If a hand is good enough to call a raise with, you're better off being the aggressor

[Brooklynbum]

I see a lot of players during tournaments limp in in EP or MP with marginal holdings and then proceed to call a raise OOP. This is passive play at its worst. I always go by the theory that if a hand is good enough to call a raise with then you might as well be the aggressor, especially preflop in a tournament when you're OOP.

This is incorrect play unless you're setting a trap with a big hand.

Any thoughts or ideas about this theory?

[irishpkr]

OK I definately agree with the idea of limp/calling preflop - its really really horrible, it turns your hand faceup, and you end up OOP and out of initiative. So I like never do that.

However sometimes I think its OK to overlimp. For example, with limpers in front who love to call raises, I might just overlimp speculative hands like 22/87s etc to try to hit something. Theres not much point building a big pot with something very marginal

[gamer4life27]

Many people think of poker as a really long mind game. The more you play, the more minds games you will have put into play. You could play with 5 different people at 5 different times at 5 different tables, and if you have done it right, you could give each one of them different impressions about what kind of player you are.

Smooth calling pre flop, then calling someones raise is not wrong, just a good way to give a lot of your chips away. When you call the BB, and someone behind you raises, and you call, theres only a small number of hands you can put the person on. A small pair, a large pair, suited connectors, or high connectors, or even a suited ace.

Sometimes, some pro's call the BB with huge hands in hopes that someone might raise them, so it would thin the field a little bit. If the other persons raise does think the field, then the original caller could just choose to call to set a REALLY BIG trap. This could be one solution to people calling/calling pre flop.

Another would be if they want to see the flop for as cheaply as possible. When you have suited connectors, or a small pair, then you want to see the flop to see if you connected and hopefully get more chips out of the other person. When you don't connect, the person can either check/fold, check/call to try and steal the pot later on, or check/raise for a bluff/semi-bluff. Plus, if he just called the BB, and theres only one raiser, and other don't raise, but call, and your the last to act, and they want to see the flop, of course they are going to call the bet.

So most people don't just call/call pre flop to donk off there chips, most of the time, they have a reason to want to see the flop. And about half the time that happens, if someone else had raised the other guys raise, then the person who called/called would probably have folded. So don't think of it as they are making a bad play, think of it as them making a sneaky play.

[iceveins0901]

I think it depends, I will tend to limp/call to set mine and continue to slowplay if the player is very aggressive, or if I have an idea of who the aggressor is going to be, I will sometimes limp/call and then check call the flop bet, check raising the turn or river with a hand that is somewhat modest but most likely the best against against a specific type of player

[liladypokerpro]

Generally the consensus is, if you'd call a raise with it, then be the raiser. But, as with every poker related topic, it always depends on the situation...position, stacks, etc.

[Wyte22]

I am only adding two words to this post, it is what I love to do

When in doubt, put them



ALL IN!!!!!!

[Vito_Nuccio]

This question really depends on the situation. Limping and calling are not winning poker habits. But there is a time and a place for these plays.

You must be cautious when playing in lower dollar tourneys, thus limping and calling may come into light. Say you are in a $5-10 MTT tourney. It is within the first blind level or two and you have a hand like 88-99 in the cutoff with two callers. I have found at the lower stakes tourneys if you raise 4-6 BB here you will still get 2 or more callers at the early blind levels. Do you want to risk half or even your entire stack in the first 10 minutes on 88 or 99? I say not often. Chips are important, but doubling up early in a large tourney guarantees nothing, while going broke will assure an early exit. Once the blinds are at level 3 or more, then the raise comes. At the lower level tourneys you need to thin the fish and donks. While you want to get some of these early available chips for later, there is no need to risk large amounts of your stack in the early stages of a tourney or to get into large multi-way pots that you helped build with mid pairs.

With the above described situation and all others I am never absolute with the rules or even my own reasoning. I do raise here even at first blind level, but as mentioned by most in the poll, the situation and the poker voice from my liver and lung determines the action I take.

Limp and call will not get you to the final table, but if used little at the proper time, it can be yet another tool in your box.

Later,

[Clearwheezy]

i know this is an extremely old post, but hey...i'm knew.

so are you saying that you shouldn't play 88 or 99 in early stages of smaller MTTs?
why not raise and represent the ace? if you get called or reraised you can gain ranges, and figure out what to do.

Although it is a very appropriate response, sometimes i think that saying "it depends on the situation" is such a cop out.