rikisrakis
Rock Star
Silver Level
Every guide I've seen on poker fundamentals suggests that you should never, or almost never limp preflop. I see the logic behind this, as a small raise stands a chance of chasing off the blinds and other players behind you without risking too much. However, sometimes I feel that it is appropriate to call when other players in front of you have already limped, namely if you have a hand that is decent but not necessarily strong.
My reasoning is this: if 2-3 players have already limped, I have to raise significantly higher than 3 BB to chase most (or all) of them off the pot, otherwise their pot odds will be too good to fold even with mediocre hands. However, if I don't have a deadly preflop hand, I don't necessarily want to inflate the pot that much and get committed too early. On the other side of things, a limp suddenly gives you very equitable pot odds when others have limped, especially with the implication that their hands are likely weaker than yours.
So I find myself limping often in this situation, because I feel too uncomfortable making the large raise that I know would be appropriate. Here is a hand I just played as an example;
UTG limps
+1 folds
Shotgun limps
Lojack folds
I am in Hijack with . In this position normally I am tempted to raise, but the standard raise here would be something around 5 BB because of the limpers. Do I really want to raise that much with this hand? Why not take the cheap limp and still be in the lead? Let me know what you guys would have done here.
My reasoning is this: if 2-3 players have already limped, I have to raise significantly higher than 3 BB to chase most (or all) of them off the pot, otherwise their pot odds will be too good to fold even with mediocre hands. However, if I don't have a deadly preflop hand, I don't necessarily want to inflate the pot that much and get committed too early. On the other side of things, a limp suddenly gives you very equitable pot odds when others have limped, especially with the implication that their hands are likely weaker than yours.
So I find myself limping often in this situation, because I feel too uncomfortable making the large raise that I know would be appropriate. Here is a hand I just played as an example;
UTG limps
+1 folds
Shotgun limps
Lojack folds
I am in Hijack with . In this position normally I am tempted to raise, but the standard raise here would be something around 5 BB because of the limpers. Do I really want to raise that much with this hand? Why not take the cheap limp and still be in the lead? Let me know what you guys would have done here.