Raising out of the Blinds

[ThePopinjay]

Right now I pretty much only raise out of the blinds with AA, KK, QQ, and sometimes JJ depending on number of limpers etc. Is this a mistake, or fine? I hate playing unmade hands out of position.

[SkippingGoat]

I raise AKo and certainly AKs out of the blinds. If you make a hand on the flop you're strong even out of position. I'd prefer to raise AK out of the blinds over JJ which I like to play primarily for set value out of the blinds. In a short handed game (6max or lower) you might want to lower your raising standards even further and consider raising AQs and KQs.

[JohnG]

It depends on various factors.

One thing I will say is that only raising with those hands is a mistake if the money is deep, unless your opponents won't notice. What you don't want to do on deep money is leak information about your hand preflop. You're better off limping in that case. Or better yet, raising on some other hands like 55 or 97s when the dynamics are suitable.

[SkippingGoat]

Right. You're looking to maximize your Shania.