Opening in 6-max NL

[mannika]

Just a general question.

In what situations would you open for your standard raise in 6-max with what would normally be a non-raising hand?

For example, folded to me in CO with 44. Is it worth it to open raise here for the blinds? What about with QJo?

My initial thoughts are that you would want to be open-raising with hands that hit a good percentage of the time (i.e., QJo as opposed to 44). As well, you probably should be more likely to do this if the table is tighter or if the table is more passive postflop.

Are there any other considerations that I'm missing? Or do any of you have a quick rule for these situations?

[AncientPC]

It depends on table texture.

I do raise with QJo or 44 in LP, but only against people who auto-fold after missing the flop and facing another bet from me.

Don't keep betting down vs calling stations, something I still need to work on. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[greg nice]

as ancient said, it depends on the table. it has a lot to do with feel. try it and see.

[fimbulwinter]

A good way to adress this question is the following:

Will I win more long term here by limping in or by raising?
Is this hand worth more than the blinds in a limped pot under these circumstances?

And most fundamentally:

What situations will I be presented with as a consequence of my actions in this betting round and those to follow?



Take for example QJ(s):

If you try to steal here with QJ, and are called, you know you may be in trouble. conversely, it will be very easy to bluff a lot of flops and very easy to get paid off when you do have a hand as you have nicely misrepresented your hand. Your raise here sets you up to see cheap turn and river cards (as they also are afraid of being dominated by your "AK") which is also a good thing as you will frequently flop draws to the nut straight, and those draws will very frequently improve your opponents hand to be very good, but not better than yours.

Summary: with QJ raising not only defines your hand and misrepresents it to your opponents, it keeps you out of trouble more than limping would and sets your opponents up to pay you off big when you do hit a hand. Therefore I would be very very likely to steal with QJ, but not necessarily because it has a higher chance of hitting.



Now consider 44 (or any small PP):

This one is a much, much different situation. your chances of hitting the flop are low and the times you do, you really really want the opponent to have a hand like TPTK. By raising you are destroying what little odds you have to go on the draw and your hand is very well defined on the flop: 90% of the time, if a flop bet is called, you are behind. Obviously in this light raising with 44 seems bad, however, the situation changes drastically if your opponents will only call the raise with premium holdings. in this instance, you will win the blinds fairly often and when you do take a flop, you have a chance at winning a huge pot. Against someone who will call here with A7s, the steal is bad, against someone who will only call with the standard big PP's and AK/AQ, it is good.

Summary: raising with 44 is a good move only if you will be called infrequently by premium hands. if your targets are loose, you will be better off trying to hit your set and win a big pot from them.

Any time you have questions like "should I do this in this situation" run down the possibilities of what could happen following your actions. If you end up with "I'll either win a small pot or lose a big one" or "I'll fold out all worse hands and keep the dominating ones" then don't do it. If you end up with "I'll have a lot of options and a low chance of getting hurt", "I will be presented with many +EV betting opportunities" and "I will win big pots by having made this play that I would not have been able to win otherwise" then by all means do it.

fim