Preflop Raises in Limit Hold’em: Part I

Some players really hate raising before the flop in limit hold’em. They have only two cards, and they want to see cheap flops. They figure, “Why waste money raising when people will call anyway, and I might lose the hand? If I lose, I will be happy that I didn’t raise and lose the extra money.”

Other players love raising preflop, and do it almost all the time. They want to create large pots and gamble that they will win one or two, thus building their stack. They try to take control of hands and confuse their opponents, and get paid off big by a number of skeptical opponents if they happen to hit a monster flop.

Somewhere between these two extremes is a proper raising strategy. Every time you raise (or, actually, take any action), you should have a reason. This series of columns will explore these reasons and will look at the right times to raise.

First, let’s look at the reasons to raise preflop:
1. To build a pot.
2. To win the blinds.
3. To gain position.
4. To gain control of the post-flop betting.
5. To isolate an opponent.
6. To create a false impression.

We will look at each of these reasons in detail, and will define the circumstances needed to accomplish each objective.

Important considerations: Before looking at the raises, we need to examine the factors that govern when to raise and why.

Before deciding to raise, determine which objective you’re trying to accomplish. Your hand type, the general table characteristics, and the nature of your opponents then will determine whether or not your raise will have a reasonable chance of succeeding.

Let’s look at hand types first. In my book Advanced Limit Hold’em Strategy, I separate playable hands into three categories:

• Power hands — Hands that usually win by making top pair, good kicker. For these hands to have maximum value, you generally need to be facing a small number of opponents. Big offsuit cards like A-J and K-Q are examples of power hands.

• Volume hands — These hands typically win either by flopping a draw and making it or by hitting a set. Hands like 8-7 suited and 3-3 fall into this category. With these hands, you generally like to have a larger number of opponents.

• Hybrid hands — These hands can win by the power of their high-card value or by flopping and making draws. You can play these hands effectively against any number of opponents. Typical hybrid hands are A-K suited or J-10 suited.

Also, in general, we can identify two types of games:

• Loose games, in which more than four players generally see the flop.

• Tight games, in which two or three players see most flops.

Of course, in many games, sometimes lots of players see the flop, and sometimes you get some chops, as no one plays. As you play, try to classify your game as being loose or tight.

Finally, we look at individual opponents. Some play any hand, some will limp in with almost any two cards if someone else has limped in already, and others will play only premium hands and will respect most raises. Understanding the styles of your opponents, especially the ones to your left, is a major consideration in preflop raising.

Raise or fold exceptions: Frequent readers of my column (thank you very much) will recognize this recurring theme. I advocate that if no one has called or raised before the action gets to you, you should not limp in; instead, you should either raise or fold.

This works well in tight games and some loose ones, but not in games in which no one cares whether you raise or not. When I first started playing hold’em a number of years ago, I played $1-$2 limit with 50¢-$1 blinds. For all intents and purposes, no one ever folded preflop. In almost every hand, all nine of us would put our $1 in and wait for the flop. Once in a while, someone would put in a raise. Then, we all would put in $2 and wait for the flop.

Needless to say, I had no idea what I was doing, and neither did anyone else. However, I did get to learn that in some games, preflop raising makes no difference at all, except to increase the pot size. So, if a book says to open-raise from under the gun with A-Q offsuit, and you are playing in a game like this, forget it. Yes, you will have the best hand sometimes after everyone calls, but your edge is small, at best, with a power hand in a volume pot. You are far better off not playing the hand at all, or waiting to see if you flop top pair, and then hope to thin the field by raising after someone else bets. We will cover this concept in more detail in later installments.

“No fold ’em” games: I want to deal with this as a separate topic, because the only objective that makes any sense is No. 1 — to build a pot. In these larger pots, the best possible hands to play are pairs and suited aces. Avoid preflop raises when out of position with anything other than A-A, K-K, and Q-Q. From late position, you can raise with these hands and occasionally with a few smaller pairs and big suited aces. Do not do so to confuse your opponents, because they almost never consider what you have, anyway.

Let’s look at making the pot bigger in these games. Do so with hands that figure to do well in the long run. Let’s use pocket aces as an example. I often hear that you shouldn’t raise preflop with aces in games in which no one folds, because they “never” win. Well, it is true that they do lose often, but let’s dig a little deeper.

If you play aces in a 10-handed game in which the players won’t fold if they have any chance to win, you will lose the pot a little more than 70 percent of the time. That sounds bad, and it’s no fun at all. But look at your preflop raise. On that round, you put in 10 percent of the money. Eventually, with a win rate of, say, 30 percent, you get to take out 30 percent of the money; put in 10 percent, take out 30 percent — that sounds like a bargain to me. Sure, it feels bad to lose that often with such a great hand, but raising is still profitable. Failing to do it costs money.

Next issue, we will start our analysis by looking at each objective and the factors that need to be in place to achieve it.

Barry Tanenbaum is the author of Advanced Limit Hold’em Strategy, and collaborator on Limit Hold’em: Winning Short-Handed Strategies. Barry offers private lessons tailored to the individual student. Please see his website, www.barrytanenbaum.com, or write to him at [email protected].