Quote Originally Posted by siknd
1. raising UTG = you have less information, so a large raise with QQ is undersireable as you will be big trouble if you face a large reraise, and will chase a lot of the hands you have dominated. This is less of a problem on the button as you are aware that you almost certainly have the best hand, and will have position for the rest of the hand.
Yes I understand what you mean. But this risk is lower in 6max, 5 opponents as opposed to 9 in longhanded. I do have some problems in properly assessing and evaluating preflop play longhanded, as I recently picked up MTTs. Maybe it would be correct to assume that 6max UTG is like being MP2 on 10max with 4 folds in front of you?

I always like to base my preflop raises on the premise of "how many callers will I get if I raise X here now?" If too low, too many people might call and then it becomes what I call a "drawing pot", and I lose my edge in such a pot with my hand.. if too high then you fold out the weaker hands you want to call.

I like to stick to 4BB and I find that the table usually adjusts to this. More often than not, my first two or so 4BB raises get all folds. Then people realize this is my standard raise or something? And well, I get callers. If too many I'll cranck it up a notch to 5BB or 6BB. I might also go higher if I notice they'll call anyway with weaker hands. Might as well let them pay more for seeing a flop then, right? And if they keep folding to me, I should probably leave the table .. but in practice I find myself loosening my range until the table loosens up, so I can go back to normal.

Inbetween all these assessments I make, I haven't really found a personal use to "standard" vary my raises.. maybe a leak, I dunno.

2. because of the tendancy for CO/ button to put in steal-raises (esp shorthand), you can get away with a larger raise because it will be respected less.
Yes, this is why I don't usually go lower than 4BB with a good hand, even though I'm inclined to do so because I want callers.. I'm hoping I'm getting called by weaker hands who think I'm trying a steal.