Open limping on the button?

[DDBeast]

I've seen TTIU and wachovia do this and wonder why they wouldn't raise if they were going to play. It was early on and maybe the blinds were loose and would call any raise, so you keep the pot small by limping?

[woodguy]

If you raise with a mediocre hand on the button, and they raise you have to muck.

If you limp on the button and they reaise, you can call and play the rest of the hand in position looking for weakness to take away the pot, without worrying too much about the pot getting too big, like you would if there were more than one raise PF.

Also, it confuses people and often they give you way too much credit for a hand and you end up stealing the blinds + a bet without the risk of open raising.

Postion rules.

Regards,
Woodguy

[betgo]

If strong players are doing this early, they probably don't have much, but are trying to see a flop and outplay their opponents later in the hand. They may not be mostly looking to steal. They may be hoping their opponets will pay them off excessively if they flop a big hand.

Later on with larger blinds, this can be an attempt to see the flop with a weak apeculative hand or a trap with a big hand. When done by a big stack, it tends to be an attempt to see the flop cheaply and possibly steal the pot later in the hand.