5 Best Hacks to Win Against Limpers

01 Apr 2025

Tired of seeing limpers at your table and not knowing how to punish them properly? In this article, the author will break down his 5 best hacks to crush passive players and take control of the pot when opponents limp into the action.

Many players love to limp, just call the big blind, with hands that they want to play, hands that have some potential in their minds, but they think are not good enough to raise. They raise with their best hands like aces, kings, queens, jacks, ace, king, ace, queen, but then they limp with their medium stuff, like   suited,  ,  ,  ,  , etc. So what does that do to their limping range? 

Well, it makes it very weak, especially weak if they will raise with a lot of their best hands and limp with a lot of their weaker hands. So if their limping range is weak, how do you crush someone whose range is weak? Well, you apply aggression. First though, let's take a look at the two different types of limpers that you are certain to encounter at the poker table.

The two types of limpers that you are certain to encounter are straightforward limpers and tricky limpers, and they play very differently. Straightforward limpers will do exactly what I just said. They will limp with decent hands that they think are not good enough to raise. 

Tricky limpers though, will limp with a lot of the same range that the straightforward limpers with, but they'll also limp with some of their best hands, like aces, kings, and ace king, looking to limp, have someone raise, and then they will re-raise, either forcing you to put more money in the pot by calling, or they'll just force you out of the pot and win whatever is in there. 

For example, say your tricky limper limps with exactly pocket aces and nothing else, well then you should never raise them, right? Because they're going to re-raise you. But if they'll limp with pocket aces and then a whole lot of other junk, well then you can attack them pretty aggressively because they're very rarely going to have the aces. You need to make sure you figure out your particular limper's strategy. That is hack number one, so let's start from it in more detail.

Recognize, you are not playing against players who all play the same way. That said, most limpers in most small and medium stakes games will usually have pretty straightforward ranges that do not contain the best hands. So if they're limping with a very wide range of medium strength stuff, you're going to want to raise with roughly the same range you would normally raise with if everyone folded around to you. 

So, don't be afraid to raise over these limpers with stuff like  ,  ,  suited, medium pocket pairs, strong high cards like  . That said, do not get too out of line. A lot of players will extrapolate this and think: «Okay, if under the gun limps and I'm on the button I can raise with 50% of hands». This is a spot where that's probably not going to be the case, right? Because most players, when they do limp from first position, are usually going to have something decent. 

So therefore you can't just raise blindly as wide as you would if everyone folded around you. Use a little bit of common sense, don't go too crazy, and act logically. Also, if you are also in an early position against an early position limper, you got to be kind of cautious, right? Just as you would be if everyone folded to you from, let's say, second position. 

If under the gun limps and you're in second position, you cannot get away with raising over that limper wide at all. You have to be pretty tight, because there are a lot of players you have to act with random hands, and some of those random hands will inevitably be good. That said, figure out the limper's strategy. 

Now against tricky limpers, it's a little bit tougher to play. Against them, you're going to want to raise much tighter than the range you would raise with if everyone folded to you, because you will get limp re-raised sometimes. And getting limp re-raised, especially if the opponent's range is quite strong, is usually a disaster. It is awful. 

So, which hands do you want to raise tricky limpers with? Well assuming you think the tricky limper is limping with more than only the absolute best hands, like they're limping aces and kings and ace-king, and then a bunch of other stuff. You want to be raising with hands that have a big blocker. What is a blocker? 

So if you have an ace in your hand, or perhaps a king in your hand, those are pretty good hands to raise against your tricky limping opponent. For example, say a tricky limper limps from early position and you have  . That's a great hand to raise with, because if you raise and then get re-raised, you can just fold. It's okay. Assuming they're not re-raising with all sorts of junk. 

Why? Because when you have an ace in your hand, it makes it way less likely they have   or  , which means they're more likely to have junk. And if they have, well, not junk, but you know, a medium-strength hand. If they have a medium-strength hand, and they limp, and you raise, and then they call,   is usually in great shape. But if they re-raise, it's usually not good. You do not want to raise with hands that have good implied odds, like suited aces, suited connectors, small pairs, because those hands really want to see the flop for as cheaply as possible. You do not think you automatically have to raise. 

The size of the pot is three times whatever the last bet was, plus any additional money in the pot. So say you are playing in a cash game with no ante. In this scenario, say someone limps and you want to raise, you'll make it three times the last bet, which was the one big blind limp, right? Plus whatever money's in the pot, which would be the big blind and the small blind. So three times one is three, plus the small blind big blind, 1.5, that is 4.5 big blinds. That's usually going to be a pretty reasonable raise size. 

If you're playing in loose, splashy cash games, you may want to make it a little bit bigger, like six big blinds or seven big blinds. Don't go around making it 20 big blinds, unless your opponents are just atrociously bad at poker, because then you'll be risking a lot of money to win almost nothing. 

Also don't raise too small to like three big blinds, because then you're going to get called every time. Recognize, you make money from poker when your opponents mess up. And if they're getting really good pot odds, they should call with pretty much everything. And they're going to call with pretty much everything, so your opponents are actually playing well. 

Hack number two is to generally raise with big pairs and big cards. You should be very prone to raise with a strong linear range of your best hands against most straightforward limpers. You want to extract value with these hands, because these good strong big cards are going to be way ahead of straightforward limpers, marginal big cards or medium cards. And the way you extract value is by raising. 

Imagine you know that you have 60% chance to win and your opponent has 40% chance to win for the flop, which will very often be the case when you have good strong high cards and your opponent has medium cards. On this spot, you want to be raising and getting money in because 60% of the money that goes in is yours and you're only putting in 50% of the money. This does not mean you're going to win the pot every single time. 

Just because you're favored does not mean you are a lock. So recognize you're going to lose these pots sometimes. But if you can consistently put money in as a 60% favorite, you're going to completely crush your opponents. Also, big cards like   really want to win the pot preflop or get heads up, and you accomplish that by raising. 

You don't want to limp behind with   and have four people call because then if you flop one pair, it could easily be crushed. But if you flop one pair against one player, especially if their range is going to be very marginal, you usually love it. 

Hack number three is to call or limp behind with implied odds hands like suited aces, suited connectors, and small pairs. All of these hands for the most part really want to see the flop. So do not do anything to mess that up. 

If you flop three of a kind, that's basically the nuts in most scenarios and you're happy to play for all the money. With  , if you flop three of a kind or a flush, you're happy to play for all the money. A lot of players make the mistake of thinking, these hands are pretty good, I should raise. But recognize that you do not need to raise every single time with your, call them good strong playable hands because imagine, let's say six people limp and then you raise with   and then they all six call you. You're really only going to win this pot if you flop a set. 

Because someone's going to have something on most flops, which is not really good, right? You'd rather put one big blind in instead of seven or whatever it is. Same thing with  . Yeah, you probably have a little bit of an edge preflop, but when a lot of players call you, you hate it. If you can raise over the limpers and everyone's going to fold a lot of the time or expect to be able to get the pot heads up a lot of the time, then raising over the limpers with hands like eights and ace nine suited starts to gain a lot of merit. 

But in loose, splashy games where if you raise over limpers, everyone's going to call, you don't really want to raise because while you do get a little bit of money in with a little bit of an equity advantage, it's probably not worth the risk of getting re-raised some portion of the time. And especially with hands like pocket eights where you really need to make a set to win in a seven-way pot, you'd rather put in the one big blind because the pots are going to be pretty big and you're going to be able to get your opponent's stack in whether or not you put in that preflop raise. 

Hack number four is to not play offsuit junkie cards. This is a mistake so many players in the small and medium stakes make to the point that they cannot win at poker. Should I say it again? If you limp behind with junkie offsuit stuff, you're not going to win at poker. And this is why a lot of players are stuck in the small stakes games. 

Even marginal offsuit connectors are not especially good. Say it does go limp, limp, limp, and you're in middle position with  ,  , or  . Fold. These are not good enough.   on the button should fold.   on the button should fold.   on the button is probably okay. But if you think a hand with an ace or a king is good, you're not going to win.   is bad.   is bad when there are other players who are interested in the pot. 

Essentially, these hands very often make one pair with a marginal kicker. And one pair with a marginal kicker in a multi-way pot is not where you want to be. I see many players who think that if they have an ace on the button, they have to raise over limpers because it's probably best. And while it may be best, you have to realize all your opponents are going to have reasonable equity in the pot. 

A lot of them are going to call, and you're going to make a very marginal hand even if you do flop well with top pair or a six, right? So just fold. It is okay to fold. And offsuit hands, especially big card plus little card multi-way are trash. Don't play these hands. If you do, you're going to lose at poker. 

Hack number five. Is that essentially you should rarely raise if you suspect you may be getting trapped. If you expect you're getting trapped, it is perfectly fine to limp behind. Some players trap way more than others. I know we discussed tricky limpers earlier. Some players are an insane version of that where to the point that they only limp with the nuts. They only limp because they know, or at least I think, that their opponents will mindlessly, automatically raise the limpers. They think it is literally free to limp with their pocket aces because somebody's going to raise and then they're going to re-raise. If your opponent is that type of player, do not raise them much at all. 

Instead, just limp behind. If you are really sure they have a hand like   or   should just fold.   should just fold because you're not going to flop all that well. You're usually going to flop one pair. One pair against aces is not good. 

You can still limp behind with suited connectors, suited aces, small pairs because when you do make a really strong hand with those, those can beat pocket aces. The offsuit hands become really bad. Also, be sure to take the rake into account, especially in some live cash games, the rake is really high. 

I know in some games, it'll be like a one, two, no limit game, but the house will always take $7 out of the pot if it goes to the flop. Well, if six people limp, there's $12 in the pot. The house takes seven of it. There's $5 remaining in the pot. That's a bad deal, even for suited connectors and pairs and whatnot. 

So if you're in a game where the rake is very high, you just have to fold a lot or raise, but you don't want to raise if your opponent's trapping. So fold. Always consider the exact structure of your game and definitely always consider the ranges your opponents have. That is it. 

Those are my five best hacks to win against limpers. Again, figure out the limper strategy. Generally, raise with big cards and big pairs. Do not slow play or try to flop well. Next, call with implied odds hands that really want to see the flop that can make super duper strong post-flop hands somewhat easily, some portion of the time. Do not play. The offsuit junk is not good. And finally, rarely raise if you suspect you are being trapped. Good luck in your games. Have fun. Find the limpers, crush them, and come back and report how it goes in the comments below. We'll talk to you next time!