Most poker players know that you should avoid limping into a pot in almost every instance. In fact, there are a whole host of reasons why you should stay away from limping. But even with this being the case, some players wonder if it’s okay to limp in multiway pots sometimes.

For example, if you were in the cut-off with 8-4(o) and four players limped in, it might be worth a chance to call the big blind. After all, you could hit a two pair or straight on the flop and possibly have everybody beat. But as we’ll discuss below, this is by no means a good reason to limp in with bad cards.

Poor Odds

Assuming you did call in the aforementioned situation with 8-4(o), there’s a very strong chance that you’re going to have the worst hand postflop. So don’t go into these situations hoping that it’s worth spending a big blind to see the flop. Going further, it’s important to avoid the temptation to think that you can outplay everybody postflop because 8-4(o) doesn’t play well after the flop no matter how good you are.

Best Case Scenario

Limping in with really bad cards doesn’t give you a whole lot of room to improve your situation – especially with several other players involved. Bringing up 8-4(o) one more time, your most realistic shot at a great hand is hitting a straight; however, you still don’t have a good chance with a three-card gap in between 8 and 4. You could also get a two pair postflop, but this is always a tough hand to play in multiway pots. As for trips, few players are likely to call your big bets or reraise you on such a dangerous board.

As you can see, there are few good things that can happen when you limp into multiway pots with poor poker hands. The only time you should do so is if you have position and think there’s a chance that you could get everybody to fold with a huge preflop raise.