Open Raising in PL - Is it ever incorrect?

[salloch]

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Disclaimer: It there is a great thread on this, please point me to it. I've searched, but the terms are so common that I don't get anything useful. Also, this may be one of those topics that are so obvious no one ever discusses them. If so I apologize, I'm a newbie.

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Playing Pot Limit Hold 'em on-line. It's folded to you. You have whatever you consider a starting hand for that position. Do you always open raise? Strategic Benefits as I see them:

-You can pick up the blinds
-Your hand is theoretically unlimited, while any callers or raisers have limited hands.
-You can fire on the flop and stand a good chance of picking up the pot, even if you miss it completely.
-It will disguise your nuts better when you have them, insureing you get action on you AA KK hands.
-even if the other players know what you're doing, how do they defend agains it?

Drawbacks
-You will act first on folloiwng rounds (unless the blinds call) But you can fire a max bet relatively cheaply here and either take the pot down or run away.
-People may realize what your doing and play back at you, but is this really much of a problem? It's not NL. You can call and take a flop without getting that much of your stack comitted.
-You may chase out callers when you have hands that like a multi-way pot. However, you never know how many callers are coming, and no matter how many callers you get, if you hit your hand, you will make a lot more than if you just limped.

Obviously I think this is a "dominant" strategy. Can I live a happy life playing this way, or are there some huge hazzards that I'm missing?

[djr]

honestly, no idea. Why don't you try it out on a few thousand hands and let us know how it goes. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[Ghazban]

The main drawback is that people will catch on very quickly to what you are doing and will tighten up accordingly. You will pick up a lot of small pots and, when you are called, will have (on average) the worst of it.

I don't believe this strategy is any more viable in PL than NL. If you've been doing it successfully, more power to you, but I don't think its a good general approach to the game.

[MyMindIsGoing]

I been playing small stakes PL hold'em for over a year (on prima) and when it is folded to me in late pos I can honestly say I would only raise with the hands I would raise with even if someone limped before me. If you are in late pos and raise people will defend and call you down to showdown with any two, atleast that is my exprerience. As I see it blindstealing is not worth it in small staked PL. I rather wait for a hand with great implied odds and take it from there. As I see it pot limit is a much more post flop type of game, I think its much better to see a flop and take it from there.

[BobboFitos]

My friend is a gleefull open raiser. He wins more pots than anyone at the table.

Somehow, he also loses a great deal of money.

Explain.

[salloch]

Okay, so the advantages of disguising your hand and/or picking up a small pot are overwhelmed by the disadvantage of snuffing out potential action from people with weak hands/playing ability. I think that makes sense.

Just curious, at the lower limits ($200 and lower) if a hand is worth starting, do you usually play it straightforward? Or do you mix thing up? Is it a waste of time to worry about someone putting you on a range of hands PF at this level? It sounds like I'm thinking too much (or the wrong way) about something that isn't really a problem. I'm just looking for ideas on opening betting strategy.

Thanks for the responses so far.

[MyMindIsGoing]

[ QUOTE ]
He wins more pots than anyone at the table.

[/ QUOTE ]

Poker is not about winning pots, its about making money in the long run. I only win 7% of all pots (I play longhanded) but still I win more than most people at the table in the long run.