[ QUOTE ]
I keep trying to work out in my head why it is so important to isolate the raiser when all it does in my eyes is cut down the size of the pot and force me into a situation where I'll probably be betting or calling with a worse hand. There really aren't very many hands in his range that KQo beats, LAG or not.

To those who advocate raising pre-flop, tell me this. When the flop comes all blanks and he bets, am I supposed to fold right there after having 3bet pre-flop and appear weak-tight? Am I supposed to call down with king high? I hate both of those options. Why should I put myself in that position when I could just coldcall and see if I catch?

[/ QUOTE ]

somewhere on this forum possibly in the general hold'em forum is a very long response by Ed Miller about preflop raising.

You got UTG limping, a LAG raising from MP, no calls after the raise, and the blinds to act after you. You have position and you should raise to isolate AND to take control of the hand. UTG has shown no strength, and MP could have a very wide range of hands. If you miss on the flop, so what? You're last to act. Based on the play ahead of you, you can decide what to do. You don't know that he will bet out if the flop comes all blanks and you raised pre-flop. Maybe he will and maybe he won't. If he does, you can decide to peel one off, raise, or fold. I hate cold calling. I almost NEVER do it, PT says less than 0.5% of the time. Either raise or fold. Both SSHE and ITPM talk about how it is usually a BAD idea to cold call.