[PokrLikeItsProse]

OK, I admit, I didn't give a rigorous proof.

In Theory of Poker, David Sklansky gives 7 reasons for raising.

One reason is to get more money into the pot when you have the best hand. You suggest that a big pot results in a less skillful game. Well, I think I can safely say that my edge over you is in creating big pots when I have the best hand and not cooperating in the creation of a big pot when I have the second-best hand. Avoiding creating big pots means avoiding winning big pots. One legitimate reason to avoid putting in a lot of bets early is if it allows you to put even more bets in on later streets. I think the burden is on you to prove it, if that is the case.

Another reason is to drive out opponents to protect the best hand. Let us assume that you have aces in middle position and it is folded to you. You should, of course, almost always raise (one exception being trapping with a maniac to your left). One reason that you should raise is because you do not want to offer the big blind infinite pot odds to outdraw you. You shouldn't automatically raise on the button to avoid giving the big blind infinite pot odds, but you certainly

A third reason is to bluff or semibluff. Preflop, bluffing mainly takes the form of stealing blinds. Are you really saying that you should pass up this opportunity if the players in the blinds are such to make it profitable?

Another reason is driving out worse hands when your hand is second best. When you raise or reraise to isolate a player, you are either raising with the best hand to either get more money in the pot or to protect your hand or else you are driving out other worse hands when your hand is second best. You may not have the best hand, but if you don't, you've usually given yourself a better chance of winning. I don't recommend isolating if you think it unlikely you have the best hand, but it is a side benefit that allows you to profitably raise with a wider range of hands. There exist hands that are said to play better heads up rather than multiway. Even if there a chance that you might not have the best hand, you are usually better playing heads-up with three bets in preflop than four-handed with two bets in preflop.

The other reasons (getting a free card, gaining information, and driving out better hands when a drawing hand bets are generally inapplicable preflop).

Is that sufficient to back up my point, or do you want me to start producing a lot of boring equations? (It will have to wait until after July 4 if you do.)

As for your statement that position is worth less as the pot gets larger, possibly, possibly not. But position is definitely not worthless with a large pot. For one thing, it is not inherently impossible to bluff at a large pot. One example is when you are on a straight draw and your opponent has the nut flush draw and you both semibluffed at each other, building a large pot. He may have the best hand, but you can bluff him if you can put him on a missed draw. It is a lot easier to put someone on a missed draw if you have position and he checks to you after missing than it is if you are first to act on the river. In a heavily contested multiway pot, if the river completes both a possible straight and a possible flush, you can easily throw away two pair if a bet and a raise come before when you when you are last to act, but you are often going to lose at least one bet with a bet before you and a raiser who has position on you.