How much to raise with pockets

A

abomb576

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 18, 2009
Total posts
54
Chips
0
If you have a high pocket pair 1010 or higher, and you are on the button with 2-3 callers hows much over the Big blind do you raise? Lately, I seem to be losing a lot to like J 3 or 10 4 with players limping into the pot.
 
Dwilius

Dwilius

CardsChat Regular
Silver Level
Joined
May 5, 2008
Total posts
7,584
Awards
34
Chips
0
A general rule of thumb used is one big blind for every limper on top of your normal opening raise. I think it should depend how deep you are also, like I'm happy following that rule in a cash game, but might not raise quite so much in medium stacked tournament situation [or possibly just shove if it would put me half allin]

...be aware at some loose passive games, the whole table may still limp/call and you'll look at overcards on flop multiway often. You'll still have position but may not want to invest that much of your stack on a hand that doesn't play that well multiway without hitting a set. Have to adjust to the table, whether they are likely to limp/fold or limp/call and what price they are willing to pay to see a flop.
 
Last edited:
Tom1559

Tom1559

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Total posts
1,701
Awards
1
Chips
0
This is a good question. A lot of guys now limp in early position with good hands. Not sure why they do this but it is afeature of the modern game. There is always the risk that you will get caught. However I would always raise with pocket 10's. You have to play to win and with limpers in front of you you want all of them out except 1 otherwise who is going to pay you off. Trust your cards. If you raise say 3xBB plus one for each of the limpers most of them will get out of the way. If they all get out of the way at least you get the blinds.
 
Y

yanix0

Rising Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Total posts
12
Chips
0
first before you raise pay attention to your opponent's chips , if they got alot of them they might call you with trash hands( especially if the amateur players ). if 3 players limped i think you should raise more than 4xbb.
 
slycbnew

slycbnew

Cardschat Elite
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 8, 2008
Total posts
2,876
Chips
0
A typical rule of thumb is to open raise (i.e., if you're first to enter the pot) 4x the BB from any position. If you're entering a pot behind limpers, add 1BB for each limper. So, on the button with two limpers in front of you, you'd raise to 6xBB.

You'll need to tailor this to your style of play, the stakes you play, and the current table dynamics.

There are other things to take account of later (position, stealing frequency, and villain types), but you'll probably want to start with something like this basic/simplistic model.

Oh, to D'Wilius' point, I'm specifically talking about cash games and not MTT's/SNG's.
 
A

abomb576

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 18, 2009
Total posts
54
Chips
0
That sounds like a good strategy, raising 1 BB for every limper, I never heard of that before but if they have a real hand than they will call. This should weed out all the garbage hands and those afraid to call a big raise with good hands.
 
B

bertschejv

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Total posts
65
Chips
0
I like that strategy of increasing the raise 1 BB for every limper ahead of you. I have been trying it the past couple of days and it seems to be working for me. Before, I would just do a standard sort-of 3X BB, and would get called of shoved by KJ or something like that, but adding the 1 BB for every limper seems to cut down on me getting called with marginal hands. Good advice
 
dresturn2

dresturn2

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Sep 29, 2007
Total posts
765
Chips
0
depending on my stack i will raise the minium 2 and a half BBs.....u have to raise to take control of the hand but u also need away to back out in case that really tight player check raises u or goes all in on the flop infront of u
 
Goodwooter

Goodwooter

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Apr 29, 2008
Total posts
185
Chips
0
keep it simple...early position...2x the bb...mid 2.5 times...late 3x...no matter the hand
 
T

ted80

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Jun 7, 2009
Total posts
467
Chips
0
if i'm utg or utg+1 i like to 3+1BB(+possible limper utg before me) to the premium pairs, hoping to compensate or push away anyone in position who might decide "oh what the hell"...that extra little bit might make a difference...OOP, nothing more disgusting than half the table still calling you....of course you can get all of them but one, maybe two (which is still pretty gross) out of there right after the flop regardless of whether you hit or not with a nice bet, but then you might be dealing with someone who hit their ace-rag, or you're setting yourself up for a really nice pot. QQ is a nice hand when a Q or J is the top card on the flop to fire out violently on multiple callers...either that or you just dug your own grave
 
Toasted_Luck

Toasted_Luck

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Total posts
124
Chips
0
whenever i enter a pot i always as a rule raise it 3x the blind. If there are callers i add a blind for each caller. example. dealt pocket deuces blinds are 10/20 two call i would raise it to 100. if im dealt A 10 suited and get two callers i would also raise it to 100.:D
 
benevg

benevg

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 22, 2007
Total posts
1,267
Chips
0
Goodwooter said:
keep it simple...early position...2x the bb...mid 2.5 times...late 3x...no matter the hand
Click to expand...
i would like to see you try that with a hand where there are several limpers already. total effect = 0, except that the pot is now larger, so when you get outdrawn you stand to lose more. :D also, way to read ferguson and ignore the most important part - "when you are first in the pot".

generally, what they said - add a blind or so for every limper in the pot, this should get most of the people out of the hand. however, you should be careful with this math in a tournament setting, where the blinds can be very high compared to the stacks. it may lead you to have a point where it is better to simply push, no matter that it is more or less than what you would like to bet.

good luck!
 
toogood2k

toogood2k

Enthusiast
Platinum Level
Joined
Dec 13, 2008
Total posts
95
Chips
0
in my experience, better is raise 4x+ bigblinds, becouse there will be much limpers who can hit much better hands than you got
 
kidkvno1

kidkvno1

Sarah's Pet
Bronze Level
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Total posts
16,281
Awards
4
Chips
50
D'wilius said:
A general rule of thumb used is one big blind for every limper on top of your normal opening raise. I think it should depend how deep you are also, like I'm happy following that rule in a cash game, but might not raise quite so much in medium stacked tournament situation [or possibly just shove if it would put me half allin]

...be aware at some loose passive games, the whole table may still limp/call and you'll look at overcards on flop multiway often. You'll still have position but may not want to invest that much of your stack on a hand that doesn't play that well multiway without hitting a set. Have to adjust to the table, whether they are likely to limp/fold or limp/call and what price they are willing to pay to see a flop.
Click to expand...
^^^ +1
Some will even pay all of there chip:D
 
Top