preflop raising

I am a new student of poker, and my search for preflop raising did not find any posts that really answered my question so perhaps you will help me. I've read Hold 'Em Poker, Theory of Poker, and now I'm reading Small Stakes Hold 'Em. These books insist on preflop raising with a few extremely strong hands. I'm currently playing 0.5/1 and 1/2 online. In practice, I have been raising the recommended preflop hands and then, more often than not, I end up folding after the flop or turn. Most of the games I play in have about 5 people in to the flop, and nearly ALL hands end up in showdown. Over 90% of all hands go to a showdown, so it seems very important that I do not go all the way unless I'm fairly certain I have the best hand. Thus, I end up folding on the flop or turn pretty often, which makes me question why I should raise preflop so much. Is it true that with more players (>6) in on the flop, I should not raise preflop with the strongest hands, and instead slowplay them? If these newbie questions are already answered in another post, please accept my apologies. Thank you for your help.

As someone who just recently finished SSHE (for the third time), I think it should answer your questions once you finish it and re-read it a couple of times. I'll let more crusty vets explain the rationale...in the meantime have faith, it does work!

p.s. Where are you playing? I would love to sit in on those tables.

[Octopus]

You raise pre-flop because your opponents are making a mistake by playing so many hands and you want to punish them for doing so. You raise pre-flop because you have an equity edge pre-flop (Suppose you win at showdown 25% of the time against 5 opponents; that is a major edge.) You may be folding too much on the flop; remember that 6 handed raised pots are pretty big; so pretty trash draws are often profitable here.

On the other hand just think when you are raising pre-flop and folding the flop that you are earning your money. They make mistakes by not raising in the first place AND they nake mistakes by chasing with insufficient payoffs. You make neither of those mistakes so you are profiting from them.

[Greg J]

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Is it true that with more players (>6) in on the flop, I should not raise preflop with the strongest hands, and instead slowplay them?

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Short answer no.

Simple example: Let's say you have AA, and you have a bunch of people to the flop that don't respect yr raises. You will win a relatively low percentage of the time, let's say 30%. But they pot will be huge, let's say on average 25bbs. 25*.3 = a whopping 7.5 bbs everytime you get Aces.

Let's say you are at a table where people are better players and respect yr raises. Yr aces hold up 80% of the time but the pot size is only 6 bbs. 6*.8= 4.8 bbs.

You lose more hand in the first example but you make more money. It's important to look at this from a mathematical standpoint. It's hard to do that in the short term I know. It takes expereince.

Keep raising yr premium hands.

I would post some hands you specifically have some issues with.

[TheMainEvent]

This is a common feeling when you are starting out in LHE. The thing you have to realize is, preflop in limit hold em you are almost always betting on the longshot. Very few hands are more than 50% to hold up in a multiway pot. So you have to learn to just be content in knowing that even though you're putting in money that in all likelihood you won't get back, as long as your opponents are calling you with worse hands you're still making money in the long run.

[Greg J]

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This is a common feeling when you are starting out in LHE. The thing you have to realize is, preflop in limit hold em you are almost always betting on the longshot. Very few hands are more than 50% to hold up in a multiway pot. So you have to learn to just be content in knowing that even though you're putting in money that in all likelihood you won't get back, as long as your opponents are calling you with worse hands you're still making money in the long run.

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Well put. I would suggest to the OP that he go back and read the gambling theory portion in each of the books, and let them soak in.

Just quickly though for the OP: Let's say I offer you this bet. We flip a coin. If it's heads you give me $1. If it's tails we flip it again. If it comes up heads on this second flip you give me $1, but if it's tails I give you $5. Do you take this bet? Why?

hmm, I wonder if you're referring to the classic AK. Why raise when they don't fold?

a) you are investing more money in a hand that will win more than their junk (not >50% but >25% against 4 players)
b) you are the aggressor and it puts them on the defensive
c) post-flop fold equity: they will fold some amount of time, earning you the pot, which can make up for when they don't fold
d) it will make TPTP 36% of the time and will hold to the river >30%
e) it really is an easy hand to fold post-flop, if it's clear that you're behind

[HouseCalls]

SSH addresses this in the preflop concepts section. In these loose passive games your preflop raise does not force anyone to fold but it does get more money in the pot for premium hands that are most likely to win. Good luck!

All of the above plus my mantra -

You lose a little on loser hands you win big on winning hands.

At this level you must play the premium hands the same way every time. The minute you limp with KK, that's when you'll hit and you will be very unhappy that you didn't raise it up when you bet the flop and no one has odds to draw and they all fold.