HUSNG Assertion: You should never limp.

[Nichomacheo]

I limp a fair amount during all levels of a standard Heads Up SNG. I've played some opponents who never do it. Some are easily exploitable because of postflop weaknesses, but some players are very difficult to play against when they're smart postflop. So the question is: Should a good player limp preflop? If so, under what conditions and with what hands?

Nicho

[Nichomacheo]

Phenom (!), I'd like your take on this especailly, since I recall that you never limped preflop in our matches.

[dippy111]

I think that following an "always do" rule in HU can only lead to holes in your game. Sure some players raise or fold every hand, and do it very profitably. But that doesn't mean that it's never better to limp. It all depends on the type of opponent you're playing. If the opponent usually either folds or raises to a pf bet, but is terribly loose post and not very perceptive, then it would make sense to limp very often. This is an extreme case of course, but there are still many situations where opponents have holes that can be exploited by limping, even if rarely.

[derosnec]

why anyone would limp in position is beyond me

[ThePhenom919]

I'm sure i'm not the only one who thinks like that, but limping lowers ur expected value for basically any decent hand preflop and on the flop.

[dboy23]

i've recently come to the opposite conclusion. Agaisnt most of my opponents I can turn alot of folding hands into limping hands where I had been folding.

then there are people who raise your limps an optimal % of the time and you have to adjust to mostly raise/fold.

And then.....there are people who raise your limps too much, where you might be better off limping some decent hands, letting them raise, and calling. I find that most of the time on FTP I bet a big (often potsize) cbet out of them on the flop, and some often almost always double barrel as well.

I really like this line as it gets my opponents to do alot of OOP bluffing.

So yeah, I like limping against nonoptimal opponents in either direction.

[TNixon]

Slightly off-topic:

I've started very aggressively attacking frequent limpers in HUSNGs, raising to 4x, with most hands that I would raise from the button, backing off if they call too many attacks.

Would you say this is attacking too often or too much (what is optimal, exactly?), and is it actually a good idea to try to attack so much at the lower buyins where people are limping very frequently? I found I was getting a *lot* more folds than I expected to, which is why I started being really aggressive with it, but I might have gone overboard. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[XxPenguinxX]

[ QUOTE ]
why anyone would limp in position is beyond me

[/ QUOTE ]

Because against tight/passive players, you can turn trash hands into small winners by bluffing effectively postflop.

[dboy23]

[ QUOTE ]
Slightly off-topic:

I've started very aggressively attacking frequent limpers in HUSNGs, raising to 4x, with most hands that I would raise from the button, backing off if they call too many attacks.

Would you say this is attacking too often or too much (what is optimal, exactly?), and is it actually a good idea to try to attack so much at the lower buyins where people are limping very frequently? I found I was getting a *lot* more folds than I expected to, which is why I started being really aggressive with it, but I might have gone overboard. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

I think it is likely that you raise too many limps. Against players like you I would begin to limp some nice hands and either just call your raise or LRR.

As for what % you should be raising limps, I'm not sure what is optimal. I usually base my decision to limp/fold or raise/limp on feel of how my opponent will react.

[Goldmund]

Limping is fine against frequent callers (say they call three out of four of your standard raises) and they give you a little headache postflop. if they play 'fit or fold' after your preflop raises, pumping it say MOST of the time should be okay. W regard to Phenom, I've played him a few times, and in my opinion his biggest weakness is exactly raising too often preflop, because he's much less aggressive postflop and thus fairly 'floatable'. I think he gives up most of the time after his c-bet is called, which should lead to LESS raising preflop instead of nearly every hand. I'm definitely in the limping camp. Goldmund