How Do You Deal With Limpers?

[Aleksei]

It’s funny because I hardly ever limp – I mean hardly ever, the only time I do is after 1 or 2 players limping before me and I’m in late position. Also in the first 1 to 2 levels of a deep stack tournament I will limp with practically everything just because raising doesn’t do much with 350BB stacks all around the table.

It’s really frustrating for me though, other players habitually limp into pots from all positions. I habitually raise from late positions with a very wide range and they habitually call and, oh guess what….that’s right, check. Now I’m certain that I’m +EV with my continuation bets, but every so often I get some A-hole that limp/check/calls all the way down, or I fold at some point in there and lose more chips than I really want to.

It’s a giant pain in the ass for me and it doesn’t change; ever. So I’ve tried to take an analytical approach to this problem and attempted to understand the psyche of a limper. I’ve come up with a couple of questions:

1. Is it ever profitable to limp into a pot? And let’s forget about the standard rookie/weak player limp/raising from UTG.
2. What are they attempting to accomplish?
3. Do I need to limp more often?

I know everyone that sits at the table has seen Rounder’s or some other Hollywood conception of poker; generally I can see them coming from a mile away as they limp/raise from UTG so I don’t think that’s what I’m really after here. In such a case they obviously have their reasons for doing it – and I have done it too, albeit, I do only in very explicit and rare situations.

I just don’t see how it’s profitable to play like that – they get no information on anyone else’s hand; which is fine because they’re not playing poker but are playing cards instead. That’s ok if that’s how they want to play, it’s their money and it just adds value to my stack, but why limp in the first place; surely they must figure out eventually that it is not profitable; right?

I generally only limp if I’m in the blinds and no one has raised or behind two+ limpers and I never really intend on winning the pot; I just do it to try to throw players off of what I’m actually trying to accomplish. But this approach in and of itself is an oxymoron since if all they’re thinking about is their cards they certainly do not notice my limp/raise numbers.

Yet every few games or so, as I keep raising the same limpers over and over again (some of which are regular players and players I would otherwise consider to be above average), they say “Man….you raise every time I limp!” I always respond by saying “There’s a pattern emerging here…” which usually gets me a glare.

Anyway, ultimately I’m just not real sure of myself when dealing with limpers and default to aggression to save my bacon. That usually works, especially as the blinds gets higher and higher, but at the same time I wonder; should I be limping more often? Limping more often would be akin to taking a kind of “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach; or, do I keep on raising?

It’s just obvious that the limping is never going to end – so I need to understand that approach to the game better if such an approach exists.

People who limp really wide are people who don't understand the game and are trying to get lucky.

Just f**k around with them. Loosen your range against them since you will dominate them in most hands, and keep taking down their chips until they get wise. Hey, you're doing a public service here.

 

[GWU73]

I am inclined to limp behind with suited connectors and small to mid pairs unless I think I can can steal the pot or isolate a weak player by raising. I am almost never open limping, but occasionally it is a good change up, or set up for a future hand. Once stacks get shallow I will almost never play a limped pot.

 

[Jayson745]

The responses in this thread do not suprize me one bit. And most people here would look at some of the things I do as absolutely horrible. But I do win money playing tournaments. I'm a withdrawer, not a depositor. And I do it playing a different style than most of you. Most people think limping is horrible, but I do it quite a bit. There are plenty of situations where it works great if your good enough at playing post flop. Over the years I've tried lots of different strategies. I've been the aggressive table captain, and I've been the nit. I'll start by saying that every table has its own strategy depending on how others are playing and the blind size relative to your stack dictates how much rope you can give. I think a lot of people have fallen into this cookie cutter rhythm of doing the same things all the time. U play AQ a certain way from late position every time, because thats what they say to do, so thats how you learned to play. I've always been someone who thinks out side the box and learns my own ways of doing things. Back to the point. The first thing limping or checking does is keep the pot small preflop. I believe this is incredibly important to play the way the way I do. I've grown very comfortable playing poker. What I mean by that is, I dont feel the need to steal everything preflop or set up a continuation bet every time I play a hand. I eat those guys alive. Basically, I like the punish the guys who like to try and punish limpers. I like flops, I like turns, and I even like rivers. I often dont start feeding a pot until the turn/river or sometimes I will call all the way down without ever raising. A limp or a call is not always weakness, and it doesn't mean your done with the pot. It means you didn't bet. Thats all. And its mostly profitable because 95% of the people out there think it is weakness. If you have the best hand, why would you want to fold the guy? Let him put some chips in there. Its not uncommon to see me hit 2nd or 3rd pair on a flop and check/call. Its not uncommon to see me reverse float (if thats even a real thing). I already know what most will say about that. "but you get no information". I do not think thats true. Its how he responds to your check that gives you the info. He'll almost always bet (which is hilarious to me), and the size/speed of that bet will tell you volumes once you get good at reading these situations. Also, sense you kept the pot so small preflop, its not going to hurt that much to call some bets, because relative to the pot size, they will not be huge bets. Now if you raised preflop, his flop bet will be bigger and you wont get to the river without putting a large percentage of your chips in there. Ok, this post is getting long already, so I'll just put an example of a very common scenario playing against me, that will probably have some shaking there head. I'm sitting on 77. I limp. The guy in late postion bets 3x-4x the blind. I call. The flop is 5 8 K. I check. He bets 3/4th the pot and does so rather quickly. Now if its only the 2 of us in the hand, this is not a scary bet to me. He likely wants me to fold. I do not do anything rash, I just call. The turn is a 2. I check knowing he is almost certainly going to check behind me and get a free card. I'm fine with this. If he does bet, you continue to look at how much and how fast he does it. If you weren't losing on the flop, your probably still not losing. The river comes a 3. At this point there are 2 choices, and it really depends on how confident I am that he doesn't have something like 99 or 1010 (the only kind of hands I'm really worried about losing to). Betting 1/3rd of the pot will likely make him fold in shame either way. But if its someone I am very confident has absolutely nothing I dont want that. So I'll check again knowing hes now going to hammer it pretty hard. He knows hes only winning if I fold, and poker players are typically not fond of giving up. I call and make him look like an idiot with his A 10. This can be a dangerous way to play until you get good at understanding why he does what he does on each street, but the more you master playing flop/turn/river and letting the other guy keep feeding the pot with trash, the more it works wonderfully. And the best part is, if you were wrong about him the whole time, its not going to cost your whole stack because you started the hand limping. Had you raised preflop, your either only getting the blinds, or your getting folded later and losing chips. That is more of a mid tourney scenario, when you have a decent stack to play with. I also limp early in tournaments when its cheap and a lot of other limp so I'll get paid if I hit, and very late in a tournaments when the blinds are huge, but then I'll have AA KK QQ or AK almost every time and I'll be in early position so theres a lot of people still to act, so theres a better chance of someone stealing, and I'll be looking to limp/shove preflop, which can be insanely profitable. When the blinds are huge, and everyone is dieing for chips, your limp combined with the antes and blinds make it almost irresistible for someone to try and steal preflop. And they do it by either shoving, committing themselves, or losing a large percentage of their chips. Or once in a while you'll play to a flop with the blinds and the best hand.

edit:
I'm pretty tired right now and realize my scenario is stupid because whether I raise or let him raise, the pot is still raised preflop. But your limp sometimes triggers him to limp behind you. Regardless if someone is going to bet, I'd rather it be the other guy, because that will make him continuation bet most of the time. Yes, I would prefer to have someone raise me from position. Because i'm insane. lol. Regardless, it works. I'm a calling station most of the time. The anti poker player poker player.

 

[ovitoo]

no way.

 

[Acesinthebig]

The responses in this thread do not suprize me one bit. And most people here would look at some of the things I do as absolutely horrible. But I do win money playing tournaments. I'm a withdrawer, not a depositor. And I do it playing a different style than most of you. Most people think limping is horrible, but I do it quite a bit. There are plenty of situations where it works great if your good enough at playing post flop. Over the years I've tried lots of different strategies. I've been the aggressive table captain, and I've been the nit. I'll start by saying that every table has its own strategy depending on how others are playing and the blind size relative to your stack dictates how much rope you can give. I think a lot of people have fallen into this cookie cutter rhythm of doing the same things all the time. U play AQ a certain way from late position every time, because thats what they say to do, so thats how you learned to play. I've always been someone who thinks out side the box and learns my own ways of doing things. Back to the point. The first thing limping or checking does is keep the pot small preflop. I believe this is incredibly important to play the way the way I do. I've grown very comfortable playing poker. What I mean by that is, I dont feel the need to steal everything preflop or set up a continuation bet every time I play a hand. I eat those guys alive. Basically, I like the punish the guys who like to try and punish limpers. I like flops, I like turns, and I even like rivers. I often dont start feeding a pot until the turn/river or sometimes I will call all the way down without ever raising. A limp or a call is not always weakness, and it doesn't mean your done with the pot. It means you didn't bet. Thats all. And its mostly profitable because 95% of the people out there think it is weakness. If you have the best hand, why would you want to fold the guy? Let him put some chips in there. Its not uncommon to see me hit 2nd or 3rd pair on a flop and check/call. Its not uncommon to see me reverse float (if thats even a real thing). I already know what most will say about that. "but you get no information". I do not think thats true. Its how he responds to your check that gives you the info. He'll almost always bet (which is hilarious to me), and the size/speed of that bet will tell you volumes once you get good at reading these situations. Also, sense you kept the pot so small preflop, its not going to hurt that much to call some bets, because relative to the pot size, they will not be huge bets. Now if you raised preflop, his flop bet will be bigger and you wont get to the river without putting a large percentage of your chips in there. Ok, this post is getting long already, so I'll just put an example of a very common scenario playing against me, that will probably have some shaking there head. I'm sitting on 77. I limp. The guy in late postion bets 3x-4x the blind. I call. The flop is 5 8 K. I check. He bets 3/4th the pot and does so rather quickly. Now if its only the 2 of us in the hand, this is not a scary bet to me. He likely wants me to fold. I do not do anything rash, I just call. The turn is a 2. I check knowing he is almost certainly going to check behind me and get a free card. I'm fine with this. If he does bet, you continue to look at how much and how fast he does it. If you weren't losing on the flop, your probably still not losing. The river comes a 3. At this point there are 2 choices, and it really depends on how confident I am that he doesn't have something like 99 or 1010 (the only kind of hands I'm really worried about losing to). Betting 1/3rd of the pot will likely make him fold in shame either way. But if its someone I am very confident has absolutely nothing I dont want that. So I'll check again knowing hes now going to hammer it pretty hard. He knows hes only winning if I fold, and poker players are typically not fond of giving up. I call and make him look like an idiot with his A 10. This can be a dangerous way to play until you get good at understanding why he does what he does on each street, but the more you master playing flop/turn/river and letting the other guy keep feeding the pot with trash, the more it works wonderfully. And the best part is, if you were wrong about him the whole time, its not going to cost your whole stack because you started the hand limping. Had you raised preflop, your either only getting the blinds, or your getting folded later and losing chips. That is more of a mid tourney scenario, when you have a decent stack to play with. I also limp early in tournaments when its cheap and a lot of other limp so I'll get paid if I hit, and very late in a tournaments when the blinds are huge, but then I'll have AA KK QQ or AK almost every time and I'll be in early position so theres a lot of people still to act, so theres a better chance of someone stealing, and I'll be looking to limp/shove preflop, which can be insanely profitable. When the blinds are huge, and everyone is dieing for chips, your limp combined with the antes and blinds make it almost irresistible for someone to try and steal preflop. And they do it by either shoving, committing themselves, or losing a large percentage of their chips. Or once in a while you'll play to a flop with the blinds and the best hand.

edit:
I'm pretty tired right now and realize my scenario is stupid because whether I raise or let him raise, the pot is still raised preflop. But your limp sometimes triggers him to limp behind you. Regardless if someone is going to bet, I'd rather it be the other guy, because that will make him continuation bet most of the time. Yes, I would prefer to have someone raise me from position. Because i'm insane. lol. Regardless, it works. I'm a calling station most of the time. The anti poker player poker player.

I agree with this post very much ++++++111111111111
Great job!!! OMG, a person who can think for themselves, what are we gonna do. I almost gave up on this thread until I came to this... BRAVO

 

[Acesinthebig]

If that makes us donkey's then fine I'm a donkey, and I will shut up and keep withdrawing and making tons of money, because God knows my first job doesn't pay that good, lol.

 

[Acesinthebig]

Jayson745, get ready for all the naysayers, here they come.

 

[ssbn743]

It doesn’t matter if you can think for yourself if your thought process doesn’t make any sense!

There are plenty of situations where it works great if your good enough at playing post flop.

While I will generally agree with this statement it is impossible to consistently make good post flop decisions with little or no information about your opponents hand pre-flop – that’s a huge problem and a huge hole; there is no way you’re a “withdrawler” and not a “depositor” with such an approach.

I think a lot of people have fallen into this cookie cutter rhythm of doing the same things all the time. U play AQ a certain way from late position every time, because thats what they say to do, so thats how you learned to play.

There is certainly some truth to this line of thought. When I first started playing poker many years ago, only people in the know had read “Super System” and over betting the pot with a flopped set was considered the way to go; when was the last time you saw that? I haven’t seen it consistently for a long time and don’t even do it myself anymore – everyone knows that one!

So times change, and so must poker strategies; but not so much as to put yourself at a disadvantage by not collecting information on your opponents hand and then claiming to be able to outplay opponents post flop.

I already know what most will say about that. "but you get no information". I do not think thats true. Its how he responds to your check that gives you the info. He'll almost always bet (which is hilarious to me), and the size/speed of that bet will tell you volumes once you get good at reading these situations.

If there is even an inkling of truth to this statement – what are you doing wasting you time positing on this site; you should be winning the wsop!

 

[Zorba]

The responses in this thread do not suprize me one bit. And most people here would look at some of the things I do as absolutely horrible. But I do win money playing tournaments. I'm a withdrawer, not a depositor. And I do it playing a different style than most of you. Most people think limping is horrible, but I do it quite a bit. There are plenty of situations where it works great if your good enough at playing post flop. Over the years I've tried lots of different strategies. I've been the aggressive table captain, and I've been the nit. I'll start by saying that every table has its own strategy depending on how others are playing and the blind size relative to your stack dictates how much rope you can give. I think a lot of people have fallen into this cookie cutter rhythm of doing the same things all the time. U play AQ a certain way from late position every time, because thats what they say to do, so thats how you learned to play. I've always been someone who thinks out side the box and learns my own ways of doing things. Back to the point. The first thing limping or checking does is keep the pot small preflop. I believe this is incredibly important to play the way the way I do. I've grown very comfortable playing poker. What I mean by that is, I dont feel the need to steal everything preflop or set up a continuation bet every time I play a hand. I eat those guys alive. Basically, I like the punish the guys who like to try and punish limpers. I like flops, I like turns, and I even like rivers. I often dont start feeding a pot until the turn/river or sometimes I will call all the way down without ever raising. A limp or a call is not always weakness, and it doesn't mean your done with the pot. It means you didn't bet. Thats all. And its mostly profitable because 95% of the people out there think it is weakness. If you have the best hand, why would you want to fold the guy? Let him put some chips in there. Its not uncommon to see me hit 2nd or 3rd pair on a flop and check/call. Its not uncommon to see me reverse float (if thats even a real thing). I already know what most will say about that. "but you get no information". I do not think thats true. Its how he responds to your check that gives you the info. He'll almost always bet (which is hilarious to me), and the size/speed of that bet will tell you volumes once you get good at reading these situations. Also, sense you kept the pot so small preflop, its not going to hurt that much to call some bets, because relative to the pot size, they will not be huge bets. Now if you raised preflop, his flop bet will be bigger and you wont get to the river without putting a large percentage of your chips in there. Ok, this post is getting long already, so I'll just put an example of a very common scenario playing against me, that will probably have some shaking there head. I'm sitting on 77. I limp. The guy in late postion bets 3x-4x the blind. I call. The flop is 5 8 K. I check. He bets 3/4th the pot and does so rather quickly. Now if its only the 2 of us in the hand, this is not a scary bet to me. He likely wants me to fold. I do not do anything rash, I just call. The turn is a 2. I check knowing he is almost certainly going to check behind me and get a free card. I'm fine with this. If he does bet, you continue to look at how much and how fast he does it. If you weren't losing on the flop, your probably still not losing. The river comes a 3. At this point there are 2 choices, and it really depends on how confident I am that he doesn't have something like 99 or 1010 (the only kind of hands I'm really worried about losing to). Betting 1/3rd of the pot will likely make him fold in shame either way. But if its someone I am very confident has absolutely nothing I dont want that. So I'll check again knowing hes now going to hammer it pretty hard. He knows hes only winning if I fold, and poker players are typically not fond of giving up. I call and make him look like an idiot with his A 10. This can be a dangerous way to play until you get good at understanding why he does what he does on each street, but the more you master playing flop/turn/river and letting the other guy keep feeding the pot with trash, the more it works wonderfully. And the best part is, if you were wrong about him the whole time, its not going to cost your whole stack because you started the hand limping. Had you raised preflop, your either only getting the blinds, or your getting folded later and losing chips. That is more of a mid tourney scenario, when you have a decent stack to play with. I also limp early in tournaments when its cheap and a lot of other limp so I'll get paid if I hit, and very late in a tournaments when the blinds are huge, but then I'll have AA KK QQ or AK almost every time and I'll be in early position so theres a lot of people still to act, so theres a better chance of someone stealing, and I'll be looking to limp/shove preflop, which can be insanely profitable. When the blinds are huge, and everyone is dieing for chips, your limp combined with the antes and blinds make it almost irresistible for someone to try and steal preflop. And they do it by either shoving, committing themselves, or losing a large percentage of their chips. Or once in a while you'll play to a flop with the blinds and the best hand.

edit:
I'm pretty tired right now and realize my scenario is stupid because whether I raise or let him raise, the pot is still raised preflop. But your limp sometimes triggers him to limp behind you. Regardless if someone is going to bet, I'd rather it be the other guy, because that will make him continuation bet most of the time. Yes, I would prefer to have someone raise me from position. Because i'm insane. lol. Regardless, it works. I'm a calling station most of the time. The anti poker player poker player.

Wow my eyes hurt, ever heard of paragraphs.

 

[Jayson745]

"Wow my eyes hurt, ever heard of paragraphs."
yea, sorry about that. I was exhausted, and just typing as I thought in hopes that it would end up making some sense at the end. lol

My main point was to think for yourselves. Because there are a lot of different strategies that will beat an average field. Times are always changing. And if everyone is playing the same way, I'd rather take advantage of that, than to play like everyone else and hope its my turn to win.

there was a time not that long ago when playing the way most do today would be considered insane.

Lastly, you can play passively and win if you do it right. I'm not here making things up for fun or to be a troll. This is what I do every day, and I do make money. Believe me or not, makes little difference to me and my loot But this idea that blind aggression is the only way to play is the main reason my way works so well.

I'm also not trying to say I play every single hand the same way. But I am saying that VERY often, I will play defensively (checking/calling instead of raising), and it works for me.

 

[AlfieAA]

Limpers are poor players who are easily punished....then again I've seen lots of cc players who limp in the league and freeroll games, so you thought they would have learned the basic rule of open raising.....but everyone is different and if they want to give the BB a free look at the flop without getting any information then that's up to them I suppose...its certainly not something I would do because it is a very weak action....

 

[duggs]

Limpers are poor players who are easily punished....then again I've seen lots of cc players who limp in the league and freeroll games, so you thought they would have learned the basic rule of open raising.....but everyone is different and if they want to give the BB a free look at the flop without getting any information then that's up to them I suppose...its certainly not something I would do because it is a very weak action....

aggression is good as a default. since this is tournaments then effective stack size and relative position and ICM and the effect of antes all contribute to what line we want to take, as a general rule open limping is pretty unprofitable/non optimal in most spots. it can however be good from button and small blind to manipulate the effective stack size. ie limp/call 15bb with AQo bvb can induce alot more spazz than open jamming or r/c since the added fold equity is apparent. also developing a limp/call limp/raise and limp/fold range 25-35bb eff bvb along with raising ranges makes you really annoying to play against and can prevent people exploiting you in position.

limping bvb can also be used to manipulate the bet sizes, ie limping/shoving bvb with 22bb eff can actually garner more fold equity since his raise pre is going to be smaller than his 3bet would have been (or maybe he 3bet shoves). so limp shoving KQs becomes a more profitable line than raise/calling or raise/folding since we have added fold equity aswell as inducing a wider range and also getting checked through v a weaker range.

limp/calling small pairs in EP has been brought up by some really good high stakes guys as a way controlling pot size and keeping a more favourable SPR at stack sizes where set mining 3bets would be unprofitable, and opening and cbetting arent going to be profitable due to our neglible equity on most flops and the likelihood of being out of position repping a thin range.

but yea generally if you have to ask if limping is bad then you shouldnt be limping.

 

[duggs]

as to the general question of how i deal with limpers.

1/ i fish tag them
2/ i isolate them with a wide range IP or raise a widish range for value from the blinds.
3/ i cbet wide
4/ i barrel for value
5/ i size my bets exploitatively. ie bigger for value and smaller as a bluff (only cbets really)
6/ i 3bet other players that isolate them
7/ i report people that berate them in chat.

 

[doomasiggy]

1. Is it ever profitable to limp into a pot? And let’s forget about the standard rookie/weak player limp/raising from UTG.

Yes, with weak pairs/drawing hands

2. What are they attempting to accomplish?

See the flop, hit something, bet.

3. Do I need to limp more often?

If you don't limp at all, then probably.

 

[ssbn743]

I don’t limp very often. The only time I do is in the first 1 to 2 levels of a deep stack, and I am just trying to hit something and bet while concurrently trying to create a loose/passive table image. I understand this and why other players do it. What I don’t understand are players that continue to do it as their stacks get smaller and the blinds get higher. It’s almost like they’re retarded; a fungo would know a limp is probably not going to work out in their favor – but that doesn’t even slow them down as they’re often throwing their limp in the pot while simultaneously looking at their second card.

I have trouble with limping because outside the first few levels, I never really find an opportunity to do so. I am a tight player, always have been, and that’s not a secret. I’ve always been a Mike Caro disciple and Mike will advocate only AQ suited + from EP. As a result I do not open very wide at all from EP, and EP is where the limping occurs.

By the time I’m in middle to late position and willing to play a wider range, someone almost always limp/raise opens before the action comes to me. I have been known to limp UTG, or open raise UTG with air in an attempt to counteract this hole in my game; but it usually takes a while to set this up – often more time than I have, and with a table full of limpers (weak players) they don’t notice these finer points anyway.

Basically, and in a nutshell, when I do limp I have no intention of winning the pot!

 

[Acesinthebig]

as to the general question of how i deal with limpers.

1/ i fish tag them
2/ i isolate them with a wide range IP or raise a widish range for value from the blinds.
3/ i cbet wide
4/ i barrel for value
5/ i size my bets exploitatively. ie bigger for value and smaller as a bluff (only cbets really)
6/ i 3bet other players that isolate them
7/ i report people that berate them in chat.

6 and 7 are very good

 

[DeadlyAim]

Wow lots of comments. Limping = stupid usually what I'm getting from reading.

Not always. If I have a suited connector or pot odds 10 to 1, I call as long is it cheap hesitant if around 1/10 my stack.

The strategy is this if multiple players are playing 3+ with u and u get in cheap u want to hit a straight or flush and if it happens then you want take down the pot so a high card flush don't steal the pot or a better straight and excellent way to KO AJ top pair limper.

But if its heads up it is stupid call... cause if u do hit more than likely u missed ur hand and u won't get money back if u do hit. pot odds determine if I play.

Dealing with a limper... lol... if they call every hand... first hope no one bust him before u do. If u get a solid pair or AJ or higher bet 5x the bb... if they call laugh... here's the thing though. 108, 97 or some garbage is what they call with fear low 849 like that lol... its weird but they would hit something and AJ is only A high at that point slow down and catch up or do a similar bet hoping for a fold. But if 10J2 flop hits or u got over pair then u can do 2 things if ur scared of a draw bet 1/2 their stack... might mean an allin on your part or if u want to get some chips bet 5x bb again.

Psychology is dat they already called it and unless there is a flush draw at worst they got 10s or maybe open ended straight. Hope 987QK miss and then lay the hammer down on the turn put them allin. A fold gets u 10 bb and call might send them packing. If the bad card hit a lucky straight or over pair is possible then just bet 5x bb again. An allin from ur opponent tells u they got something good and a call tells u they missed the turn and at the river... its anyone's guess they might of hit 2pair. So I would 5x bb bet out of position and just concede a check with position. Hoping they missed there draw which, most people say they likely did me included but they did get 5 cracks at it so I'd be weary. At this point u got 15x bb and can try this again 15 more times hoping to trap or get another 15 bb.

Basically your letting limpers see the pot but at your terms and they will not be able to afford to see it if they call with crap over time. Occasionally they hit so be in position 80% of the time and with good cards and u should win usually.

Limpers are excellent players to trap so limp in too and get a read on what type of bets they call 2xbb or 5xbb and trap accordingly. 2xbb, 2xbb, 2xbb don't sound like a trap but if they call with nothing then dat do it once or twice and they'll stop limping if bb are big enough and your not bluffing.

I look for limpers and get rich of them just make them pay or else they will hit a lucky card. Limpers might be addicted to limping its like winning the lottery... I read some where being randomly rewarded for something stupid is addicting no matter how rare it occurs... so might explain why novices like doing it.

 

[Karkus77]

some of the advice/posts in this thread is truly horrifying, thank you duggs for posting some sense

 

[kworm2013]

I am very surprise,you said you hardly ever limp.limp or not depend the cards and the opponents.how I deal with the limpers?Raise or check ,it depends on the objective I want to .

 

[vinylspiros]

The responses in this thread do not suprize me one bit. And most people here would look at some of the things I do as absolutely horrible. But I do win money playing tournaments. I'm a withdrawer, not a depositor. And I do it playing a different style than most of you. Most people think limping is horrible, but I do it quite a bit. There are plenty of situations where it works great if your good enough at playing post flop. Over the years I've tried lots of different strategies. I've been the aggressive table captain, and I've been the nit. I'll start by saying that every table has its own strategy depending on how others are playing and the blind size relative to your stack dictates how much rope you can give. I think a lot of people have fallen into this cookie cutter rhythm of doing the same things all the time. U play AQ a certain way from late position every time, because thats what they say to do, so thats how you learned to play. I've always been someone who thinks out side the box and learns my own ways of doing things. Back to the point. The first thing limping or checking does is keep the pot small preflop. I believe this is incredibly important to play the way the way I do. I've grown very comfortable playing poker. What I mean by that is, I dont feel the need to steal everything preflop or set up a continuation bet every time I play a hand. I eat those guys alive. Basically, I like the punish the guys who like to try and punish limpers. I like flops, I like turns, and I even like rivers. I often dont start feeding a pot until the turn/river or sometimes I will call all the way down without ever raising. A limp or a call is not always weakness, and it doesn't mean your done with the pot. It means you didn't bet. Thats all. And its mostly profitable because 95% of the people out there think it is weakness. If you have the best hand, why would you want to fold the guy? Let him put some chips in there. Its not uncommon to see me hit 2nd or 3rd pair on a flop and check/call. Its not uncommon to see me reverse float (if thats even a real thing). I already know what most will say about that. "but you get no information". I do not think thats true. Its how he responds to your check that gives you the info. He'll almost always bet (which is hilarious to me), and the size/speed of that bet will tell you volumes once you get good at reading these situations. Also, sense you kept the pot so small preflop, its not going to hurt that much to call some bets, because relative to the pot size, they will not be huge bets. Now if you raised preflop, his flop bet will be bigger and you wont get to the river without putting a large percentage of your chips in there. Ok, this post is getting long already, so I'll just put an example of a very common scenario playing against me, that will probably have some shaking there head. I'm sitting on 77. I limp. The guy in late postion bets 3x-4x the blind. I call. The flop is 5 8 K. I check. He bets 3/4th the pot and does so rather quickly. Now if its only the 2 of us in the hand, this is not a scary bet to me. He likely wants me to fold. I do not do anything rash, I just call. The turn is a 2. I check knowing he is almost certainly going to check behind me and get a free card. I'm fine with this. If he does bet, you continue to look at how much and how fast he does it. If you weren't losing on the flop, your probably still not losing. The river comes a 3. At this point there are 2 choices, and it really depends on how confident I am that he doesn't have something like 99 or 1010 (the only kind of hands I'm really worried about losing to). Betting 1/3rd of the pot will likely make him fold in shame either way. But if its someone I am very confident has absolutely nothing I dont want that. So I'll check again knowing hes now going to hammer it pretty hard. He knows hes only winning if I fold, and poker players are typically not fond of giving up. I call and make him look like an idiot with his A 10. This can be a dangerous way to play until you get good at understanding why he does what he does on each street, but the more you master playing flop/turn/river and letting the other guy keep feeding the pot with trash, the more it works wonderfully. And the best part is, if you were wrong about him the whole time, its not going to cost your whole stack because you started the hand limping. Had you raised preflop, your either only getting the blinds, or your getting folded later and losing chips. That is more of a mid tourney scenario, when you have a decent stack to play with. I also limp early in tournaments when its cheap and a lot of other limp so I'll get paid if I hit, and very late in a tournaments when the blinds are huge, but then I'll have AA KK QQ or AK almost every time and I'll be in early position so theres a lot of people still to act, so theres a better chance of someone stealing, and I'll be looking to limp/shove preflop, which can be insanely profitable. When the blinds are huge, and everyone is dieing for chips, your limp combined with the antes and blinds make it almost irresistible for someone to try and steal preflop. And they do it by either shoving, committing themselves, or losing a large percentage of their chips. Or once in a while you'll play to a flop with the blinds and the best hand.

edit:
I'm pretty tired right now and realize my scenario is stupid because whether I raise or let him raise, the pot is still raised preflop. But your limp sometimes triggers him to limp behind you. Regardless if someone is going to bet, I'd rather it be the other guy, because that will make him continuation bet most of the time. Yes, I would prefer to have someone raise me from position. Because i'm insane. lol. Regardless, it works. I'm a calling station most of the time. The anti poker player poker player.

I like what your saying here and i can relate to it in many situtaions. The problem with limping is that you have less chances of winning the pot. You are expecting to win based only on you having the better hand and not by stealing it from him with a c bet with total air. if you raise preflop,you show a certain amount of strength. This, in combination with a c bet on the flop takes it down insantly.

But i hear you man. It is preferrable sometimes to play small ball poker but that is assuming you have the depth(chipwise) to be able to play it well postflop.

 

[Flsnookman]

Im not sure what I like more, the fact that there are so many different ways to play poker or the fact that most "players" think their way is best and anyone who disagrees is a fish. I know I am playing great when I get comments like"you are so lost" and "how does a fish like you get so many chips". Just lucky.

 

[vinylspiros]

Im not sure what I like more, the fact that there are so many different ways to play poker or the fact that most "players" think their way is best and anyone who disagrees is a fish. I know I am playing great when I get comments like"you are so lost" and "how does a fish like you get so many chips". Just lucky.

i know what you mean man. and honestly i used to get mad at them too.Was thinking something like, who are these guys to tell ME what is right and what is wrong.

A few months after being here at this forum ,i have come to the concusion that the advice they give you is very SOLID and if you want to make serious money over a long period of time, you must follow certain rules. sure any amature can win, or a medium strength player might have a some good runs. BUT in the long run you have to follow certain rules in order to win in poker. and those rules vary according to the type of game your playing and your opponents tendencies. if you have a super aggro opponent limping is fine(with a very strong hand 10-10 +). But if you are at a passive table in a tourney with huge blinds then it is a huge mistake. etc etc etc

 

[crisbiazus17]

Punish the limpers but dont get too crazy. Usually wait for the better hands.

 

[sorik_08]

I limp a lot early in tournaments. I try to see as many flops as I can early on. Later on I hardly ever limp. I play much more tight/aggressive later on when I have something before the flop.

 

[Paragon]

The whole point of poker is to extract value from your hands, and thus you have to use the top 10-15% of hands to extract sufficient value from them. By opening with these hands, you will ONLY want to raise. This puts the limpers out and also simplifies your game. However,limping yourself can be profitable in position, when you know what your opponents are thinking.