It’s been a busy week, which is why the third (and final) post about blind play has been awhile in the works - sorry about that.

In the two previous posts, I’ve talked about when it’s correct to call in the big blind, what kind of hands you should be looking for and how much you can allow yourself to loosen up. Today, I want to talk about when you should raise from the blinds. Now, I’m not entirely happy with the format; I much prefer to look at a situation and gauge what the correct action is, than look at an action and try to find situations that fit. Nonetheless, bear with me - I’m trying to find situations that display typical characteristics of when to raise.

Raising from the small blind
It’s folded to the loose and aggressive player in the cut-off (the “CO”, or seat just to the right of the button), who raises. The button folds and it’s up to you. You know to fold a hand that’s weak, the problem arises with hands that you want to continue with - but do you call or 3-bet?

It depends, of course. For instance, the hand itself probably matters (and no, I haven’t told you what you’re holding yet). It also matters a great deal who’s in the big blind. How cheaply do you want to let him in?

With a pocket pair that you want to play (which, against someone who could well be on a steal, should be mostly all of them), you should 3-bet. Make it expensive for the big blind to see the flop with J7s and spike a jack that beats your pocket eights. That’s a fairly straightforward decision. It can probably be extrapolated for higher pairs than eights as well. Maybe all the way up to queens.

Here’s what I suggest, though: If you’re going to play the small blind against a loose/aggressive possible steal-attempt, I think you should 3-bet it every time. If you can’t see yourself 3-betting, fold. When it’s shorthanded against a loose opponent, do your best to isolate him and take charge of the pot.

Raising from the big blind
Against the same steal attempt as above, be more inclined to 3-bet with AKs and similar hands, but cold call with AA and KK, for these reasons:

1. A raise preflop will alert the stealer that you have something strong. If you just call, and check on the flop, he’s going to bet anyway (as stealers always do). You can take that bet then instead of now. With a really good flop, you’re looking at a lot of action.
2. Personally, I will play any flopped pair in this situation just the same way. For the non-observant opponents, this won’t matter, but once in awhile, someone will notice that I’ve raised the flop with 3rd pair out of the BB, and this time they reraise me with a flopped pair of queens. When they decide to play back at me when I’m holding AA - well, tough luck.
3. The raise will be solely for value, and will not give me any of the other usual perks (”buying the button”, “for information”, etc.) Don’t get me wrong - raising for value is the best reason to raise, but this is a bet that you can probably earn later on in the hand with a real powerhouse. The value of deception probably outweighs the lost bet at this point. But, again, this strategy (and the reasons for it) is only applicable in a heads-up situation. When the pot is multiway, you need to act differently. Read on.

Raising when there are many people already in the pot
This is one of the worst mistakes poor limit players make: Failing to raise with strong hands from the big blind. I know, it’s tempting to peak at the flop before investing more money, but keep in mind that everyone else feels the same way. You have the chance, now, to take them for another bet. After the flop, most of them will fold, and you will miss the opportunity. I can promise you, though, that just about everyone who invested a bet already will - grudgingly - pay another one to see the flop now that they’re already in.

What about a drawing hand like AKs, you may ask? I don’t like the term drawing hand, first of all, because it’s a misleading term - it makes people think that there’s some magical difference between “a made hand” and “a drawing hand,” when there isn’t. I won’t go into the depths of explaining equity in this post, but preflop in a multiway pot, you should be willing to raise any premium hands, paired or not. Unlike the situation above, where you had a powerful hand against a loose stealer, you are much less likely to make up for the bets you miss preflop due to deception. You need to raise. Not raising AKs out of the big blind preflop with, say, 5 limpers, is a big mistake.

In closing, failing to raise preflop is a common mistake all across the board, not just from the big blind - but it’s even more common there. Remember, as soon as the pot is multiway, you should be aggressive preflop and exploit the loose callers. I know it’s tempting to just hit “check” and get to see what the flop will bring you, but as a rule of thumb: Temptations are generally misleading in poker.

All this talk about being tight and aggressive? It’s not to be interpretted as “play tight preflop and aggressive postflop” - you’re supposed to be tight and aggressive when you have only the first two cards as well. Not being aggressive preflop is costing you money. I promise.