Preflop Raising

[domester]

Even if the A was suited, I'd wait to catch my four flush and/or deuce/other low on the flop, then I'd raise. That kind of hand wants company to make big payoffs.

[Ribbo]

That kind of hand is profitable and should be raised preflop.

[cjs]

The problem with raising only A2 and AA hands is it really telegraphes what you have. I like to mix it up just for cover.

[PokrLikeItsProse]

I was playing Omaha/8 on Full Tilt with Paul Phillips. He raised UTG with 2233. He raised preflop with several hands that did not contain A2. And all of his raises made sense from a certain perspective, although some of them made less sense considering the context of a loose game that where a raise from UTG could easily get five callers no matter what.

[Wintermute]

I skimmed through the responses here, and with the exception of Ribbo, it sounds like you are all erring on the side of being too tight. Interestingly, Ribbo and I are both primarily PLO8 players. Perhaps the more speculative nature of that game has mistrained us for limit, but when I do rarely play 10/20 or something, A34x is a raiser, as is A335, etc. Virtually any 3 wheel cards that include an A, I'm going up. Who's to say whether it's optimal, that's just my 2 cents. Loosen up and have more fun--I have a hunch that the image improvement will at least compensate for any non-optimality.

[Ribbo]

What A345 does which not a lot of hands do is let you ram and jam to the hilt certain flops 26J springs to mind, A2K is another. Infact the funniest hand I ever had was 5 handed when I had A345 against A2xx A2xx A2xx and 77xx on a 678 flop. It was capped all streets until the case deuce hit the river ;-) Then everyone checked and I bet, everyone called, I showed and everyone mucked.

[GooperMC]

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What A345 does which not a lot of hands do is let you ram and jam to the hilt certain flops 26J springs to mind, A2K is another

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But how often do you really see a flop like that?

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when I had A345 against A2xx A2xx A2xx and 77xx on a 678 flop. It was capped all streets

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I think this case show why A3XX isn't that strong a hand. I really don't like calling a cap on 2 streets with the 2nd nut low and the bottom end of a str8. You are very lucky that you were not beat both ways.

[PokrLikeItsProse]

OK, let's put some things into perspective. There are certain games and situations where A345 is a reasonable preflop raising hand and others where limping is a reasonable strategy. Can you see why?

If you are the type who only raises preflop with A2 hands, then you are too predictable and at the mercy of good players who actually notice opponent tendencies. Clearly, you should raise with other hands to be somewhat unpredictable except in games populated by unobservant morons on whom deception is pointless.

I normally play in loose games with several people seeing the flop, where players will bet and raise with non-nut hands (and thus where folding with less than the nuts is a mistake).

[PollyEmory]

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The problem with raising only A2 and AA hands is it really telegraphes what you have.

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Agreed. Even the most brain-dead player will eventually clue in to such predictable raising standards.

--Polly

[KJ o]

Disagree, if we talk about low level online play. There are too many players and you don't see most of them more than a few times at the most.

The beautiful thing with online play is that you *can* get away with incredibly ABC style play!