Exclusive Netbettor Texas Hold'em Article:

The Pre-flop Raise
Early Position

In future articles we’ll talk extensively about when you should be inclined to raise before the flop in middle and late position. However, since you usually have fewer factors to consider as your position improves, we’ll spend our time here focusing on the early position raise. When your position is late, for example, the decision of whether to raise pre-flop is inextricably tied to your chances of getting a free card if you miss the flop (assuming someone else has already brought it in), or your chances of stealing the blinds (If nobody has yet entered the pot). As your position improves, these two considerations become increasingly important, to the point where these are almost the only two things you need to account for when you have the button. In early position, though, the situation is a good deal more delicate.

For our purposes here, we’re going to assume a couple things. First, we’ll say that nobody else has yet entered the pot. Second, we’ll assume you have a hand other than AA, KK, QQ or AK (which should just about always be raised with up front, unless the game is very tight). And third, we’ll assume you’ve been in the game long enough to have some kind of handle on how the game is playing.

Consideration 1: Understanding that most hands don’t play very well against precisely two or three opponents.
This doesn’t mean that a hand which is profitable in a heads-up pot, or against seven other players, suddenly isn’t profitable in a four-handed pot. You give me A J suited, for example, and I’ll turn a profit with it in the long run no matter how many opponents I have. But, all other things being equal I’d rather play this hand either heads-up, which gives me a better chance of winning even if I don’t improve, or against a gaggle of other players, so as to allow me to either drag a big pot with a nut flush, or two pair (or occasionally with one pair). At the very least I’ll be getting favorable odds to continue on when I flop something like a gutshot to the nuts or middle pair with an overcard kicker. With this in mind, I’ll usually just call if I don’t think I have a reasonable chance of stealing the blinds (or playing heads up against one of the blinds, which is almost just as good) or I don’t think I’ll get a lot of cold callers. Now it isn’t a disaster if I raise and get only two callers, since I’ve probably got the best hand now and I’m usually pretty sure I can outplay anyone who’s in the business of calling two cold in a short pot before the flop. But I’d rather take the flop with a bunch of other players if a raise won’t get it heads up. While I use A J suited as the example here, this same concept applies to hands like K Q suited, pocket J’s, T’s and 9’s, A T suited, etc. etc. These are good hands, and they should be played. But you’d typically rather take a flop with these hands against one opponent, or four or more opponents, then just two or three other players.

Consideration 2: How loose is the game?
Before you sally forth, understand that there are different kinds of ‘loose’. There are games where people will limp in with just about anything, but aren’t afraid to tighten their belts if there’s been a raise in front of them. And there are games where people don’t care if the pot’s been raised pre-flop or not. Finally, there are games where your opponents almost seem to relish a pre-flop raise from early position, as it apparently gives them license to start jacking up the pots with marginal hands.

Obviously this consideration ties in with the previous passage. In a game where the loosies suddenly become rocks once the pot’s been raised up front I’ll usually just call. I do this for a couple reasons. First, like I said before I’d rather not take the flop three or four handed—which is the most likely result in a game like this. Secondly—and this point can’t be emphasized enough—by just limping I’m opening the door for hands which I dominate to enter the pot. Let’s say I have that same A J suited. In a game like the one I just described, most players will limp in with hands like K J, or A 9 suited. However, they won’t call if I raise. It should go without saying that I want hands like this to take a flop with me, since I’m not planning on trying to bully my hand through to the river with ace high. Since I’m not going to get very involved unless I hit the flop, I’m not really concerned if the guy with A 9 catches a 9 high flop, or the guy with K J catches a K high flop. These kinds of flops don’t affect me, since they don’t significantly alter my chances of winning the pot. However, when the flop comes A high, or J high, I’ve suddenly got someone tied on who’s drawing at three outs to a winning hand.

If pre-flop raises are essentially ignored by my opponents then I’m going to raise. Why? Because I have a big hand, and don’t mind building a volume pot. Also, if the game is playing very tight I’m going to raise—and I’m going to do it for two reasons. First, I like my chances of stealing the blinds. And second, if I don’t raise it’s very likely that someone behind me will raise instead, thereby putting me in the unenviable position of having to see a flop for a raise out of position. This second concern may sound a little esoteric (and it’s true that it’s not something which lower limit players need to concern themselves with all that often), but those of you who are playing in middle limit games must acquaint yourselves with this dynamic. The problem works like this: If you have a hand like A J suited, and raise, the odds are good that everyone will fold to the blinds. From here the hand could play itself out in a variety of ways, although ideally you’d like both blinds to fold . If one or both of the blinds call, it’s not a disaster since you’ve probably got the best hand now and you know you’ll have position throughout the hand. If he has T 8 suited, for example, then you’re still in a pretty good spot.

But what happens if you just call? In a tight but aggressive game, it’s now likely that someone behind you will raise, and it’s very possible that your raising opponent has a hand that you would rather not have to play against out of position (something like T 9 suited, for example, or K Q offsuit). Making matters worse, the odds are good that this opponent would have laid his hand down if you had raised to begin with. Now, instead of having a chance to steal the blinds, or at least play against the blinds with a superior hand and superior position, you’re stuck playing against someone who has position on you and will have the opportunity to represent all kinds of hands when the flop comes. As you can probably imagine this makes playing your hand a real pain in the ass when you miss the flop. In our case here, let’s say the flop comes something like K 9 6. What’s your move? You have ace high, and your opponent could have all kinds of hands that either hit the flop, or can be profitably semi bluffed. He could have AA, KQ, 77, A8 suited… the fact is, you really can’t pin him down. And unless you want to start firing away in a nothing pot with ace high your probably not going to be able to narrow down his range of possible hands, since a good player will raise in this spot with far, far more hands then he’ll cold call with. This situation is bad enough when it happens despite your best efforts. But it’s really a disaster when it could have been avoided by simply raising before the flop.

The key to identifying these situations is this: anytime you’re pretty sure the pot is going to be raised before the flop, you might as well be the one doing the raising. It is much better to raise before the flop with A J suited, and be cold called by a K T suited on the button, then to limp in and be raised by that same K T suited. In the first case you’ll have a pretty good idea where you stand if you’re raised on the flop. In the second case you’re going to have to do some serious guessing. In both cases you’ll probably end up winning the pot if you hit the flop. However, you’ll often win more when you hit if you’re the one doing the pre-flop raising, and you’ll certainly be able to win more often when both of you miss if you’re the one who put in the pre-flop raise. In a tight aggressive game you’ll see much more raising than cold-calling, which means it’s much harder to draw a bead on your opponent’s probably hand if you get raised pre-flop. Since hand reading plays such a big role in middle stakes games, you’d rather play your hand in such a way that forces your opponent to define his hand early on in the play.

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