraise bluff me on the flop with nothing I only raise legitimate "utg raise" type hands. I want to know that if they miss they are outta there by the turn and if they hit I'll find out about it. I want to be able to play aggressively without worryng I am being played back at - this describes about 60-70% of the people I usually play with at live poker.

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