Hi everyone, your forum is very addictive, I can't stop reading it, its like crack but you learn things instead of umm die, so I guess that's great!

Anyway, I'm sure I'm wrong, but I'd just like to understand why its not best to almost ALWAYS raise in a game. If you always raise it seems like u're always getting +EV because first of all it increases the value of your cards because you can fold people out cards of about the same quality. It also gains you free pots with bluffs. It even gives you information about a person's hand! I can't see any downside because if u're ALWAYS raising on the hands that you decide to play its practically like u're just playing regular poker at higher stakes with the added benefit of controlling the betting, gaining information, adding value, and winning free pots. Also, I can see if u're short stacked this probably wouldn't be a very good idea but it seems like large stacks should always do this and push short stacks into bad positions? Finally, I meant just raising preflop and on the flop, then you have the information to see if its worth the turn or river but often raising then too.