If no one has raised to you, and you have an OK hand at best is it ok to limp if you're in the small blind?
I know you're "never" supposed to limp but I find that one of my weaknesses is that I limp quite a bit :\
I have learned to raise, but then when I hit nothing on the flop what am I supposed to do?
This actually brings me to my biggest problem, I suck when blinds go up. For the exact reason up there, I can play and bluff but as soon as blinds get bigger I am bad at stealing and am always thinking how I will just lose all my chips and start playing super tight.
I have been chip leader in multiple SnGs (bout 5 or 6 that I played yesterday) and then I get to final table and slowly lose it all to more agro players :\
(even though my normal style of play is aggressive pre-flop and semi-aggressive post flop)
Ok, let's say average stack is 4k, I have 4.5k, blinds are 100 / 200 with a 25 ante.
I have 10 Q suited, I am the small blind with 3 big blind calls, how much should I raise?
What would be hands to go broke pre-flop?
Well, I finally used the blinds for me and when they went up I went from last place (13th) up to chip leader fairly quickly. Now I am trying to play tight and wait as the low stacks slowly just drop off.
Edit: Ok, I've always thought it's not a good thing to get into those confrintations with the low stacks because you aren't going to win a lot, but they can still hurt you. What would you say, lets say A 10 suited, blinds are 300 / 600 he moves all-in with 2,600 chips no callers and you're the last one to either call or fold, what do you do?
Oh and your chip stack is around 10k
I limp in the sb. I confess. I especially like it when several others have limped in. The more limpers, the less of a hand I will limp with. This is not to say I am in every pot as the sb.
I am not positive as I have none of those fancy tracking programs, but I think I profit from the sb limp. It is after all the cheapest bet in town.
In those rare occasions where no one opens and I'm in the sb it will take a really really crummy hand for me to not at least limp in.
Assume that it is folded to me in the small blind. If my cards have ANY redeeming feature, ANY! like they are the same suit, or can connect, or its Tuesday and I'm feeling good, I'm limping. Not every time. When I do it too often it becomes NOTEworthy. I'm sure others have it in their notes about me. But when I can get a cheap look at a flop, I'm gonna look! If BB raises then I may fold dependent on all those things such a situation is dependent on. IF BB is uppity, I may call with air or reraise. But usually I end up folding post flop. Every now and then I hit big, and its those times that make up for the losses in the sb.
But to just fold automatically in the sb with what someone considers an OK hand, is not so wise. OK is better than not OK most of the time, and BB is gonna have not OK most of the time. So there exists an opportunity, cheap, to improve on OK.
Of course, and that is one of the things that doing that is dependent on.
Also, when I run into someone doing what you do, I might fire right back at them. Depends on just how OK, my holdings are.
Someone gave a great bit of advice here. I can't remember who but it goes like this, "Protect your small blind". In other words if you have a hand worth limping with, then you have a hand worth betting on. So make the raise and protect it from crap. If it's not worth betting fold it. If it doesn't hit the flop then this is where some of your playing skills come to life.