Respecting Raises

[air]

I have been playing party poker 2-4 for 2 weeks. One major mistake I think I am making is not respecting pre-flop raises. In HPFAP, Sklansky suggests playing hands in Groups 1-4 from EP in a typical game. After an open-raise, he shrinks it down to about Groups 1-2. How much of an adjustment do you make if there has been a raise in front of you? Obviously it depends on how much you respect the individual player. As a second part, what is an easy way to keep track of who has loose raising standards and who has tighter raising standards? Thanks in advance for any responses.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

See the showdown to see what he raised with. Check the Hand History if he doesn't show. Thats the best way to indicate whether or not he has tight or loose raising standards. This is crucial.

For example, if the guy is a total preflop LAG and will raise hands like A8o, it is absolutely imperative that you 3bet with AJo after him.

But if he's an ultra rock, and will only raised the big pairs, AK or AQ, then it is absolutely imperative that you fold AJo.

Generally, being a TAG player, which you should be striving for, raises in front of you should greatly cut down the hands that you can play. It can get frustrating at times where you think you can limp in with an okay hand, but a guy to your immediate right raises and you're forced to fold. But the further you understand this concept, the further along you are in your goal to be a winning player.

[air]

Thanks.

Is it common to keep a database of players' raising standards?

[Chris Daddy Cool]

Yes. You can do this by right clicking on a person's name with your mouse and go to "Create Notes" and you can write down a little note on that player, for example in these cases:

"Total LAG. raised w/ A8o UTG"

or

"Ultra rock. Only seen him raise great hands."

or you can buy PokerTracker, and it keeps an actual database of hand histories and such.

[Joshua]

Give lots of respect to an early position raise, less respect to a mid-pos raise and no respect to a late-pos raise.

HPFAP is spot on in terms of folding to an EP raise. Fold up to AJ and 99. Then it becomes a judgement call whether to fold AQ, AJs or TT. Take your own position into account.