Most serious Poker players consider Limping (just Calling the Big Blind Pre-Flop) to be a bad play. They will tell you that you need to show Aggression with a Raise and force out those weak hands while taking a strong psychological position into the Flop...and yes, that might be true in a lot of instances but not everyone agrees. One of the worlds most famous Poker players Daniel Negrano has coined the term “Limping is Pimping” because he sees value in the Limp, and I agree with him.
Particularly early in a Tournament with entry level players, just Limping is very common and I would say a smart way to play for most players both new AND experienced. At this level there are a lot of Social Players who just want to PLAY the game and they will enter pots cheaply with a wide range of hands. An aggressive player who is always raising Pre-Flop to force others out of the pot quickly becomes unpopular and misses the opportunity to test out the other players at the table cheaply. Besides, at the early point of a tournament the Blinds are so tiny they are hardly even worth stealing. A Limping strategy early tournament is a very cheap way to get into the game and find out who you’re up against.
There is another really good reason to Limp too, and that’s because it’s smart to get into as many pots as you can with the weaker players while they are still in the game even if it means playing a lot of Multiway Pots. There are always lots of opportunities to outplay weaker opponents early in tournaments when everyone is Limping into a “Family Pot” (a pot where all players see the Flop). Weaker players don’t Hand Read well and they don’t always see the dangers of a Wet Board so you can Trap or Triple Barrel your way into some big wins early if you can isolate a weaker player Post-Flop - even if you start out with an obscure and marginal hand yourself.
In life I always try to be a Contrarian and oppose the Herd. Today the accepted convention in Poker is that Limpers are signaling weakness, but if everyone is thinking the same way then that can be exploited too. As a player who likes to Trap and is playing in tournaments where lots of players like to be Loose and Aggressive, signaling weakness works well in my favor and I do like it when they come at me with those big bets. So I’m with DNegs on this one - Limping is Pimping.
