[Dooner]

If A/A and K/K are the only hands that you are raising pre-flop, you are allowing too many people to see the flop for cheap. Now I know that you will get more callers at the micro-limit tables than you would at $10/$20, but if you only raise on those two hands, you are just asking to get outdrawn time after timre. Not to mention that when you only raise with Aces or Kings, you are giving away too much information to the other players.

Raises are not just to get more money in the pot. They can be used to get people to fold when you want to be heads up or shorthanded. They can be used to give others the impression that you are a loose/aggressive player. There are all kinds of reasons to raise pre-flop, even at the micro-limit tables.

Now do not take this advice and start raising with anything. If you do, you will get hammered time and time again. However, there are way too many examples or reasons for raising pre-flop for me to list them here. If I were you I would go out and buy some books and read up on what they say about starting hands. "Hold Em Poker" and "Hold Em Poker For Advanced Players" by David Sklansky are two good books to read.

Finally, I would say watch what hands other players raise with. And ALWAYS take into account what kind of players you are playing with. Are they rocks, are they maniacs? Will they fold decent hands to a raise? Are they there to gamble or to have fun? Are they a beginner or do they have experience? Are they on tilt from a bad beat or are they level headed? All these questions can help in determining which hands to raise and which hands to limp with. Hope this helped.

[img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]