Quick Question - Raise First In?

[Stork]

You're better off folding.

[dogmeat]

Hey, I tried.

"There are none so blind, as those who will not see."

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[mistrpug]

That rule applies only to tougher games. In low limit holdem it is often correct to limp as the first one in because you want people with worth hands to limp behind you.

[AceKQJT]

If you are in Late position, have a playable hand, and are first to enter the pot, you should strongly consider raising as opposed to limping.

--Casey

[Zag]

[ QUOTE ]
I have heard it repeated many times: 'Raise if you're first into a pot.'

[/ QUOTE ]
As with many of these sweeping generalizations, following it is better than following its opposite, but, in this case, not a lot.

It is true that, if I were giving advice to someone about to play hold'em for the first time, and I only had 10 minutes before they were to start, my advice would include that statement. However, my advice would also include only playing hands in which raising is the right choice. There are lots of other hands that can be played for a profit, but it is a lot harder to play them correctly, so a true beginner would be better off just folding these others, playing only the top 10, and (as you should with the top 10) playing them for a raise.

As I assume you have progressed beyond playing only the top dozen or so hands, the advice always to raise is no longer correct. To play the next bunch of hands, you have to understand why you are raising or limping. Some hands are looking to make TPTK or an overpair -- these are very likely to win against a single opponent, but not likely to beat a crowd, so you raise with them.

Other hands are less likely to hit the flop well enough to continue, but, if they do, will probably make a monster hand that will be good enough to beat all comers. These hands rely on implied odds to be worth playing, so they want to get to the flop cheaply but they don't mind if there are lots of opponents -- that just means more people to pay them off if they do hit. These hands should limp, and they really need position.

Finally, there are two-way hands, which could fall in either category and aren't huge in either. KQs, QJs, 88-TT. These are the hardest to play correctly, because you have to play them extremely situationally.

[Twitch1977]

Thanks to all that took time to post. I thought perhaps I had a serious error in my game by not always raising first in but it sounds from your advice like I'm on the right track so far with my preflop raising. (PFR% is just under 9%).

Thanks
T