Discussion: Raise or limp on the button heads up?

I was reading some hand histories from gank on p5's and he never raises when he is heads up on the button. Most people think raising on the button is the best play because your getting more chips in with position.

gank said he limps on the button because :

it allows you to control your opponent much more and it is way to easy to get reraised and have to fold when you raise. many top pros limp on button heads up at the end of a tourney. It disguises strong hands and lets you get the reraise in as opposed to the raise.

when do you think limping instead of raising is the best play (and vise versa)

Well, I will admit to being an amateur, but I usually let my cards decide whether I'm going to raise or not on the button heads up. With marginal hands I'm likely to raise because it gets more chips in but the stronger hands I'm more likely to limp hoping the opponent makes a move and I can play back. Also, there is always randomness, I can't reraise every time with AK, sometimes you gotta make the push early and sometimes you gotta limp... Complicated, especially for me...

i raise if opp is folding too much, and limp more otherwise

Originally Posted by pgil

i raise if opp is folding too much, and limp more otherwise

Agree.

This is read dependent for me. I recently played a HU MTT, and my first and second opps were so different in style, you would think I was a different person that was playing game 1/2. In game 1, villian was uber uber tight. Once the blinds reached level 3, I could say I took down 80% of posts uncontested. In round 2, this guy literally min-raised 100% on the button, and about 70% of the time OOP preflop. I loosened my re-raise range and started limping stronger hands, because I just knew he would raise me.

If villian is going to fold everytime I raise unless he has a monster, I will raise 80% on the button. This assuming the blinds are worth it, raising on the button everytime when the blinds are 10/20 with a stack of 1500 just seems silly to me.

Limping is definitely a mistake if the villian is too tight. Why give him the chance to see a free flop and hit a monster? Also, you have got to vary your play or someone will get a read on you quickly. You can't simply limp with good hands and raise with marginal hands because the opponent will notice and stick in a reraise everytime you raise and check to hit when you limp. Heads up you are playing so many hands with only one person to pay attention to...it is impossible to hide under the radar.