No-Limit Hold'em, Radomizing My Raising

One of my problems is I never open-raise on the button unless I have what I think is a legitimate/playable hand, with a full table. That means I rarely raise on the button(pre-final table). If I have J-4, or 7-4, or whatever, I just don't raise. It kind of makes me think I'm playing a really winnie brand of poker, since it seems like the better players raise so often when it's checked to them on the button, and even more often if a weak-tight player(like myself)is in the blind. So these tough players must be raising with junky hands from time to time when they suspect an easy target(like myself).


I was thinking that maybe I could use some sort of randomising of certain cards so I'm raising a little more often than I am now on the button. Can you help me out?

Pick your opponents in the blinds. If you have the right opponent(s) in more importantly the big blind and the small blind you can raise with ANY TWO CARDS. Especially if you have a tell on the BB that he doesn't like his hand.


It took me some time to realise this, and I'm still working on it, but at first I thought that I should add more hands to my raising standards, as you are thinking. But against a lot of opponents it doesn't really matter if you have A8, QT or 43, if you get played with you are losing with any of them.


Just adapting for your potential opponents will add a ton of apparent randomness to your play. If the BB is aggressive, tricky or just a good player, someone who for example is capable of reraising with nothing, I need good cards to make that "steal" raise. If he has seen me raise Joe Schmoe with 25 (say I get called by a short stack or re-raised all-in so little that I still have odds to call, or just called by a weak player, flop comes 267 and I have a good tell that I'm winning) then he might get a nasty surprise when I have the goods this time ! If he's a good player he will figure it out. If he's just aggressive he'll be cursing my luck all the way to the rail :-)


Andy

Stealing is one of the critical things to do in a NL tourney. Once it is folded to you in the last 3 positions (button, cutoff, cutoff-1) you need to think about stealing. As Andy stated knowing how the blinds react to a steal is important. I tend to try a pure steal more often from cutoff/cutoff-1 rather then the button since so many players understand the concept of the steal. I like to have some high card power from the button.


Ken Poklitar

Martin,


I would not randomize my play at all on the button, that's for computers not humans. What Andy Ward says is basically what you should do. Furthermore, pay attention to the blinds stack sizes and how tight they play. The shorter the stack, the more you should attack, with the exception of someone being almost all-in with their blind. If you think that there is a high probability that one of the blinds may call, play hands that do well shorthanded. Note that, I'm not refering to stealing anymore, since the probability of being called could be high.


Good Luck


Mark

if you are not raising because you are scared then you need an adjustment to your mindset. if you are not raising because you dont know what hand values are, then you need to study some more. if you are calling when you should be raising you will need more cash flow.

"if you are not raising because you are scared then you need an adjustment to your mindset."


Bingo! How does a person go about adjusting their mindset?

play smaller stakes where the money means less-or


force yourself to take the risk as you know the penalty for not

and

build up to it by raising more often, slowly if need be


study some more to be convinced thats the only way to win


good luck as once a problem i identified a solution is at hand.

Study your opponents.


If they are weaktight.. attack their blinds without even looking at your cards. Then you wont be put off doing it when you see a piece of cheese.


And once in a while you will get a nice surprise when you get to look at em /images/smile.gif


Cheers,


Keith