How to prevent predictable betting?

[wilcs18]

So I usually play 10 max buy-in NL on Pacific, or 10 or 20 buy in NL at home games, and about once a month I play 100 NL at Foxwoods or Turningstone. My problem is, especially in my home games where the the other players know me, I am becoming very predictable in my betting patterns. I am still winning, even more at the Casino's where it takes people longer to pick up the patterns.
Any advice on how to actually keep my bets from being predictable, and advice on what to consider when deciding how big a bet to make (especially on pre flop raises) would be real helpful.

by the way most of the problems are coming pre-flop...

[lawrence]

Always raise the same amount, I raise the same with 67s as KK. I sometimes change this if there are limpers, but generally it's not a good idea to wildly vary your pf raises.

[Nikademus]

There seem to be two schools, always bet the same, or never bet the same. Personally, I always bet the same. I'll either stick to betting half the pot, all the pot, or just doubling the previous raise. I'll play that way for a few hours, then change and stick to that for a few hours. It throws people off.

[subzero]

I'm just talking about open-raising preflop here. In general, I vary my preflop raises based on my position. From early position, I'll make it 2 or 3 BB. From middle position, I raise to 3 or 4 BB. From late position, it's 4 or 5 BB. For every 2 callers in front, I'll add one more BB.

Postflop betting is another story, but I often bet 3/4 of the pot on the flop.

[ajmargarine]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm just talking about open-raising preflop here. In general, I vary my preflop raises based on my position. From early position, I'll make it 2 or 3 BB. From middle position, I raise to 3 or 4 BB. From late position, it's 4 or 5 BB. For every 2 callers in front, I'll add one more BB.

Postflop betting is another story, but I often bet 3/4 of the pot on the flop.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why don't you try just making it 3-4xBB + 1BB for every limper in no matter what position you are in. If you have AA on the button and its folded to you, you're raising 5BB? Why not do 3BB, because you want one of those out of position blinds to call you. If you're going to be on any kind of sliding scale as you describe, you have it inverted. The bigger preflop raise UTG may discourage a caller behind you more than if you just raised 3xBB. And that's one less player who has position on you.

If you are really looking to vary, limp in on a full table UTG or UTG+1 with your monsters from time to time. Hoping for a few limpers and a raise behind, so you can reraise big.

[subzero]

[ QUOTE ]
Why don't you try just making it 3-4xBB + 1BB for every limper in no matter what position you are in. If you have AA on the button and its folded to you, you're raising 5BB?

[/ QUOTE ]
It's just a general guideline. There are times when I might adjust. It's something I picked up from this article and just stuck with: Varying Your Opening Bet Size

[gulebjorn]

Try to get some variation in the type of hands you raise with, rather than the amount of the raise. When you're in late position, try raising 78s or 66 for a change. (I'm assuming you don't normally raise these)

It might even be a good idea to raise a small SC or something like that in EP and try to get it to a showdown. If you can do that just once every session, they'll remember it, and next time you raise the same amount from EP, they won't know what to put you on: aces or 67s.

As far as raising amounts go, 4xBB + 1 BB for every caller works for me. I try to randomize it a little, between 3 and 6 BB, but not depending on the hands I'm holding.