HOH and varying pre-flop raises.

Harrington advocates varying pre-flop raises between 3-5x the BB in order to conceal the strength of your holding. I on the other hand just make a standard 4xBB pre-flop raise every time I want to raise. Isn't this just as effective at concealing the hand?

I just finished re-reading HOH and this jumped out at me for some reason. Is there a good reason why I should be doing it the HOH way, or is the making same raise effective enough?

Also, what would be the positives/negatives in relation to live vs. online play?

well it depends on alot of factors IMO... if you have a group of loose callers that are bad post flop players you're probably going to raise less preflop because you'll be winning more post flop or if players are stubborn and arent laying down to 3xBB raises ur prolly gonna raise in the upper portion to narrow the field/get the point across. i dont feel you should ever go into a table or tournament with a set thought in mind. it also depends on how much/big you c-bet after you raise pre-flop.if c-betsare 2/3 of pot, you might raise less preflop. you might also raise less preflop if you check raise a good amount and dont want to offer juicy odds. theres alot of factors to consider but dont back yourself into thinking a certain way. figure out what works at your table environment and what you're comfortable with

makes sense. i am worried that i am getting too worked up over this big tourney that is coming up. i appreciate your input.

Originally Posted by FlawdaBoii

theres alot of factors to consider but dont back yourself into thinking a certain way.

this is why i asked. i don't want to be too inflexible.

I would advocate raising 3xbb as a standard raise for all hands. Once the blinds get fairly big, you can get the same effect with a 2.5xbb raise.

For live tourneys, you need to be experienced with handling real chips. In addition, you need to be able to roughly count how many chips your opponents have as well.

for live tourneys make sure you dont string bet either

Also, pay attention to your mannerisms in live events. Try to remain expressionless and try to keep the same posture. Don't look at your cards until it's your turn. Pay attention at the players reactions when they look at their cards before it gets to you.

I think Harringtons strategy is only worth using if your playing on the circuit week in and week out. You would be playing against the best with really long levels and deep stacks and you want to mix up your raising so they cant put you on hands. But online or any live tourny with a buy in of less than 1k i would think you dont need to worry about it.

thanks for your help guys.

i am playing in a €3000+€125 tourney that starts monday here in Vienna. i have a bit of live experience, so i am used to the flow of the game. the difference is going to be the competition, and i am trying to prepare myself for this.

i re-read HOH and realized how much i don't utilize while playing. crazy how much there is to do while sitting at the table.

the string bet.....i am lucky that i knew about this before i played live for the first time. however, the last tourney i played i threw out a 1000 chip to raise, but i didn't say anything and therefore it was just a call because of the 1-chip rule. oops! sort of the opposite of the string bet.

I like to have a standard amount to raise and ad about 1bb per limper that has entered the pot before me, first level i use 4xbb+ 1bb per limper and from the second lvl and forward to the blinds get really big compared to the stacks i use 4xbb + 1 per limper to a maximum of 6-7 xbb, really big blinds, i use 2.5xbb + 0,5bb per limper, i find this way i get the right balance between isolation and value...

If it seems complicated it really isnt, i use the ground rule of add more to the raise if there are limpers, period.

The reason Harrington varies his raises is not for deception, it's because there are some situations that warrent a big raise vs. small raise. He then has to randomize for deception.

Let's say that you have figured out that if you raise 2x you get 3 callers, 3x 2 callers and 4x 1 caller. Depending on your hand, position, etc. you would rather have 1/2/3 callers so you adjust your raise size to bias the number of callers.
(Note: you never actually KNOW this, it's just an example)

Similarly, the higher you raise the BETTER the hands you face. This makes it easier to play post-flop. If you raise big, your opps hand range is narrowed.

Skansky NLT&P mentions this too...

The catch is that these are usually conflicting criteria! If you have 78s and raise from MP, do you want the BB to call? With what hands? There is no cheat sheet for sizing raises - hence most people advocate just raising the same amount every time (which maximizes deception, but prevents you from getting maximum EV - assuming you actually know what raise size gives you the maximum EV for a given situation, which I don't)

Originally Posted by Sprayed

For live tourneys, you need to be experienced with handling real chips. In addition, you need to be able to roughly count how many chips your opponents have as well.

You also need to be able to keep track of how much is in the pot so that you know how much to bet and what kind of odds you have at any given time.