get the hell out of my pot

[bobman0330]

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why such a small raise pf? you're allowing people in for cheap especially when there's a limper



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I've asked this before, but I still haven't had anyone give me a satisfactory answer:
Is varrying your raise size pre flop a good idea and if so how do you vary it?

I always open raise the same amount, raise one limper the same amount, with 2 or more limpers I vary my raises some, but I raise less often after multiple limpers.

I tend to mix up what I raise with to disguise my hand. I just don't see how varying your raise size, unless it is by something neutral like position, is a good idea. Even if you employ some degree of randomness, you still leak information if the distributions for raise size depend at all on your hand. (e.g. with AA you raise 5BB 70%, 4BB 20%, 3BB 10% vice with 78s in the same position you raise 5BB 10%, 4BB 20%, 3BB 70%, the preceding on the contingency you raise and don't limp). Maybe people just are not perceptive enough to figure out "if he is raising 5BB, there is a much greater chance he has AA than 78s, though he has raised 78s 5BB in the past".

At any rate, since I like to raise pairs a lot first in, and will often raise some other hands for deception value first in, it seems like I am faced either with having to raise weaker hands more (in terms of BB), or letting people to the flop cheeply with my big pairs. I choose the latter, is this something I should be rethinking?

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This is a great question. I'm no authority but here are my thoughts.

As you point out, raising more with a bigger hand is a tradeoff between gaining value and giving up info. In itself, that doesn't mean you should give up and resort to a standard bet size. After all, raising instead of limping is the same tradeoff of value/hand protection in return for information.

Assuming you're better than the opposition, I think the variable raise is an important sort of equity. The key is to make sure that your raising parameters don't give up too much info for the value you're getting. For example, in a short-stack game, information is going to be worth less to your opponents, so you can differentiate your raise patterns more according to the value of your hand. If stacks were deep, you'd have to keep your profiles closer together to keep your opponents from getting too much information. Likewise, against bad players who don't pay attention, you can vary your raises with impunity.