Re: Never limp as first one in?
I guess I'll respond point by point. Most of what Ferguson is saying here just doesn't apply to most small stakes games.
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If your hand isn't strong enough for a raise, it's too weak for a call.
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Disagree. Many games feature players who will call preflop for 1 SB with a ton of hands but tighten up significantly to a raise, especially an EP raise. The implied odds for hands like 22-99 are awesome, so you definitely want to see a flop--folding would be silly, and raising would knock out the very players you want seeing a flop with you.
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This tactic makes it more difficult for your opponents to read your hand, and it makes it impossible for the big blind to ever see a flop for free when you're in the hand.
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In most small stakes, your opponents aren't really paying enough attention to worry about them "putting you on a hand" when you raise before the flop. Besides, you should be raising a wide enough range of hands that your raises shouldn't mean anything to an observant opponent other than "probably a big pair, or big cards, which may or may not be suited."
From a purely postflop perspective, with most speculative hands I'd rather the BB be there than not--honestly, the more the merrier. The hands I'm drawing to will most likely crush him; if he's around to pay me off, all the better.
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