Multiway versus Fewer Opponents

[southerndog]

If you had aces on the button and there were a few callers already in, and you raised, would you want the BigBlind to call?

If you had AKo on the button and there were a few callers already in, and you raised, would you want the BigBlind to call?

IF you had 33 in the CO and limped behind a few limpers, and Button raised, would you want the blinds to call?

[CrackerZack]

Yes

[Spyder]

Yes to all.

Spyder

[D.H.]

I'm sure that the poster in a way got an answer to his question. But guys, please write a little bit about why you think that the answer is Yes. Otherwise I don't think it will help a lot of people.

[CrackerZack]

1.) Yes your EV goes up with every other person in the pot so raise it up baby.

2.) Your hand is far superior to the average hand the limpers will have and the blind will have. You'll lose the pot a fraction more than you would if you didn't raise, but your raise makes you sklansky money.

3.) you're playing for set value, the more around post flop to pay you off, the better.

[Saborion]

Sounds to me as though you're thinking the way I did in the beginning. You raise because you want people to fold, since you'll win less often against more opponents. Well, you might win less often, but you'll win more money. So when you raise with those hands pre-flop, you do so because they are likely to be the best hands out there, meaning you make money on every call you get.

You don't raise to drive people out, you raise for value, since you expect to win more than your fair share.

Here's a link to a page where you can see how often certain hands win against x amount of opponents. AA will win 64 % of the times against 3 opponents, only 56 % of the time against 4 opponents, but you still want more opponents since you make more money that way.

Simple example. No bets allowed after the flop. No rake. It get's checked through, and the best hand at the end wins.
vs 3 opponents that calls your raise you'll win 64 % of each bet that goes into the flop, meaning you'll make .64 * 9 = 3.84 SB's on average.
vs 4 opponents you'll only win 56 % of each bet. Thus you'll make .56 * 8 = 4.48 SB's on average.
Win less often, but win more.

Now, the flop will change things, but that has nothing to do with your pre-flop decisions. You have the best hand now. You make money on every bet that goes into the pot pre-flop.

If I recall correctly, you'll make money raising pre-flop with, say, QQ, even if you knew that someone has AA, as long as there are enough players in. Then both you and AA make money.