I have seen a lot of players advising to never open limp, and to aim for a VP$IP only 2% higher than your PFR%. I never really see anyone argue with them, but I know that many good players disagree. Renton just recently argued that the best play with pocket 9's from EP was to open limp, so I know at least some of the players in the community see value in open limping pocket pairs. I would like to start a healthy debate about the pros/cons of open limping vs. open raising and cold calling vs. 3-betting/folding.

I think open raising low/mid pocket pairs in EP/MP is a leak that is exploitable by opponents with equal skill in LP. This is a battle of mistakes issue; you can afford to open raise with a weaker hand because you expect your opponents to fold too much to your flop cbet. However, if you are in EP or MP, you have to count on all of your potential opponents having this tendency. I seek out opponents that do this, and I will leave tables and requeue just to get position on them. I will cold call them w/ PPs, SCs, 1-gappers, and occasionally even Axs. Because they are frequently cbetting, they are usually offering me immediate 3-1 odds on my drawing hands. And more importantly, they are building big pots with hands that can rarely withstand much pressure. Over half their hands miss the flop over 85% of the time, but they are committed to betting out on 60-80% of all flops. A much stronger player on the button could profitably call the raiser with any two.

If you open limp your low PPs, you either get to play a multi-way pot for 1BB, or you get to play against a raiser that will usually offer you immediate 3-1 odds to hit your set via a cbet even if the flop completely misses them. And you can still contest some pots if you think the flop missed them via donk bets, c/r’s, and/or stop and go’s, which of course will help you get paid off when you do hit your set. Plus it allows you to occasionally limp/3-bet AA and KK against observant but overaggressive CO and button players.

So basically, I think raising w/ low PPs is overrated and cold calling has gotten a bad rap. Again it comes down to a battle of mistakes. At 100BB, I think SCs are ideal for cold calling, and I cannot imagine wanting to 3-bet with them unless I had a very specific read. By just calling, you get a SPR that is great for you but usually very uncomfortable for your opponent even when their hand nails the flop. You can steal more than enough pots to make up for the rare occasion that you are up against a set, because even then you are not taking that much the worst of it. I know many players much better than me advocate a very different strategy, so I will now get off my soapbox and yield the floor to those more experienced than I am.