Should I ever call a Raise pre-flop, or only Reraise?

I'm trying to get away from the habits I've developed playing low limit Full Ring, where you might see 5-6 people cold calling a Raise before the Flop so doing so yourself with a drawing hand often makes sense (and it's no great crime to limp in from early position, as you'll likely have plenty of company in the hand).

I've been forcing myself to never Open-Limp in 6 max, no matter how tempting it is with something like J10s. This has worked pretty well, with the exception of not wanting to give up on overcards/underpairs quite enough.

This question is about when the hand is Raised before it gets to you.

In the BB, I will Call one bet with a hand that has the potential to hit the Flop hard (suited Connectors, low pairs looking for Trips). If it doesn't, I Check/Fold. If it hits, I Check/Raise.

Otherwise (including SB), I've only been Reraising. I figure that if my hand is strong enough to Call two bets, it better be strong enough to Reraise. This has almost always been with Pairs 99+, AK, KQs, or AQs (have gotten out of line with this a couple times with A10s and the like, got squashed).

Is this correct play?

Should I always be thinking Reraise or Fold preflop when not in BB?

Thanks

[Stefan_K]

i dont coldcall very often. and i think that its a good thing to not do when you start playing shorthanded, but after a cupple of thousen hands you may very well lern to find some spots were you may coldcall but that is rare and its a good rule to start with to never coldcall

[Shawsy]

You can't go too wrong by following the reraise or fold line. I would say this is especially true as you make the transition from full ring to 6-max. As you gain experience, you can start to identify some situations where the black and white rule can become gray. Those situations are often player/table dependent. If the conditions aren't right, then folding such hands will save your bankroll and hairline.

Under the right conditions, hands like AQs, AJs, KQs are candidates for cold calls, along with some of the mid-strength pocket pairs. (in other words, strong drawing hands where you can make a big str8, flush or flop a set)

Even so, I would like to be relatively certain that the pot will be multiway (the BB will call one more bet, or someone has cold-called in front of you already for instance). You can easily fold at the flop if you whiff, but have a chance to win a big pot if the board hits you.

If you have a copy of SSH around, take a look at the pre-flop section, pp84-86 or so. That should give you the right flavour. You didn't say what limits you are playing at, but the concept shouldn't change much - I don't see how cold calling raises preflop gets any better at the higher limits. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]