Noob pre-flop strategy question

SO I have just started my online play - so far so good - though only through 100 hands.

My question is this - as a general rule, in limit poker, if there are only folds/limpers in front of me, is it generally correct to enter the pot with a raise?

The way I see it, position and reads on the table largely determine what hands you will enter with - so assuming you have a hand that you want to enter the pot with, does it not generally follow that you should enter with a raise?

If so, what would be the exceptions to this rule? One that I can think of right off the bat is if you are on the button, or in the SB or BB and there have been several limpers in front of you and you do not have a premium holding - you may want to limp in cheap because of the size of the pot.

Otherwise, it seems to me that a raise is generally appropriate.

[thesharpie]

If you are first in from a later position it's usually correct to open for a raise. I wouldn't play any hand I'm going to play for a raise just because the opposition limped in. You raise when there is value in it. Sometimes there's more value in limping, sometimes you'll gain a little by raising but will make more postflop by just limping.

[PITTM]

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SO I have just started my online play - so far so good - though only through 100 hands.

My question is this - as a general rule, in limit poker, if there are only folds/limpers in front of me, is it generally correct to enter the pot with a raise?

The way I see it, position and reads on the table largely determine what hands you will enter with - so assuming you have a hand that you want to enter the pot with, does it not generally follow that you should enter with a raise?

If so, what would be the exceptions to this rule? One that I can think of right off the bat is if you are on the button, or in the SB or BB and there have been several limpers in front of you and you do not have a premium holding - you may want to limp in cheap because of the size of the pot.

Otherwise, it seems to me that a raise is generally appropriate.

[/ QUOTE ]

well done. open limping sucks a lot. i loooove to raise. i almost only open limp utg. seriously, very good post from a fairly new poster. in a shorthanded game i cant imagine open limping being correct more than like 5% of the time.

rj

Thanks! /images/graemlins/cool.gif My issue is that I am not particularly good at math. I have gotten the hang of figuring draw vs. pot odds with one card to go - and I think my reading skills are generally fairly good - but I am currently finding things like figuring implied odds, pot equity, and figuring the difference percentage possibilities of what my opponent has - but I think I am generally a disciplined player.

I also suppose, in reference to my OP, that the other side of the coin is that you would perhaps not raise on a decent, but not premimum holding UTG or UTG+1 - and on occasion, when slowplaying AA or KK - but those situations should be rare.

[PITTM]

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Thanks! /images/graemlins/cool.gif My issue is that I am not particularly good at math. I have gotten the hang of figuring draw vs. pot odds with one card to go - and I think my reading skills are generally fairly good - but I am currently finding things like figuring implied odds, pot equity, and figuring the difference percentage possibilities of what my opponent has - but I think I am generally a disciplined player.

I also suppose, in reference to my OP, that the other side of the coin is that you would perhaps not raise on a decent, but not premimum holding UTG or UTG+1 - and on occasion, when slowplaying AA or KK - but those situations should be rare.

[/ QUOTE ]

woah woah woah, dont turn your momentum around. raise in early postition with premium holdings. not doing so results in many n00bs coming back to the board and complaing about bad beats after they gave their opponents the right price to suckout on them. put money in early with big hands, early and often.

rj

Well, its not something I can say I've done, but I have heard it suggested that about 10-20% of the time that you have AA and KK in early position, you should limp instead of raise - which is all I am talking about - might be the sort of thing you do once in a session.

[SeaEagle]

You might get better discussion on this type of question on the Beginner forum.

[SeaEagle]

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but I have heard it suggested that about 10-20% of the time that you have AA and KK in early position, you should limp instead of raise

[/ QUOTE ]
Under the right circumstances...

Those circumstances virtually never occur at 3/6 or below. Jam the pot with your premium pairs.

True enough about 3/6 and under...

And why would I want to learn from beginners?

Those are the guys I am trying to take my winnings from!!

[SeaEagle]

What level are you playing at, then?

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What level are you playing at, then?

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online .25/.50 and 2/4 or 3/6 when I am lucky enough to get to a card room.

But these boards are where the experts are and where the best advice is.

[SeaEagle]

Pump your premium pairs at all of these levels. You're not learning from them, you're taking their money.

By the time you get to higher stakes tables, you'll probably be better able to recognize the conditions for limping with big pairs, and the conditions will actually present themselves from time to time. At lower stakes, the players are just too poor to present the proper conditions for limping.

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Pump your premium pairs at all of these levels. You're not learning from them, you're taking their money.

By the time you get to higher stakes tables, you'll probably be better able to recognize the conditions for limping with big pairs, and the conditions will actually present themselves from time to time. At lower stakes, the players are just too poor to present the proper conditions for limping.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks - that makes sense. At the lower levels, its clearly best to just stick to the traditional plays and not get fancy.