[Collin Moshman]

Primordial, the "why play moderate/deep HU as strictly raise/fold pre-flop?" is exactly my question.

Cwar, how would your opponents exploit button limping? By raising most of your limps, I assume? Because if so, that in turn is a very exploitable counter-move. You simply limp some of your stronger hands as well, and your opponent's OOP raise will either win him a small pot (when you hold a J4o type hand and usually fold), or he'll be set up to play a larger pot OOP with an inferior hand (when you hold a decent hand, say K J, and call).

Same question to creedofhubris: if you are confident your opponent will be frequently raising button limps, why not mix up your limp/raise frequencies a little and make him gamble on whether he's chosen the right time to raise? This strategy also allows you to play more hands from the button. Position is key enough in HU that I think this benefit outweighs the cost of occasionally having an AA checked behind, or being forced out of a few straight marginal hands after a 1 SB chip investment limping.

Maybe I'm playing devil's advocate a bit, but I would really appreciate a more detailed explanation to the question at the top of this post. It's something that's been on my mind a lot recently.

-- Collin