Raise vs Limp

[LenilsonF7]

When we see the pros playing poker, we notice that hardly anyone gets into a hand by simply paying or giving pre-flop limp, things that most beginners do.

This tactic must be learned and adopted by any player who wants to be profitable, because if we limp, we will always have someone who punishes is pre-flop.

Raise will always be the best option for a pre-flop, because with this strategy it will make it difficult to read our opponents from our hands, giving us several other exits such as bluffing, semi-bluffing, completing a sequence, a flush, two pairs or simply making our opponents more confused about our poker hands.

 

[Mustafajones]

I think raising or limping depends entirely on the situation. Your hand and position might be better served by limping in instead of raising. I don't think raising is always the "best" option, I think you are the "best" option because no matter the hand you still have to use your skill to play or fold!

 

[rikisrakis]

I agree with the theory that raising is essentially always optimal. However one spot where I find myself limping often is in freeroll/micro stakes when two or more players ahead of me limp and I have something like 98s in late position. Hands like these I don't feel comfortable squeezing with, particularly because players at these stake levels tend to just call most of the time regardless, and also have a strange habit of limping very strong hands sometimes. With a drawing hand like that I would rather just see a cheap flop and play it from there. However at a table where everyone is an educated player it's almost never the right play.

 

[kelvin22]

When we see the pros playing poker, we notice that hardly anyone gets into a hand by simply paying or giving pre-flop limp, things that most beginners do.

This tactic must be learned and adopted by any player who wants to be profitable, because if we limp, we will always have someone who punishes is pre-flop.

Raise will always be the best option for a pre-flop, because with this strategy it will make it difficult to read our opponents from our hands, giving us several other exits such as bluffing, semi-bluffing, completing a sequence, a flush, two pairs or simply making our opponents more confused about our Poker hands.

Totally agree, though you need to grow a pair of "nutz" in order to maintain a strategy like that. It's a skill hard to master because of the exposure it creates on yourself. Also it tends to be the "bluffer's way", and once your bluff is exposed, the pressure is even higher, because you're likely to get called/re-raised more often. It implies taking big risks. If i have a decent bankroll backing me up, it's my way to go as well, though it has proven less successful (online at least and in early stages of a tournament), given the huge variety of players, and more successful in later stages of a tournament.

 

[RocwX]

It's generally better to raise, but you shouldn't be absolutely averse to limping. Let's say you're on the button holding JTs and three players limped. It would take a big raise to isolate the pot, greater than 4x, I think, and your hand is not strong enough to make such a move. Since the other players made the pot odds very interesting it might be a good thing to limp as well. If you end up hitting a straight or a flush, you're going to take a big pot. If you miss the flop entirely, at least you only invested 1bb.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: avoid limping when you can, but know how to use it in your favor if other players are doing it.

 

[akmost]

I agree with you , by open limp you invite more players to see a cheap flop with literally any two cards , the thing that we will see a flop 3-4 players is disastrous for any read or any calculation we can made. Especially an open limp from EP(UTG , UTG+1).Flat some hands in position after a open raise is also a good move.

Although lately I have watched some poker videos and they use the open limp strategy but in the LP positions with semi strong hands , something like KJ etc apparently not in freerolls / micro but in higher online stakes. We can see in position more flops.It is something I rarely do but if I have a read on a maniac opponents I try to trap him.