[Expert] NLHE Strategy Post #1: Raising Pre-Flop

[EurekaKid]

Hey guys, thought it would be good if I gave a few short and sharp tips for real money players. So this is the first in a series of what I hope will be many pieces of poker advice. Most of my advice will be geared towards cash games, not tournaments... so keep that in mind.

Here is something that is going to shock some of you, for others you may already do this and if you do well done. I am a believer that whenever I am first to enter the pot and my hand is worth playing then it is worth raising. That is, you will never catch me limping into a hand unless someone has already limped before me. Raising between 3-4x bb is generally my standard open. So if the game has $0.50/$1.00 blinds, I will raise $3-$4 depending on the make-up of my table and my position in the hand (not based on my cards).

There are many reasons that I like always open raising. First and foremost it disguises your hand strength, if you are always raising and never limping nobody will be able to narrow your hands down to only monsters. I've seen a lot of novice players that will only ever limp with small pairs and suited connectors and raise with their big pairs and big aces. That is fine for low level opposition, but better opponents are going to realise this and adjust accordingly. By raising all your hands you make yourself a lot less readable.

At higher levels players pick on limpers, so if you are going to continue limping into pots, then be prepared to be raised a lot by people behind you that have position on you. Life is going to be tough for you as a limper.

Another great thing about always raising when you are first to enter is that it establishes you as the aggressor in the hand. Your opponents will give you respect for a decent hand, and thus will play more timid against you. This will allow you to pick up a lot of pots even when you miss the flop, because chances are they are going to miss it too. Picking up the blinds as a result of raising before the flop isn't a bad result for you either, if you are consistently stealing the blinds.

Thinning the field is important in big bet poker. Your hand strength has direct correlation with the number of hands it is up against. Whether you have AA, AJ, KQs or whatever your hand is going to be a lot easier to play if you are up against one or two opponents rather than the whole table. You should only be entering the pot with decent hands, therefore you should be happy to raise as it builds a pot a pot for which your hand is a good chance to win.

So next session you play, every time you are the first player to enter a pot make a raise and see how you fair!

[THAWK]

these guides you are typing are awesome! thanks for that!

what is your opinion on not raising at all when you have a killer hand? I have made big pots by checking preflop and raising at a later stage - sometimes a check can put your opponent in total confusion, same goes for putting in a good raise when you miss the flop - if raise - u fold idea

THAWK

[EurekaKid]

I'm not really a fan of slow playing pre-flop. Limp/re-raising is just such a obvious play, you give away your hand strength when you do it. Of course you can try and balance it, but I think you are better off just raising all your hands and keeping your opponents in the dark.

The only "slow playing" before the flop I will do is with AA/KK hands when an opponent has a small stack or something and I can make a comfortable check/raise allin on any flop... or some other situations like that.

[Antzilla]

Also by raising all your hands you are going to loose more money. Statistically all those hands you raise with, you are going to loose more than half. I'm not going to raise with a small pair, because only 1 in 8 is going to flop a set. That means the other seven times you are probably building someone elses pot. Just my opinion.

[ed34]

I think you are wrong eureka, what your saying is if you have a good playing hand, you are making everyone believe that you have a good hand every time which is not possible. I believe you play the hand for the power that it demands. you never stop learning, you learn from each and every hand.

[varn0003]

any tips for when to fold?

[turley]

Pre raising the flop constantly will just show you're trying to steal the blinds. The few people that will call will be those that are likley to hit a top pair or called with a pocket hand.
Although you're right by saying they will have no idea what you're hand is, and it will be much harder to read you're hand.