[Buzz]

Baxter - It's hard for me to answer your situation questions about when to raise before the flop. When I'm dealt cards I like, whether to raise or not is highly opponent dependent and also depends on how previous hands have been played.

[ QUOTE ]
I think every hand is a drawing hand

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too. That's the nature of Omaha-8.

Even with AA23d, you need to get a favorable flop.

Then when you continue after the flop, assuming you play tightly after the flop, I think you're about six times as likely to still need a card on the turn or river as to have flopped a made hand. And even when you've flopped a made hand, you'll often have a re-draw. Thus you'll usually be drawing for a card after the flop.

[ QUOTE ]
if my KKQQ flops K66, I'd rather not have raised so that I can take from the poor guy with K6xx. But if the flop comes 3,4,8, I can easily slip away.
Is any of this making sense?

[/ QUOTE ]

Makes perfect sense.

[ QUOTE ]
I see that by raising preflop the table automatically puts you on a strong hand and will fold to you postflop unless they hit something very strong.

[/ QUOTE ]

Opponents do tend to be wary of your having a good starting hand when you raise before the flop. And then some of them are more prone to fold after the flop unless their hands fit very well with the flop. But others are more prone to continue because there's more money in the pot. My impression is it depends on the opponent.

[ QUOTE ]
I see many players that win pots before the river because they raised preflop and made people think they had a premium hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's more possible in a tight game than a loose one. Intimidation is a chief reason to raise before the flop. But in a full limit ring game, it's usually difficult if not impossible to intimidate enough of your opponents to steal the blinds.

When you find yourself at a tight table (rock garden), your best option is probably to quit that table and find another table (a looser table). Trouble is, on-line some of your opponents may be playing in four games at once, possibly playing only premium hands and making the game expensive with them. In a brick and mortar casino, that strategy doesn't work as well as on-line. Depends, I guess.

It's important to note that there are different effective styles of play.

[ QUOTE ]
If I'm in MP with A4xx ds, shouldn't I raise to try and knock out any A3's?

[/ QUOTE ]

No. You can raise with that hand, and if you do, you'll make play more difficult for your opponents (which is good). However, you're not likely to knock out anybody holding A3XY. Try it yourself and see if you don't believe me. You're not likely to knock out 23XY either - or even another A4XY. And you're certainly not going to knock out anybody holding A2XY, a hand you should expect to be facing roughly half the time when you end up on the river making a low with your A4XY in a full game.

But if you're always going to raise from mid position with A2XY, then also raising with A4XY tends to somewhat disguise your raises with A2XY hands.

I went through a phase a couple of years ago where I generally raised before the flop with A4XY hands. In my humble opinion you'll lose a lot more money than you'll win by playing that way.

[ QUOTE ]
I've been playing LO8 for seven months now, and winning most sessions.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can probably usually win at a loose low limit table simply by playing very tightly and having average poker skill, but you can't win much.

Winning, however, sure beats losing. If you're currently playing too tightly and if you expand your range of starting hands, you'll probably go through some losing sessions while you adjust.

Just my opinion.

Buzz