Bigger opening raises

[KY_Ace]

Most of the material that I have read says to keep your standard opening raise the same whether you're raising with AA, 99, or AJs. This is so other players can't get a read on the strength of your hand.

Should this apply at low limits when you are multi-tabling and constantly changing tables? I think you can exploit the fact that most players won't remember how much you raised it to last time, especially if you don't PFR very often. To be totally honest, I can't remember how much a tight players standard raise is when I'm multi-tabling.

I'm going to experiment at the $10 NL tables and see what happens if I raise AA KK and AK to 9xBB and pot raise my other raising hands. I like 9xBB because 1 caller will make the pot almost 20 BB, and at a 100BB buy-in a 20BBs pot size on the flop is my threshold for paying off players that go all-in on the flop when I have a good flop. In other words if I raise it to 5BB with AA and get 1 caller and there's 11.5 BB in the pot and the flop is J 9 4 rainbow and the guy CRs me ( multi-tabling so no reads ) AI I'll muck my aces, I'm not losing 100BBs over a 11.5BB pot! ( I'm still at $25 NL, this might be different at higher limits, but I'm not there yet, my specialty is SnGs, just now learning ring game play). By raising it to 9BB I eliminate tough decisions, they can't bluff me out if I get a good flop. It also makes the pot big eneugh to finess all the chips off of the top pair without having to overbet the pot.

Has anyone else tried this? Anyone else have a threshold pot-size for giving a guy credit for a big hand and laying down an overpair to an AI bet?

[underminedsk]

When I used to play low stakes (25NL or lower) I used to make opening raises of 6-10 bb, because I knew people were going to call. However, as you move up stakes you will find that raises so large will kill your action. my standard raise is 5xbb, no matter what my hand. (I add a few more bb if it looks like its going to be necessary to isolate properly)

[Fnord]

Consider: The larger you make your raise the less likely medicore players will call with marginal hands, re-raise with less than AA/KK (AK/QQ never folds, often calls, sometimes raises.) You're also making this behaviour somewhat correct. You're also building a big pot, so if you hit your hand it will take fewer bets to get all of the money in (not nessisarily a good thing if you read hands well.)

[Rondavu]

I agree with Fnord. On loose tables, I simply up my standard raise with any cards I raise to find the "Isolation point". I may start with 4xBB raises, but if I consistently get 4 callers, I will make it 6-8xBB from then on.

It's not good to treat high pockets different preflop. You're only doing the opponents a favor.

I always remember the WSOP hand between some stiff and Sam Farha at this years main event. At the very first blind level (25/50 I think), this guy caught AA and raised to 1,000 preflop (20xBB). Sam looked down at 33 and laughed with his 22,000 stack. He called, and the flop came out something like 378 rainbow. The guy checked to Sam, who immediately pushed. The guy called instantly.

[sunfunbunch]

Speaking of Farha:

How about that AT vs TT hand.

FLOP = AAT. Poor dude with TT was owned and had NO idea

[KY_Ace]

I find that with an overpair or TPTK, if I raise to 5xBB pre-flop the pot is not big eneugh on the flop to get all my chips in. However if someone gets a big flop they can get half of my stack if they play it right, sometimes my whole stack if the hand is well hidden. Sometimes I'll raise with AK, hit the Ace [A T 3] flop for example, and AQ will give me action and go into check call mode because I don't want to get stacked by AT or TT. If the pot is > 20 BB on the flop my attitude is a little different, I'm willing to play for my stack if I hit the Ace or King so I'll punish the AQ and if they've got AT or TT oh well! With a small pot on the flop I'm looking for 2 pair, a set, straight or flush before I want to play for stacks. Set campers can make a killing seeing flops cheap and stacking people with overpairs or TPTK, this is why I don't like playing for stacks when the pot is small on the flop. I'll be damned if I'm going to let a simple stategy like set camping get the best of me. My judgement is pretty good and I fold alot of big hands when I know I'm outflopped. However I know I'm getting bluffed out occasionally, but more importantly I'm not punishing the second best hands when my hand is best and they're raising me ( I go into check and call mode with less than 2 pair ). If I make that big raise pre-flop I will be stacking the second best hand twice for evrey time I get stacked by a set or 2 pair. I also take the implied odds away from the set campers. I think different pot sizes on the flop favor certain types of hands. I think 20BB favours TPTK. I think 8-10BB favors sets and 2 pair. I think pots that are smaller than 8 BB on the flop favor straights flushes and 2 pair. All assuming a 100BB deep stack. This is why I like to play 99, TT, JJ by making a small raise ( 3-5 x BB ) or calling a small raise, even a bad player won't call with their stack with a pair of 8s or smaller to see your pair of 9s, you need to hit your set and trap a strong hand, so it's ok if the pot is starts small, you can make it grow.

In a WSOP type event where you start with something like 1000 BBs I don't even consier playing for stacks with less than a set, 33 wouldn't even get my stack if the flop was AA3 and I had AK. I would just make a standard raise and not even think about an all in situation.

Fnord makes a good point that if you can make good reads you should have an advantage when the pot is small on the flop. I just think that it's a bit of a numbers thing. If the flop is A93 and you're up against a set of nines once and you're up against AQ twice. With a small pot on the flop you'll get half the AQs stack twice and lose your stack to the set once and break even. Double the pot size on the flop and you'll stack the AQ twice and lose your stack once to the set and come out 1 buy in ahead. Seems like with a 10BB pot size on the flop an overpair or TPTK is strong eneugh to make someone pay 35-45 BB to see with a worse hand. But also strong eneugh to lose 100 BBs when you get outflopped and it's well hidden and played properly. With a set on the other hand the pot can be 8 BBs on the flop and you can make someone pay 100 BBs with a worse hand to see it.

[Fnord]

I find that with an overpair or TPTK, if I raise to 5xBB pre-flop the pot is not big eneugh on the flop to get all my chips in.

If you like 2 street bingo, play SnGs.

[m3laNcholy]

I find that with an overpair or TPTK, if I raise to 5xBB pre-flop the pot is not big eneugh on the flop to get all my chips in.

If you like 2 street bingo, play SnGs.

Jesus, Fnord, that was beautiful!

[KY_Ace]

I'm not putting all my chips in on the flop with these hands, if I raise to 9xBB and get called, potsize = 19BBs, I'll bet about 14 BBs on the flop, potsize = 47, bet 28 BBs on the turn, potsize = 103 BBs, then I'll bet 49 BBs on the river. 9 + 14 + 28 + 49 = 100BBs. This is assuming I still like my hand on every street.

So far it's working well at the lowest limit, I suspect that this is the only limit it will work at, I'm raising to $0.90 at the $10 NL tables with AA,KK and AK. 90% of the time I'm getting at least one caller, 60% of the time I'm getting exactly one caller which is what I like. Quite often a short stack will call me with crap like QTo and push AI on the flop with any piece.

I've seen alot of players say that they try different size raises at a new table to see how much the players are willing to call. If they're willing to call $0.90 90% of the time, should I be making this raise with my weaker raising hands too, like QQ, JJ or in position, TT, 99, AQ?

[WhooFleuryScores]

I recommend you keep your raises roughly the same.Certain sharks would eat your strategy for lunch;I know Erick Lindgreen for one makes a killing outflopping Aces.I personally have been broken numerous times almost beyond repair by sets in NL games(most recently AA vs QQ so I had to revise my strategy to just go all in preflop to a raise/reraise in order to make them pay for their set).Do not underestimate the power of a set camper-I for one am a master of it(as is my friends) and it never fails me to take their mountains of chips.

[underminedsk]

I find that with an overpair or TPTK, if I raise to 5xBB pre-flop the pot is not big eneugh on the flop to get all my chips in.

Be careful, this is why its profitable for people to camp for sets.

[Lukie]

I agree with Fnord. On loose tables, I simply up my standard raise with any cards I raise to find the "Isolation point". I may start with 4xBB raises, but if I consistently get 4 callers, I will make it 6-8xBB from then on.

It's not good to treat high pockets different preflop. You're only doing the opponents a favor.

I always remember the WSOP hand between some stiff and Sam Farha at this years main event. At the very first blind level (25/50 I think), this guy caught AA and raised to 1,000 preflop (20xBB). Sam looked down at 33 and laughed with his 22,000 stack. He called, and the flop came out something like 378 rainbow. The guy checked to Sam, who immediately pushed. The guy called instantly.

If I remember correctly, the guy overbet the pot into farha, sammy pushed, guy thinks for a second and calls. But yeah, it was ridiculous. 200bb stacks and there's 1 raise preflop and a bet and raise post-flop and it's allin? crazy.

[Lukie]

Speaking of Farha:

How about that AT vs TT hand.

FLOP = AAT. Poor dude with TT was owned and had NO idea

I don't remember the hand in detail and I go broke there with TT there too, but it was like 4-betted on the (AAT) (Q) turn with like 200bb. If TT guy doesn't know there's a good possibility he's beat, something is wrong. I try to get as much in as I can with TT on that flop though...