Poker Tournament Strategy - Avoiding The Limp

All players limp now and then for one reason or another in tournaments. Limping seems week, because ordinarily the act of calling waives control of the hand to someone else at the table. But is limping a viable strategy when all of the poker training you hear about online always slants to play more aggressive?

Surely, as in all poker situations the answer is of course "it depends". There is to be sure, a reason to limp in particular situations. The problem with limping however, is that uninitiated players tend to do it excessively, and from the wrong position. Consistent limping in early position in online poker tournament is a formula for a poor strategy.

There are two huge factors that make early position limping costly. Players that still have to act can throw a big surprise by re-raising. Oftentimes you will be forced to call a raise because you have committed yourself to a proper mathematical call, with a average strength hand. In the early stages of the tournament you should not really be paying too much attention to mathematically proper calls. You should be giving far more care to preserving your stack and identifying profitable chip up situations.

The second problem with limping is simply that most flops will not even give you a pair. In fact only around one in three flops will pair with one of your hold cards. And of course when you miss the flop, you risk your opponent taking control of the hand with a post flop raise, putting you in a tough spot.

Now you can use limping to your advantage however, and this is virtually always done in position or in an effort to set a trap. Good players in fact, will use this as a tactic with the purpose of out-playing their adversaries after the flop, while utilizing pot control and profiling. Still however, if your normal starting chips are only fifteen hundred you'll won't have much room for error, so strategically, limping is better in order to keep your costs low.

Early-stage limping can often be ascribed to players holding smaller pairs, suited connectors or weak aces. So if you're in late position and you have a big pair or a strong ace you should be attempting to take command of the pot by raising pre-flop. Two out of three times a continuation bet is going to take the pot down for you.