Preflop Raise Sizing: How much should you raise preflop?

[Pimp 007 x]

Very interesting article indeed. I'm aware that being aggressive is one of the fundamental keys to victory, but I really never gave much thought to preflop raising sizes in relation to stack size, fortunately, this article has really opened my eyes, this is the theory I need now I'm definitely going to be more conscious about my raising tactics. Thanks.

 

[Andrew Popov]

The importance of the exact size of the preflop raise (especially the opening raise) is greatly exaggerated. If you raise first in your hand, you just have to raise. You must make them the same for all hands and positions in order to give other players no information about the strength of your hand. You must give exactly one piece of information — you have raised. All this is enough to steal the blind. In all other cases (calling, reraising, squeezing) the size of the first raise will not be of particular importance, and the reaction of the villains and the game on the following streets are much more important.

 

[bruno13xs]

Very good article as always.
good I usually always increase 1bb all hand to raise the value of the same pot with a bad hand, but when I have a strong hand increased from 3 to 4bb

 

[jcxmendes]

very good article. and reading some answers is making me reflect on some of my attitudes

 

[shanest]

I generally open the 3x in cash games (plus a blind for any limpers behind).
I tend to over raise exploitative when I know my opponent is sticky once he has put money in the pot

 

[RVTR7777]

I couldn't quite understand it, but it's a start for me.
Slowly and always, it's a popular saying here in brazil, with patience and reading a few times a week. I'm sure that in an hour everything that was said in the article will be part of my game.
I usually follow the line 2.5x 3x.
Very good content Congratulations Tammy.

 

[XYZ2123]

Not sure I like this idea of varying preflop raise size based on stack size. It doesn't really come into play for me most of the time at the micros, where it seems there's always someone ready to 3-bet shove no matter what you do. Ideally, I'd prefer a fixed and smaller (2.2-2.5x) pre-flop raise amount regardless of position and card strength. Much easier to disguise your hand this way, and gives you more options when you get re-raised. You can easily fold, call or 4-bet. However, at micro stakes I find this works less often and feel the I need to raise bigger and bigger to get casual players to fold. Some people just love to shove on you preflop anytime you make a smallish raise because they see it as weak. On the other hand, some people love to shove on you when you raise bigger because they think you're bluffing. It helps to know your opponents, which of course is not always possible online.

 

[GIRFIED]

When playing poker it is common, when thinking about the OR (Open raise) ranges, have as references;

1. The size of our bet; or
2. Our position; or
3. Thoughts such as "depending on the rivals that remain to act."

But when we play tournaments, the most important factor (the one that most influences our decisions) is the size of our “Stack”, because depending on the stack, our decisions will vary depending on the size of it, that is, our strategy must be adapted to the different sizes of the stack.

 

[ToNy70929]

Dear Tammy, thanks for the informative article. I have a strategy to raise the rate of 3bb and 4bb, I studied this theory at poker school and adhere to it. I noticed that the random number generator when raising (raise) very often gives a match. And further on in science, after the flop is raised, and then how it goes, it all depends on the behavior of the opponents😆

 

[kley126]

excellent article and for sure it will help us a lot to improve our and with respect to the pre flop re-ups there is a lot to take in between our stack of chips the position and against whom we are playing what kind of players that something very important

 

[zam220]

Great article on preflop bet size!
I usually prefer raising 2.28
bb, but I also vary the rate from 2bb to 3bb - it depends on the size of my stack!

 

[ldw22]

A really fab article with very useful guidelines - and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my own bet-sizing strategy falls fairly closely in line with your own. I tend to keep my bet-sizing consistent for the first few levels of any given tournament, and I usually opt for either 2.7bb for my opening raises if I'm in a lowball kinda mood or, more often, 3.1bb for a more aggressive approach. Later in the tourney with bigger blinds and shorter stacks I'll reduce to 2.4 if I began at 2.7, or reduce to 2.7 if I began at 3.1 - I almost always avoid whole numbers in my sizing, I like to think it messes with villains' pot odds calculations later in the hand!

 

[armoko]

Thank you for the article. It's always great to prove your knowledges or find out something new what you didn't know before by reading this kind of topics. It's really important to get a right preflop raise to cut off most of the players. I usually do 2bb or 3bb depending of my position and stack size.

 

[Nr98]

Good read, although I don't fully agree on the exact sizings you recommend (for tournaments that is, I'm not a cash game player), the basic principles should help out a number of beginning players here

"but one potential downside is that your opponents may not be aware that you are varying your sizings in this way, that is, based on position. They may assume that it is a tell regarding your hand strength, in which case they may respond to this in a way which we cannot readily interpret."

This is the only principle that I don't fully agree with (even though I do not vary my own sizes based on position, except SB, either at the moment). Yes indeed this may cause them to adjust in weird ways. But although this may be hard to predict, wrong adjustments usually end up as money in our pockets. So I do not see this as a downside.

Besides, as you note later in the article, if the opponents would be bad enough to make wrong assumptions based on no data at all, the question is if they'd actually be good enough to notice this and adjust in the first place.

Other than that well written! Nice piece to pick up some things for most players here I reckon

 

[freddydr87]

Very good article the pre flop raise is very important because any strategy starts by an study about how manny hands to open acording to the bb/100 expectative.
I ussually do some off the muves talk in the article, i open(in tournament) 3x when im deep and start openning 2,5; 2.2; and 2 in proportion off my stack.

 

[GRIN281289]

Thanks for the great article on bid sizes. The size of my bet depends on the type of tournament and players and is within 2-4 bb, but sometimes I like to call 1 bb))

 

[AzdajaD]

Thanks for the great article!

Most of the times I play from "text book"...BUT, attacks plan is change with different opponents...

 

[Naty2585]

Wohh poker is so complex, I never knew you had strategies for size pre flop, for me it was only 2 or 3 bb, kkk.

 

[Poma Lekain]

I believe that variable preflop bet sizes are the way to success!
The article liked the mathematical explanation of the 2.2BB. I have seen such bets at tables many times and never thought about why this is done.

 

[Matt_Burns88]

Thank you for sharing this article. A very interesting read. This is what CardsChat is all about. Thank you!

 

[Anders1616]

Good and interesting article. I never thought about it. I have more or less played along and followed the other players at the table.

 

[35marlin]

Raising

I would say always keep the same sizing no matter what your trying to accomplish, and from what position your raising from.

 

[Chalada12]

We set the tone for any poker hand preflop. Every decision (or indecision) we make has an effect on the rest of the hand (and cumulatively the entire poker game) . It is important to have plan, and that includes knowing what and when to raise preflop. Plan wisely, and you will set your poker game up for optimal success more often than not.

Take a look at our poker strategy article: Preflop Raise Sizing

Do you follow these principles, or do you have a different plan of attack? Or are you more a "fly by the seat of your pants" sort of player, making it up as you go (how's that working out for you, by the way )?

it s a bit of mix up , i follow some of the plan mixing it with some of mine , the important this is to have a positive plan that can leads you to the itm , final table , and finally first Place . that s how i see a good plan

 

[recerveau]

I follow the article most of the time.
On some special occasions, I'm guided by the moment, taking into account the actions of the other members at the table to change the size!

 

[Loyal_Flush]

Really good article. Thanks for sharing! Helps a lot.