Limp
also called open limp
To limp is to enter the pot before the flop by calling the big blind rather than raising.
It is cheap, and that is most of the appeal. It is also passive: you cannot win the pot before the flop, you invite the players behind you in at the same low price, and you arrive on the flop without having taken the lead.
That does not make it always wrong. Limping behind another limper with a hand that plays well multiway is a normal choice, and in some short stacked and live games limping has a place. Opening a pot by limping, with nobody in yet, is the one that costs the most.
an example
your cards
Everyone folds to you in middle position and you call one big blind with jack ten. You have not won anything, the blinds still get to play, and any player behind you can raise and put you in a pot you did not plan for.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find limp in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
Isolate
To isolate is to raise with the aim of making everyone else fold, so you end up heads up against one particular player w ...
Three-bet
A three-bet is the second raise in a betting round, counted by treating the big blind as the first bet, the opening rais ...
Blinds
The blinds are the two forced bets posted before any cards are dealt, by the two players to the left of the button, so t ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
Forty hands against a bot, no account, and your own hand history at the end.