Isolating limpers: When, why and how should you isolate?

Do you notice opponents limping into pots? Should you bet to isolate them or are you walking into a trap? Do you isolate with top hand or notice an opponents tendancies to limp into a lot of pots and try to exploit that?

Read our guide on Isolating limpers

Then come back and let us know your experiences when trying to isolate limpers.

Martin said:

Do you notice opponents limping into pots? Should you bet to isolate them or are you walking into a trap? Do you isolate with top hand or notice an opponents tendancies to limp into a lot of pots and try to exploit that?

Read our guide on Isolating limpers

Then come back and let us know your experiences when trying to isolate limpers.

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As many probably know already, I'm a limper...

I do it without realising and often some one will raise and at that point I'd get a second chance to set my opening limit...

Its habitual and something I plan to change...

Watch out for the trap... Though pocket pair doesn't always do well against the board...

The Limpers usually fall into their own trap, before taking any strategy against a limper you have to know your game to avoid falling into the mistake of a bad bet, I think you should first check the size of your stack before making any decision against a limper

It depends on each type of situation, you should be attentive and observe the dynamics of the game how each one reacts to a determined situation to try to make the best possible decision.

When Why and How Strategy

This is an interesting topic. One, I have struggled with. Some pros say to get in as cheap as you can (Caro, I believe was one), and some say top 10 or 15 hand with raise (Hellmuth), and some say like one other I have read here, it depends on your blind level.

I believe it is a combination of many things. Poker is not an easy game to master. Blinds, bank, position, number of limpers and raisers (if any) already in the pot, what kind of whole cards I have, the table "culture", is there a mad scientist at the table and is that person before me or after., is the next person to bet one who will go "all-in" with a 92o against my pair of aces or not?

How to master all of this and make a decision within say 15 seconds is quite a masterpiece.

My hats off to you pros on this site. I love being here....whether I limp, bet, call or go all-in.

Good luck all you guys!

Gader

I think in general without knowing any table dynamics, that raising is the better choice when entering a pot. At least for myself, if I follow that mentality, I will be more disciplined in hand selection and aware of my position which will help me play post flop.

Otherwise I think it is good to determine what type of table you are at to determine if you should raise or not. Some tables are filled with players just looking to get action and will play a lot more hands than they should. If I feel I have an advantage over them in post flop skill, I am ok with limping and encouraging a bigger pot. I can hit big with my suited connectors or set mining.

It also seems a lot more pros are making and advocating smaller raises. I just would to make sure you know you are knowing what you are trying to accomplish and not, as Daniel Stern once said " Heating up the ice cubes"

60 percent of those who play cardchat freerolls open open-limp, and if they do agro raise, it is always visible, because once they can be put on brodway range or the small pairs. How to isolate limpers? They do not need to be isolated if you are not top range, those who make the call as the big blind preflop, better to confuse and provaluebetting on the river. Fish never fold your draw and if hit the top pair and will try you to donked , this must be used.

i would say by limping you can often isolate the players wanting action and get many to put way more chips into a pot when your holding a monster, You always need to be know that by limping ,then folding is a stack loser too

This was a good article to read. I liked the range of the raises that they used. 4BB and +1BB for each limper. I will try and adopt this strategy to my own game. I also like the range of the hands you should raise with against the weaker limpers. Overall it was an insightful article.

Good article, as always.

I have have been all over the board on this myself.

Originally, I figured that limping with drawing hands was fine. If I could see a cheep flop, then great. If I get raised, then I would have put in that amount with an open anyways, so no big deal calling it.

Then, I decided to NEVER EVER EVER limp. It allowed too many horrible hands in the blinds to catch me and beat me out of a hand that would never have called in the first place if i had bet.

Then, as I realized I was losing too many chips too fast, I had to tighten up a bit, and I actually began limping again, under very specific situations that seem to make sense to me.

So, what is the real answer?? I have no idea.

I try and raise limpers and I'm not usually isolating them.
They have limped, probably SCs, Ax or small pairs, I raise in position nearly always to steal the pot.
My question to the limpers is " is your limp hand strong enough to beat my total range".
If you are weak enough to limp, you are weak enough to fold to my raise.

contr to what okeedokalee said. I tend ISO often and hard. most limpers have no fol button and like to call almost anything. Yes there are good players that limp, but most of the limpers are not good players, you either tend to lose EV by not getting value from your good hands s or lose EV from playe lto much draw-heavy hands when you 15bb deep =)

Just play there game, let them limp and use it against them. I will let a limper thing he has me which will usally cause him to go all. Be careful if you do not have the nuts. I prefer limpers to the big raise every hand player or all in with a pair of two's. At least with a limper, I get to see the pot if my hand is marginal.

Thanks for the article, It has helped me play against the players who make limp.

If you look at the villans VPIP and PFR you can get a good idea of if they could be trapping or not. A guy playing 40-4 is probably just a limpaholic, but a guy playing 12-10 who limped UTG with 10 bbs is probably trying to trap you.

TeUnit said:

If you look at the villans VPIP and PFR you can get a good idea of if they could be trapping or not. A guy playing 40-4 is probably just a limpaholic, but a guy playing 12-10 who limped UTG with 10 bbs is probably trying to trap you.

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That guy probably would be me , lol KK UTG I love limping among some other hands . I used not to limp , but after watching others games and their success in not few I would say occassions , I decided to start limping . Now what hands in what positions and when should I call or fold when raised , I still try to figure out .

But fighting other limpers when you don't want them in the hand at all or very cheaply is very difficult for me , I have the feeling they call almost everything (at least for CC freerolls this is true lol) .I will try following the guide's propositions for the raise and see how it will work . Isolating a more passive player only to trap him and get his money preflop or on a dry flop , I will try this

You can limp-call with a speculative hand like KJ or AT. This will guarantee a looksie at the flop. What to do after the flop is a different question.

Isolating limpers depends on raise sizing and table dynamics-history-etc.

Often the first caller "prices in" the next player and so on. Sometimes a train of calling or folding also because lack of being "priced in".

But isolating increases your chance of winning the hand outright.

If I get another one or two callers then I like to start a sidepot to win also.

Good luck !

In microstakes cash games isolating limpers needs to proceed with caution, because the bad players almost always open-limp/call your raise.

So you need a specific range for raising the limpers.

For MTTS, I agree that some open limps are trap limps.

Another "to the point article".
I agree with all the concepts discussed in it, I only have a bit tighter range in general. I am a known "nit".
"Trap-limping" in tourneys is the one I usually fall for...

I have a bad habit of calling , and then folding . It becomes a pattern , and then sometimes it pays off, as as soon as out of the blue when I raise pre-flop , almost everyone folds.
So, you can use the limping as a tool as well.
I don't think it is good to raise preflop for every monster hand though, as I have seen them lose to many times to smaller weaker hands ...

I usually act as a limper myself. When they often try to isolate me and I have a good hand, I re-raise. Such tactics are good against players trying to isolate me with a large range of hands.

when i have a suited connector or smaller pocket pair i usually limp after a few limpers becase you are aiming to hit a monster so having more players in the pot can be beneficial. If i have a value hand I raise depending on how many limpers. If my standard preflop raise is 2.5 BB and theres 1 limper id make it 3.3-3.7 BB. with 2 limpers id make it 4-4.5 BB... ect

i like to limp with strong hands when i act early, if i'm near the button , button or blinds and alot have limped in will i aise to isolate 1 or 2 players and it's usually with strong pairs, connectors imo just a waste if you don't hit

In MTT they often limp with a strong hand, making a trap! But it all depends on the situation and the enemy with whom you play, everyone reacts to a certain situation in different ways, and most importantly makes the right decision!I think a raise is the best choice when you enter the Bank !

Hello, very good article, I help a lot in my game, it is easy to identify the limpers because they play many hands. To isolate them you have to re-upload. In the article it indicates the size of the bet that must be made, which seems very good to me.
I would only add that fewer players in the game are more likely to win the hand. It is very important with which hands one should isolate the opponent. regards