Limping is a low-risk, low-effort way to see the flop for cheap in online poker, which is probably why so many beginner players do it. However, despite it being such a common practice with new players, one of the most common pieces of advice that beginners receive is not to limp into the pot under any circumstances. But is it really so bad to limp in poker? And if the answer is yes, why is this the case?

Learn what limping is all about and why it’s generally considered such a lousy idea, as well as a couple of specific situations where it makes sense to limp when you play poker online or in person.

What Is Limping in Poker?

Limp is a poker term that describes calling the big blind instead of raising so as to enter the pot for the lowest possible cost. The reason novice players often open-limp in this way is that it helps them to get to see more flops cheaply, which they hope increases their chances of getting lucky. 

This beginner’s logic isn’t exactly untrue, but it prevents players from accomplishing goals like thinning the field and defining what opponents are holding. Typically, limpers lack control of the pot and allow their opponents to see flops without paying or gathering any information about the state of the game. As a result, limping (when done at the wrong time), is typically a losing approach in the long run.

Why You Should Not Limp in Poker

For many players, open limping into the pot is one of the biggest sins that you can commit in poker. It’s widely seen to be a weak, passive approach that eliminates more dynamic opportunities to win the pot.

Think about all the different ways you can win if you raise preflop and try to take control of the pot. You signal to other players that you have good cards, even if that’s not at all the case. If all the other players have junk hands, they could simply fold, giving you whatever is in the pot for free. If one or two opponents come along, you could c-bet and barrel them into submission on the flop, turn, or river. Or you could hit the board and come out on top at showdown, but now there’s a much bigger pot since you’ve forced other players to raise. 

Limping excludes all these possibilities, and it can put a target on your back because more experienced players will assume that you’re weak, passive, and liable to fold to aggression.

Even if you do limp into the flop and do hit, your chances of winning the pot are reduced because you’ve allowed several other players to see the flop, too. As a result, the chances of an opponent having a stronger hand increase. But that’s not all. Not only does limping allow your opponents to see new cards without paying, but it lets them avoid having to make difficult decisions about their hands. In turn, they make fewer mistakes, which means less information for you to use against them. 

With limping, you’re probably also giving away information about how you play. For example, you might be raising on strong hands, limping on hands you’re not sure about, and folding when you have bad cards. Good players will recognize limping for what it is and turn it against you. You might also just be giving away money to your opponents by overcommitting to a pot with a mediocre hand, only to discover on the flop that you’ve lost whatever you’ve wagered and gained absolutely nothing for it.

However, despite all this, that doesn’t mean limping is always a bad idea.

When To Limp in Poker

Just like other games of chance, including slots and variety games, nothing in poker is absolute. Whether you’re talking about limping, tight-aggressive play, or bluffing, there’s no single approach to poker that will guarantee you wins. However, this doesn’t mean that certain approaches don’t have their time and place. As lousy as limping tends to be in general, it can also be profitable under certain specific conditions.

Limp-Raising

One tactic is to open-limp with a very strong hand or a valuable hand with a lot of potential (like an ace-5 suited). The idea behind this unorthodox poker strategy is to have someone else raise and take control when the action returns to you (always remembering to be careful of danger hands). Essentially, this turns limping into a trap by baiting players into thinking you have a weak hand when you don’t.

The danger with this approach is that more skilled players will pick up on what you’re doing and know exactly what to do next time you “limp-raise.” So you’ll want to balance your range when you limp, which can mean limping more often than you’d ideally want to.

Limping Behind

It’s perfectly okay to limp in with a decent hand behind a couple of other limpers. Say you’re in cutoff position, and you’re dealt pocket 5s, which is a hand that’s worth seeing the flop with as long as it doesn’t cost too much to get there. Two players have already limped in ahead of you, so generally, you’ve got nothing to lose by limping along. 

A possible exception is when an aggressive player still has to act after you. There’s nothing an aggressive player likes more than targeting limpers with aggression. In this spot, you may want to consider raising to pre-empt their move or even folding to avoid committing to an expensive pot.

You Have a Late Position

When you’re one of the last people to play, you have a lot of freedom regarding how you move forward because you’ll have the most information about the state of the game. So, if you have a mediocre hand that could turn into a good or great hand on the flop, you may want to limp into the flop to see what turns up. 

Limping in Tournaments

Stack size is critically important in poker tournaments. Often, you’ll have to find a way to play stacks as low as 30, 20, or even 10 big blinds, and having a short stack poker strategy will be vital if you ever find yourself in this situation. One tactic that players use is to limp on the button instead of raising. This makes it harder for the blinds to bully you out of the pot. If your range is properly balanced between strong hands and weaker yet still flop-worthy hands, they’ll have to be careful. If they play too aggressively, they risk running into your carefully hidden monster hand.

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Whatever your favorite game of chance is, you’ll find it here at Borgata Online.