What to do in the BB when the SB Limps into the Pot Preflop
One situation that you will run into almost every session you play is where you’re sitting in the big blind and the action is folded around to the small blind and the small blind limps into the pot. You have a couple options in this situation which include checking the pot and going to the flop or raising your opponent. If you play on low limit or medium limit tables then you will be able to steal the big blind typically around 70%-80% of the time.
A lot of the time, when a player limps into the pot from the small blind it is because they are hoping to see a cheap flop so that they can see if they hit a monster hand. When a player limps into the pot from the small blind and you raise the pot they will often fold the hand because they have nothing except maybe at best a marginal hand such as low suited connectors. This type of hand is nice to play if you can limp which is why you need to make sure you raise your opponent.
If you’re playing a $2/$4 game and you both have already committed $4 into the pot which is the size of the BB then I would recommend making a pot size raise. If you raise the action to $12 then you should be able to get your opponent to fold most of the time. As long as your opponent folds in this situation 66% of the time roughly then you will make a profit from this move. From my experience over a big number of hands I have found that on the lower and medium limit tables you will get away with this raise about 70-80% of the time which makes this strategy profitable.
If you raise and you end up getting called then you don’t need to worry yet because you still have a chance of winning the hand. It’s strongly recommended that you follow up the preflop raise with a continuation bet after the flop because you’ll have fairly good odds that your opponent will fold at this point as long as they didn’t hit. If they continue to play the hand then you should chalk it up as a loss and slow right down. Remember you’re not going to win every hand in this situation using the above strategy, but you only need to win about 66% of the time to make money using this strategy pending you don’t lose much more in the hand then the initial preflop raise.
You rarely want to allow your opponent to see a free flop because often it could cost you a pot that could have been taken down earlier in the hand if you played it properly. Always raise when the small blind limps into the pot when playing low to medium limits, but if you ever move up to the higher limit tables make sure you don’t continue using this strategy because it won’t work. Most low limit players online play a lot more loosely then they should be and often a common move by a beginner player will be to limp in the small blind because they don’t want to throw away their money. Make sure you pounce on this weakness and try out the raise from the big blind position next time the small blind limps into the pot with you.
To view other strategy articles visit Our Online Poker Strategy Section Or to start playing poker use one of our exclusive links or banners to get the best 1st deposit bonus on the net. Simply visit our online Poker rooms section and start to Play Poker online today
