Isolation raises preflop in limit

[Borno]

can someone explain this concept to me?

Thanks

[Guruman]

you look down a decent cards that you think can beat the typical range of hands that the person to your immediate right just raised with. You re-raise, making the rest of the table pay three cold bets to play (2 and 2.5 bets for the blinds). This will usually cause everyone but the loose initial raiser to fold, and now he's out of position to you.

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[theRealMacoy]

i will add that if you have a maniac to your left
when he bets, you re-raise
this is a standard play, trying to get heads up with him
with the advantage of better starting cards

cheers,
the Real Macoy

[StLouisMike]

I have not had much success with this playing low limits at all. A big criteria for this is will the other opponents fold or will it just call you another bet with a marginal holding? I believe in "Inside the Poker Mind" there is a section on this concept in limit holdem.

[theRealMacoy]

yes, in the lower limits with 5-6 seeing the flop every hand, there is no such thing as a pf isolation play.

instead raise with your quality holdings pf based on their high EV

also things like semi-bluffs don't generally work against very loose players

cheers,
the RM

[Louie Landale]

Yup, raising or reraising trying to "isolate" the raiser heads up. It doesn't really refer to strong hands that you'll 3-bet with anyway, the phrase is reserved for seemingly marginal holdings. You need to have a reason that this situation is a lot better heads-up than 3 or 4 handed. Some such reasons include [] he's a maniac and if you make a pair you can get several more bets in as a big favorite [] you know what he's got or he's real predictable letting you outplay him seriously later [] the natur of your hand is such that it loses a lot of ground against more than one opponent.

Everyone folds, the button calls, the assertive SB raises (he probably doesn't have a pair), and you have 66 in the BB. You should 3-bet to isolate the SB.

- Louie

[theRealMacoy]

cheers louie