Open limping.

Here is something I am still working on. When is open limping profitable? By this I mean, let's say you're in MP, and it folds to you. You call instead of raise. What hands are best (if any) to do this with. Lately I find myself doing this with 22-66, AXs, or suited gaped connectors (like 8Ts). I really am not sure if this is good.. esspecially the weak suited A. Would open raising be more beneficial here?

Are there a set range of hands you like to limp UTG/EP/MP? Also, comes the trouble part in my game. If I were to limp a hand like A4s in EP, and it ends up getting raised, I let it go. I would say that on average, this happens about 40% of the time that I limp it. That means that 40% of the time I am picking up this hand I am losing money without even seeing a flop. After evaluating my game a little and looking at some stats I need to tweak a lot of things, and limping is a big part that I feel needs to change.

Discussion?

i dont open limp ANY hands. however, if you must, the only thing i would consider open limping is small pairs. and you shouldn't be playing Axs and suited connectors/gappers in EP anyway. the only reason i think pairs are limpable oop is because you dont have to see anything but the flop to decide if your hand is good or not. suited connectors almost always need to see a turn or river, and I hate drawing out of position. plus i think the only reason sc's are so profitable is because of their versatility, their ability to take down pots postflop vs 1 opp, which isnt a very common occurance in an unraised pot. and i think open limping defines your hand more than just about anything.

I limp small pairs, and sometimes suited aces (though only from position). Might be bad poker, but it seems to work at low levels.

If you're on a loose-passive game you can limp pretty much any PP/SC/Axs in MP.If it's tight-aggressive/loose-aggressive I recomment only limping ATs/AJs for the Axs, SC's from QJs to 56s and 99-55 for the PP's.

Whether you play a Lagg or Tagg game, I would put a penchant on raising if you want to play your small pairs or suited connectors if it's folded to you (there's nothing really wrong with limping them). It's simple poker 101, give yourself a chance to win the hand through agression and not outdrawing your opponent. Especially shorthanded, and in full ring you probably don't want to play suited gappers or connectors out of position anyway (unless you're a goof lag like me). I play my small pairs the same way I play any pair preflop, but to each his own.

Nothing wrong with mixing it up and coming up with what you feel most comfortable with and what's brought you success. I don't think there's a one right answer to this question. It also depends A LOT on your table and your table image.

Good luck.

One more thing....
Don't play Ace-rag in EP ever....
I remember reading in Matt Mattros's book that he did a study of playing Ax in EP 6 handed and found it was only profitable to play A-9 and up in EP and that's short handed. Suited or not there's no point playing those aces without position. Instead raise the ducks and make yourself a deceiving set and make lots of money.

i think in stakes below 200nl limp calling is profitable with a variety of hands, and at stakes 200nl and above it becomes more profitable to just raise everything.

I play NL50 and from EP & MP I usually open limp 22-88, KQs, QJs. I'll fold the last two to a raise, and the low PPs if the raiser is a shortstack. I usually stop open-limping in MP3 and open-raise anything I want to play (22+,T9s+,ATs+,AQo+) but it depends a little on who's behind me. From CO & BTN my open-raising range widens a little.