[Pinlifter]

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AQ makes a ton of money when you're up against one nearly random hand and a second, slightly-less-random hand.


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Against 2 random hands the raise earns you a little less than a small bet(AQo equity is ~45%). Against a random hand and one hand in the range of AA-66, AK-A9, AKs-A8s, KQ-KTs the pre-flop raise earns you a little more than 2/3 of a small bet(AQo equity is ~38%). Of course the actual amount a flop raise will earn you is less because sometimes the UTG will fold.

For the sake of this argument, I'm willing to stipulate the preflop raise is worth ~2/3 of a small bet. While not a paltry amount it is certainly not "a ton" and can easily be made up with a raise/check raise on a more expensive street. It can also be made up by strategically playing the flop with the intent to increase pot equity. You have a lot more flexibility in playing your hand post flop if you just call preflop.

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UTG is loose and passive, and will pay us off on many streets when we hit our hand. We can't be scared of him sucking out on us.


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If this guy is a gold mine in the hand why risk driving him out with a preflop raise that might only be worth 2/3 of a small bet. I'd like to see him gone, but its apparent you do not. I want to know why then you would risk driving him out.

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If the flop comes AQQ or something like that, a flop c/r (as you advocate) will shut our opponents down as quickly as a 3bet/lead. Possibly even more, as a lead is seen as just continuation, where a c/r screams "I have an A minimum!"

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Please point out where I advocate a flop checkraise when the hero flops a monster. I specifically said by calling preflop one can wait to a more expensive street(i.e. turn or river) before giving a hint about the strenghth of ones hand.

Pinlifter