Min-raising

I know there's a lot of naysaying out there about min-raising and why you shouldn't do it, why it's dumb, etc. I was under the impression that min-raising was a sign of weakness / amateurness, but I have put it to use a few times lately with great results. I think min-raising can be used effectively in the right situation. It might even be great to make someone 'think' you're a noob by using it and then BLAM-O! they're out of the tournament.

Ex. I was in BB and caught AA, folded around to the button who raised 3bb. SB folded, I flat called. Flopped trips, checked, he c-bet 1/2 pot, I min-raised, he shoved, I called. I chipped up. I have done this several times recently (not with trips all the time, but similar situations).

Like anything else in poker I think it's very situational and can just be another tool to be used at certain times. Because when you are min-raising you're not looking for the villian to fold. You want a strong hand, strong enough to hope that you can eventually play for stacks if not on this street then later down the road.

Similarly, what about if you yourself are min-raised? You obviously have the odds to call. But what about if you're on air and someone min-raises you? Do you have to call? It looks super weak if you fold there, and you want to perserve your chips. So what to do? Sacrifice another bet to not look foolish? Would that help down the road to show opponets that you will not fold in such a situation?

Thoughts?

Has this topic been covered extensively before ?

Yes. Stop minraising

Min raise can be effective, its true. Dont make a habbit of it, because it gives your opponents POT ODDS to call and possibly suck out. It sounds like you know what your doing, if it works for you then you dont have to change anything. Alrighty GL!

I rarely min raise but I do it sometimes, it really seems to tilt regs. I've seen them shove over a min raise with nothing a bunch, hell even I've gotten pissed off at some donk min 3-betting me. It has its place but very very rarely.

ive very very very rarely seen this done, but recently i saw prahlad friedman do it on a huuuuge bluff and it worked, and david benyamine did it against durrrr. so given the right, rare situation it can limit losses from getting a bluff snapped off and take a pot, but still, very very rarely use it

You don't wanna do it, because it serves very little purpose. Min raise gives your opponent way too much pot odds to suck out with any hand.

Some artices I have read state that it shows a sign of Strength. I believe that Harrington agrees with this as well. Harrington on Holdem suggests Min rasing something like 15% of the time pre flop.

I have used the min raise in cases where I had a strong starting hand like AQ offsuit or AJ offsuit from late positions and no limpers or raisers before me. I have even gotten some folds from the blinds in later tourneys with this.

One thing I can tell you though is that you will want to use it like anything else. Sparingly and not enough to let you oppnents know when you do it. Or as one theory worked for a few that tried it on here - min raise all the time so that they certainly never know what you have. But be prepared to fold to a lot of re-raises and scary flops.

Soon after I joined this site, a very wise man told me (thanks Tenbob!)that min raises make baby Jesus cry. Now, I don't want to be responsible for making baby Jesus cry, so I stopped min-raising.

Plus, well, I read the thread JQ linked above and it told me everything I needed to know on the subject.

I have been asking this to myself for a couple of months now. i don't know why but everyone is minraising now. and they all are doing it preflop with hands like JJ QQ KK AA. i don't get this. i am the type of player that will call with almost anything in the BB to a min raise. just to forwarn you all if i beat you with some marginal hands to your "raise" good luck

It is a tool. Just like you wouldn't use a paint brush to drive a nail, much of the time a min-raise is a bad idea. But I too use it occasionally, and usually with great success. It generally will be useless at low level games, as no one has enough sense to think you might have a clue, but among those who you feel are reasonable players, if you haven't over used it , it can be effective.

I won't call min-raising donktastic because I've seen enough pros that I really respect do it in various situations. Most of the time they do it when they're at least moderately strong but maybe are out of position or looking at a scary board and do it to get information.

I may be too old school, but I've always believed in the theory that in big-bet poker, you raise to do either or both of two things -- build the pot and thin the field. To me, min-raising dosen't really do either of those things very well.

Could it have something to do with Negreanu's smallball fad?

Obviously there are arguments both ways on this. I prefer to play more aggressively than that. I think in the long run that you will earn more chips by betting your hand appropriately.

I don't see the point of it really. If you do it constantly you are probably costing yourself money.


~H