Quote Originally Posted by dalecooper
Quote Originally Posted by Bite
This is not very good imho. If you raise high pairs bigger than other raise hands people will soon get a good read on what you're holding.
Much depends on the situation. I don't raise every hand the same way every time. I mix it up depending on my position, how many people have limped or bet ahead of me, and how strong my hand is. I don't have a little chart saying "bet x amount if you get KK"... it's all about my feeling on how vulnerable the hand is, and what it would take to get the right amount of callers. Or none, if that's preferable. I'll raise bigger than pot-sized with JJ or QQ to steal a decent pre-flop pot with a bunch of limpers, or I'll limp AA if there's only one other person in and I'd like to take a flop and make a little money on the hand. My point is, nothing is written in stone, which is the mistake a lot of people make when they are new to poker (and particularly, poker books). A buddy of mine has a list of raising hands and makes the same raise every time when he has one of them, no matter what position he's in or who else is playing. That to me is not good.
The problem is it's very hard not to be predictable if you raise big hands more than other. Off course I don't suggest you allways raise exactly the same amount in every situation but raising three times the pot every time you hold a big pair and raising less when you hold another hand you think is worth a raise is something any descent player will pick up on pretty quick.

You don't even have to be on the table long enough for people to see you do it since it's such a common mistake to overbet high pairs. If you overbet high pairs and the stacks is deep enough this is gonna lose you money unless you are a very good player after the flop. People will call your bets with hands they can flop hard with and a flopped set will take you down pretty hard because he knows exactly what cards he should be afraid of and you will probably lead the hand through. He won't pay you off any further if he doesn't flop hard. You might win a small amount of money the times someone make a loose call without hitting but mostly you will pick up the blinds. This is if your opponents are descent players. If they are really bad it doesn't really matter.

Just so you don't misunderstand me, off course the goal is to get the maximum amount of money in preflop, it's just the way of getting there I don't agree with. Another aspect. If the other guy can't read you for AA preflop he might re-raise you with QQ,JJ etc. and then your goal is achieved pretty easy to get your whole stack in preflop.