Why You Should Never Open
Limp
Limping into a pot is usually not the optimal
play regardless of action ahead of you, but it
is even worse when you are the first to
voluntarily put money in the pot. Nothing
screams weakness like an open limp. You do not
set yourself apart as the aggressor and you are
helpless when you get raised. If you are raised
you must fold, which makes the money you
invested to limp a complete waste. If other
players limp you have no idea what hands they
might have. If you limp re-raise your strength
becomes obvious.
The benefit of open limping
The benefit of open limping is that you get
to see a flop cheap. That way if you miss you
haven’t lost too much.
WRONG.
This is the approach that many players take
and the exact sentiment they express when
attempting to justify open limping. You will
even hear some commentators talk about the great
benefits of limping into a pot, but it is quite
simply not beneficial to you.
Why the "benefit" makes no sense
So you saw a flop cheaply by open limping and
you hit it. You make a bet and the other
player(s) fold. Maybe you make a bet and someone
calls. The best way to see why open limping was
not nearly as effective as it seems is to look
how the hand would have played out had you not
open limped.
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If you raise with your hand and hit there is
already more money in the pot. Is your goal not
to make the most money possible when you have a
strong hand and lose the least when you have a
weak one? The bet you make on the flop with your
made hand now either allows you to take down a
larger pot if the other players fold or builds
up the pot faster if someone calls. In addition
to this is the added money you will make when
you bet the flop after missing. Think about when
you are more likely to fold, when a player limps
pre-flop and then bets the flop or when a player
raises pre-flop and then bets the flop? You are
of course more likely to fold when that player
showed some aggression pre-flop. Limping gives
away your weakness, you never want to give free
advice to your opponents.
Ways that you burn money when you open limp
There are two major ways to just light your
money on fire when you open limp. You either
fold after a raise is made or you lose out on
money if you call a raise and play the hand out.
There is no reason to limp into a pot if you are
only going to fold to a raise anyway, and there
is no reason to limp if you are only going to
call a raise regardless. Instead you should make
up your mind before you open limp. Just ask
yourself, "Is this hand worth playing or isn't
it?" Many people who like to open limp will
answer this question with “I don’t know.” If you
are open limping you should first learn what
types of hands you should be open raising with
or folding with. Once you have an idea of what
hands to raise with pre-flop you will need less
time to convince yourself to abandon the open
limp.
Summary of why not to open limp
Open limping's biggest justification is the
biggest reason you should not be doing it. The
reason many players open limp is to see a flop
"cheap" and hope they hit. A good poker player
loses the least with weak hands and makes the
most with strong ones. Since you are
apprehensive to raise you should just fold and
lose the least, or raise and make the most.
