Preflop raising

[Guthrie]

After 25K hands my PFR still looks low and dropping as I move up.

7.68 at .25/.50
7.61 at .50/1
7.59 at 1/2

I've been raising everything on the SSHE loose chart, and raising any decent calling hand on the button when it's folded around to me. Now what?

One thing I'm unsure of is what to do after I've raised and been re-raised. Call? 3-bet? Fold? For example, I raise in MP3 with AQo. If it comes back raised, I usually call (I'd 3-bet bigger hands). Should I be re-raising hands like this? Or does that even affect the PFR stat?

[@bsolute_luck]

suggestion: play 6-max. you'll learn to open-raise more hands from as far back as MP3 (some may even further, but MP3 is the equivalent to UTG in 6-max).

you don't have to wait 'til you're on the button to open-raise. then take that thought process back to full ring and you'll get that PFR % up in no time.

[numeri]

@bsolute makes a good comment about open-raising. One thing that can help is to never open-limp from MP3+. If you have 88, don't limp - raise. A9s - same thing. You can also try to "steal" a bit more. Now, I'm not one to advocate raising 83o on a steal attempt, but hands like J9s, KTo, A5s - you should be raising these first-in from the Button and even CO. I should also clarify that you want to do less of this against loose blinds. Try to find seats with tight players to your left. It's very helpful for that PFR%!

Rambling aside, the key is position. My PFR by position are:

Button: 12%
CO: 12.5%
MP3: 13%
MP2: 9%
MP1: 8%
UTG+2: 10% (That's a bit weird. I'm not really sure why.)
UTG+1: 7%
UTG: 8.5%
BB: 5%
SB: 7.5%

You get the general idea. My sample size is still relatvely small, so that may explain the UTG+2 anamoly. (Only 1.3k at each position.)

[Guthrie]

Here's mine:

Button: 10.32%
CO: 9.96%
MP3: 8.09%
MP2: 6.84%
MP1: 6.66%
UTG+2: 7.99%
UTG+1: 7.23%
UTG: 6.93%
BB: 5.87%
SB: 6.13%

I guess MP3 is the big difference. I've been playing it more middle than late.

I've also been in so many loose games that the opportunity to open raise in CO or on the button is rare. I expect this to change as I move up.

[Saint_D]

I've been raising everything on the SSHE loose chart, and raising any decent calling hand <font color="red">in ep and later</font> when it's folded around to me.

FYP.

Seriously. When people fold to you in MP, limping is a sin.

Also learn to raise against one weak limper when you have a hand you want to get them HU with.

-D

[davelin]

I've increased my pre-flop raise % by isolating raise more. Try this experiment, next time you have only one limper to you and you have a hand you'd normally limp in MP3, CO or the Button, consider raising it.

[Fryguy]

Here's mine. I feel I'm a bit too aggressive with some hands, but here it is anyway.

SB 11.92
BB 8.63
UTG 10.44
UTG+1 7.87
UTG+2 8.84
MP1 8.78
MP2 10.51
MP3 10.17
CO 8.98
Button 12.84

Total is 10.01. Note my UTG raise is high, I think I overvalue stuff like KQo too much UTG

[SlantNGo]

As I moved up to 1/2 I found that my PFR went UP. I think this is because the tables got tighter, so that I could isolate loose limpers more often, and also open-raise to steal or get heads up with a blind in middle to late position. Your PFR% on the Button can even be double your PFR% UTG if you're properly selective I believe.

[bozlax]

One more time, and everybody say it with me:

STOP WORRYING SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR STATS.

Are you comfortable? Are you winning? Are you having fun? If you can answer at least two of these questions, "yes," then you're fine. I'll leave it to you to figure out which two...can you see why?

The "ideal" stats, as presented in these forums, are for a TAA, or more precisely, sLAA using bisonbison's original set of PT rules. Maybe you're TPP or TPA; maybe your sLPA. Whatever. Stop trying, arbitrarily, to make your style of play match somebody else's, just because they're an "expert" (no offense to all the pooh-bahs and carpals out there).

If you're losing, or uncomfortable with your game, that's another issue, but even then just "correcting" the one stat that doesn't match the "ideal" is unlikely to fix your problem.

[tmoore44]

[ QUOTE ]
As I moved up to 1/2 I found that my PFR went UP. I think this is because the tables got tighter, so that I could isolate loose limpers more often, and also open-raise to steal or get heads up with a blind in middle to late position. Your PFR% on the Button can even be double your PFR% UTG if you're properly selective I believe.

[/ QUOTE ]

This was the key for me to get my PFR % up. When 60+% vpip's limp in front of me I act as if it's been folded to me. You just have to be more carefull post flop keeping in mind ep loose limpers can have a wide variety of hands.