Don’t Limp, Raise!
Many poker beginners try to see as many flops as possible. This is hardly ever a winning strategy, as beginners don’t have the post flop tools to evaluate where they are in the hand respective to their opponents. The sole reason why the strategy of seeing a lot of cheap flops is effective for some players is because they are expert hand readers and have a good feel of where they are at in any hand. If this is not you, then consider the following cautions about limping preflop.
Limping is particularly troublesome in that it doesn’t allow you to establish the strength of your poker hand. By establishing your hand as a strong one, you instill fear in your opponents, and discourage them from calling you down if you miss the flop and need to continuation bet or bluff to win the pot. If you just limp in and miss the flop, you have not established that you have any kind of a strong holding, and your chance of taking down the pot uncontested decreases greatly. Raising preflop knocks out other potential limpers, and can also fold out the small and big blind, as they will be weary of getting in a confrontation out of position with a seemingly weaker holding than yours.
Another thing poker novices like to do is limp a monster hand like pocket kings or pocket aces in an attempt to trap someone. This is especially stupid, as slow playing one pair and overvaluing it on the river is a good way to lose your stack. The range of hands that pays you off when you slow play then make a huge raise on the river is very narrow compared to the range that folds or reraises you with a better holding. Limping a big pair from under the gun or from early position then reraising a raise from a late position bettor is a bad play as well, as it clearly defines the strength of your hand to an opponent in position, so he has the positional advantage to make a perfect play against you after the flop. By raising initially when the action is on you, you establish that you have a strong hand, but also leave the margin of doubt that you could be doing something crazy from early position. Only sprinkle in limps from time to time to throw off your opponents reads, but always be careful and recognize the problems associated with limping.
