If somebody limps in front of you, you should learn to interpret that as free money. The famous grinder Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt put it this way once, and I am loosely quoting, “When you notice some money on the ground do you just walk by or do you stop and pick it up?” The same principle applies here. Limping is a sign of weakness and you need to take advantage of it.
It is difficult to give many hard and fast rules in poker as so often the best answer is “it depends.” Not in this case however. If there are one or two limpers in front of you, and you have any of the hands that were listed above by position, you should raise it up.
Should You Raise More When There Are Limpers?
Absolutely. You should raise your standard amount plus an extra big blind for each limper.
This is a situation at the micros where I constantly see inexperienced players making a mistake. They make the same raise size whether there are a bunch of limpers or they are first in the pot. If one limper calls usually the rest will call like a domino effect. When that many people call you, somebody is very likely to have hit a decent part of the flop. This will make it much harder for you to win the pot because you will now need to make a good hand yourself.
–> You always need to remember that the whole point of a preflop raise is to either take down the pot right then and there, or to see a flop with one or two people at most. And preferably only one other.
Now this is going to be game and player specific. As mentioned before, some players, especially bad ones, will be willing to call nearly anything to see the flop. Conversely, some players will habitually limp and fold for even the smallest amount. As a rule though, the one big blind for each limper on top of your standard raise should get the job done. As I keep reminding you though, do not be afraid to improvise if game conditions demand it.
Lastly, at the micros you will often encounter the situation where it is folded to the SB and he limps your BB. You should raise 4x and sometimes more if you have a premium hand at NL2. Your range should be around 50% of your hands as they will fold an incredible amount of the time. And even when they don’t fold you will have position and initiative, which as mentioned, are the two ingredients for success in poker.
Example:
Blinds are 1c/2c. In MP you have,
And there are two limpers.
You should raise it to 6x = 12c (4x standard + 2x for the limpers).
Example: Blinds are 1c/2c.
In LP you have,
And there is one limper.
You should raise it to 4x = 8c (3x standard + 1x for the limper).
Example: Blinds are 1c/2c.
In MP you have,
And there is one limper.
You should raise it to 6x = 12c (5x standard + 1x for the limper).
Example: Blinds are 2c/5c.
In LP you have,
And there are three limpers.
You should raise it to 6x = 30c (3x standard + 3x for the limpers).
Example: Blinds are 2c/5c.
In LP you have,
And there is one limper.
You should raise it to 4x = 20c (3x standard + 1x for the limper).
Example: Blinds are 2c/5c.
In the BB you have,
And the SB open limps.
You should raise it to 4x = 20c.
