How to counter preflop raises being respected too much

So i am playing 2nl these days, and beating if for a good rate right now. What I want to know is how to counter when your preflop raises get too much respect. This tends to happen mostly when I have the big stack if that makes a difference. I tend to raise suitid connecters and occasionally small pp as a way of trying to balance when I raise my big hands and still get callers, but it isn't working. I don't want to raise like a fool from earlly position with rags but is that what it is going to take. I know that most of the time image is not an issue so i am not sure how to go about this.

There are a couple of things you could do:

- Steal from the button and CO more. Pretty soon, they'll get sick of it and call you when you have good stuff.

- Raise PF and show down a crappy hand once or twice. Try to make it cheap. Like bet the flop with 2nd pair for the minimum. Then when you get called down by Top Pair and they see what you raised PF, you'll get more calls of your PF raises.

They're worth a try, I guess.

It sounds to me that you have way too tight of a table image. Like Mr. Sticker said, show down a marginal hand or two if you can get away with it for cheap. That should loosen people up to you, but, you have to be prepared for the down side of that. You'll get all of the donks going to the showdown with you and beating your huge PP with 7 2 offsuit.

I agree with mrsticker on this one in the lower cost games to many people will call with literally nothing because they have nothing to lose so be careful but not to cautious I have caught alot of people with literally nothing. By playing to tight though anyone who pay's attention will read you and you will get nothing in return so mix it up

Find another table. You should have no problem getting calls at this level even raising 5-6xBB.

I don't agree with the other suggestions to advertise poor play. No one is paying attention so you're just throwing money away.

Play tight, play your A game, and find some weak competition.

Raise like a fool from late position. Especially when it's folded to you on the button. Open every hand. If it's a mistake to open every hand on the button, it's not a big one.

And when someone has limped in, raise anyway. Squeeze. Apply pressure in position. Hugely profitable. If they're calling stations who can't lay anything down, be a bit more moderate about it, but then bet all hands with some value on the flop and on the turn and check back the river.

All very generic advice, but still.

Your preflop raises are being respected too much at 2NL!?

Table selection ftw.

The advice about raising and showing down marginal is fine once you move up past at least 10NL, but for the 5NL and 2NL there is no need.

As a fellow micro-stakes grinder (and I play 6max) my raises might only get respect from other regular players who have stats on me or after I have played 100+ hands with a certain player at the table.

For now just get up from the table if you aren't getting some real loose action preflop. It really wont be hard to find numerous 2NL tables with Vp$p of at least 40%+

How often then do I need to be changing table on average. When i open up my tables I look for 40-50% seeing the flop minimum. Is it not uncommon to have to change tables every 20-30 minutes? And my VPIP is running about 35-40 right now (iirc) so I know that I do not have a tight image for the ones that it does make a difference for. I will start being a brazen thief from late position also.

there are a couple of different things that you can do to combat this. one would be to increase the amount of your standard raises. instead of making it the standard 3x bb, increase it to 5x bb and make it appear as a steal attempt. i wouldn't necessarily advocate this strategy for mid suited connectors, but it definately does change your image. instead of being a TAG, you appear more loose and people will begin to percieve that you are on steal attempts rather than solid hands. this works well especially from late position.

the biggest thing that i think is being overlooked here though is table selection. you don't want to play at a table with a bunch of TAG players, because you simply won't get called enough to make this a profitable play. For this strategy, you want to be sitting at a table with some loose passive players to your left, that will call down your pre flop raises and pay you off once you hit broad street.

It's not necessarily how often you change tables. It's how you recognize a table when it stops being profitable. If you are at a table for a while and double up in say 40 hands or so and then don't make anything more in the next 30-40 or so because people are catching onto your skill, then it could be time to change tables. But by all means, stay with a table if your profit continually rises or until it's dinner time. lol

If you see you are not getting called when you raise, then your image is probably too tight. So it is necessary to mix in mediocre hands once in awhile.

show a preflop raise with rags, and if that dosnt get there attention after doing it once do it again the very next hand just to do it again. keep doing it until they just think your a maniac then when a big hand comes along smash em one. another option is bluffing and showing it. theres many ways to go about creating a maniac image at the table. but preflop raising is the best way i think.

Have you ever considered the fact that it could just be bad luck for you that when you get your legit hand to raise with, the next best hand at the table is K6 offsuit? No offense, but I doubt you're getting "respect" to your raises because everyone folds at these limits. I agree with DOUBLE-A. Find another table that has a little bit looser competition. And check out a table before you sit down. Most every site shows the average number of players per flop, average pot, and hands per hour. If a lot of players see the flop and the average pot is 10 or more times the BB, I'm sure you would better enjoy this competition. If only 2 or 3 people usually see the flop, and the average pot is 2-3 times the BB, then that's generally a tight table with no preflop raising. Hope this helps.