1: I really like the 2bb button raise. It's one of those things that unless you've got a super spewy calling station in the blinds (and you don't because you should have nits on your left and stations on your right) then there's just no reason to raise any other amount.
Keep in mind though that if there are limpers than you should actually tighten your range if you've been min-raising, this is because you can't min-raise him because you don't have fold
equity (so if you're raising, it should be bigger, for value). The nearest explanation I can give is that I think of my button range after someone has already entered the pot about the same as I think of my CO raising range.
Your sizing has to change, so your range has to as well.
2: If you're getting in trouble stealing from SB, either you're stealing vs BB or picking bad spots vs BTN/CO. SB vs BB, imo, you only get creative if you can get away with it (he's extremely nitty) otherwise the pot is his, he has position, don't mess with him. BTN/CO, look for a big difference between PFR/Attempt to steal, beware of super fish because they might just call your 3bet with their K3o which is bad when you've got 56s OOP. Other than that, 3betting light vs wide stealers in the micros is like taking candy from a baby, they can't adjust quickly even if they know how to because if you're an unknown you're much more likely to have just caught a good run of cards than be playing back.
This is a good idea in general I think, it's better to get the money in preflop UTG because it's harder to extract value OOP. however, if you're doing this I think your UTG range has to be ubertight cuz raise-folding 5bbs with pairs is probably spewy, i assume you're stacking most of your range.
Really disagree with this (if you're saying that 11% isn't tight enough). Your range is strong, the guy who's nitty UTG who always folds and when he occasionally plays a hand he plays it hyper aggressively from there is not someone anyone wants to 3bet light. You're going to make way more money winning the hand preflop or winning on the flop with a cbet than you're going to lose. Is this going to be more than you'd make if you raised smaller? The wins from steals will be less (you're paying a lot more for your attempts), the wins from cbets will be more. Since you're rarely
bluffing though, you've got to be way more concerned with value and this big pre-flop raise gives you a great excuse to build a healthy SPR for your premium hands.
Im off the view that bet sizing should be consistent to disguise hand strength, rather than mixing it up for different positions/hands.
That your range changes based on position is obvious, you're not giving away more information by raising more when your range is strong and less when it's weak.
Changing your sizing based on your range is good.
Changing it based on your hand is bad.
Its pretty tight but I dont want to be raising with ONLY monsters there or I never steal the blinds (a big portion of the money 5bb bets make from UTG)
You win 1.5bb when you steal the blinds. You're betting 5bb. It's going to be difficult to show a profit here just from stealing, with an 11% range you still probably make money even on pure bluffs after stealing the blinds and cbetting are taken into consideration.
Not that this is entirely relevant, I just think it's important to be aware of the risk/reward on routine bets.
I think stealing with 4bb is tough, Think about how often that has to be successful to show a profit- not that you CANT show profit its just harder.
tbh 2bb gets a stunning amount of folds- and I dont know of 3bb or 4bb gets enough more to justify the risk.
Random info: When you get 3bet after raising to 2bb, call really wide. SCers/Axs/22+ or more, the pot is still small and you've got position and a discount. They have to raise more than 4x for you to take it as seriously as most other 3bets.
Also there's a post over on the old 2+2 boards that is imo as good as the bible of blind stealing, which I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link to, so mods look away please:
http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Number=5348855
FWIW, this guy uses an example of 4bb, but he later made a video of him playing where he explained he'd switched to 2bb steals, which if you do some searching is worth a watch.
The only thing I see wrong with 2BB to steal is that the BB then only needs to put in 1BB to play, which is less pressure and might be asking for a call, but I've never really tried it so I dunno
BB can't call wide. If it tempts him to call, good. Then we make the adjustment to exploit him further by tightening our range slightly and raising as big as he'll still call. If he knows well enough to give up though, we have to settle for just getting the enormous benefits of stealing his blinds every time.
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