in my short poker playing career ive noticed that its worked well for me if im first to enter a pot ill raise with JJ or TT. early position im wary of the reraise, but from MP to LP im comfortable in my raise even if there is a couple limpers in. in that situation im also wary of a strong limper, but most players cant avoid reraising with AA, KK or QQ so i pretty much will have a good idea where im at preflop. i then have to deduce whether im up against the big pairs or big overcards. thats a tough read, but id rather that than no clue at all.

without the raise i have no idea what the other players have, not to overlook the fact that the blinds can have anything and flop any two random pair and i can be pretty much drawing dead and not know it. flop comes 9 6 2 what do i do if i didnt raise and the big blind comes out firing? i am forced to reraise, then either he reraises representing a set or he smooth calls representing a draw but still possibly hiding a set, and then i dont know if its a trap or hes on a draw or a bluff. tough read for me to make, being comparably inexperienced to the better players in this forum, so i got to raise. they are just plain old tricky to play, and only with experience and instinct will i (or anyone else) get better at playing them.