Hot Poker Bets

Beware of the Limper

Are we suggested you should be leery of a person with a physical impairment? Of course not. In poker lingo, a limper is merely one who calls the big blind pre-flop. You will often be a limper, or face one or several limpers, in any given hand. Here's what you should consider when facing one or more limpers, while keeping in mind the most important basic fact of poker is, it's a situational game. No hard, unbreakable rules exist and a lot of your play depends on your read of opponents at your specific table.

The most obvious limp play is to see a cheap flop. The limper doesn't have rags, but no jump-for-joy hand either. He's got a mediocre to fairly decent hand, like connectors or two cards suited, and he's in early position. Perhaps his chip count is a little on the fat side, so he feels comfortable right now making a few extra calls. He's thinking that if he can see a flop for the price of the blind, the fee is fair, because the flop might give him a monster.

Your play? Depends on your hole cards, and what you want him to do. Are you holding A-K or A-A? You're expecting to take this pot, so you might want to merely call with the hope of extracting another bet from him after the flop. You may even want to raise just a touch, to get a little more money in the pot. After all, if the raise isn't substantial, it might just be ("whatever, I'm already in") called around again to see the flop.

But perhaps you want the limpers out. Maybe you've got middle pair, or A-x suited, and you don't want anyone catching a flop. Then you raise the limp bet, making it expensive for him/they to see the flop. And don't fool around: sumo the limper's right out with a bet that hurts big time. Of course, if limpers still hang in after you sumo, you've just been given valuable info, depending on your read of the players.

Next scenario: let's say the limper is the button. That means not one single player prior to the button has raised the big blind. They've either folded or limped in themselves.

But the button is always the power position. From the button throne, players usually try to take the pot if nobody's showing strength. And why shouldn't they? As the old saying goes, "if nobody's stealing the blinds, you might as well."

The button should be betting to play or steal or else folding because his hole cards aren't even worth matching the big blind. But now he's limping. If you're one of the blinds, or a previous limper, you've got to seriously consider that he's trying to slow play a monster hand to keep more people in. Then again, he may be simply doing what the other limpers are likely doing: trying to see a cheap flop while holding a mediocre hand. It's you read.

Scenario: the table's been loose, but now suddenly players are limping in to see cheap flops. What do you do?

Nine-time WSOP champ Phil Hellmuth said, "When everyone starts limping looking for cheap flops, then I like to call a lot as well with suited connectors, as I could make the best possible hand on the cheap flop, and hopefully win a huge stack of chips when I do. Of course, 10-9-8 looks a bit more dangerous with my 9-8 suited as one of the several limpers could easily have me beat….

"Another good play when a lot of people limp is to raise it up and try to pickup the pot. In this situation, usually you only have to worry about the first limper, the others will almost always have weak hands, or why else limp behind all of the limpers vs. raise it up?"

Good points. But keep in mind, if they've demonstrated prior loose play, when you raise, they might just come back over the top of you.

As always, your play in each situation depends on your specific table, your read of your opponents, as well as your relative chip count. So beware of the limper, but if it feels like the poker gods have stacked all the chips in your favor, then don't be afraid to go for it.