Hello! im pretty new to poker and i have been playing for about 3 weeks.My question is pretty simple. Why should i raise pre-flop.


Lets say i have Ace and 10. Most people would probably raise but i don't get why.
If You raise and get a shitty flop and your opponent bets you probably fold so that's one reason why i don't raise pre-flop.


one more reason why i don't usually raise is because the whole point of having a good hand is to win the most amount of money you can. so if you raise and everyone folds you only win small and big blind.


I might be missing something as i said i'm new to poker. It would be nice of some of you guys could prove i'm wrong. Thx

As you said, by raising you make some people fold. You don't want to go post-flop with too many players involved, cause the more person there is, the more chances there is than someone hit the board.

By raising, only people with good or correct hands will call you, reducing the chance of someone else than you hitting the board. Of course, after that you need to play well to take advantage of that, but it should be easier and more profitable.

You say you're trying to make more money by getting more persons involved, but limping (calling the BB), isn't much money, and if they have bad hands they will either fold post flop or hit the board and screw you with a weaker hand. So by raising, you increase both your chances and the money in the pot.

Originally Posted by FailX21

As you said, by raising you make some people fold. You don't want to go post-flop with too many players involved, cause the more person there is, the more chances there is than someone hit the board.

By raising, only people with good or correct hands will call you, reducing the chance of someone else than you hitting the board. Of course, after that you need to play well to take advantage of that, but it should be easier and more profitable.

You say you're trying to make more money by getting more persons involved, but limping (calling the BB), isn't much money, and if they have bad hands they will either fold post flop or hit the board and screw you with a weaker hand. So by raising, you increase both your chances and the money in the pot.

Thanks for the response.
Now i can understand more why it would be profitable to raise

You should consider yourself lucky if everyone folds to your raised pair of Jacks.

If someone re raises you, then you have some information about his hand. You can consider his range of hands to be superior to yours and then you have a judgement call whether to call and see a flop. This way you actually save yourself some money as well. Imagine if you limped and the guy limped as well, then you see a flop which hits him and you bet big. He calls or re raises and you lose a lot of money by calling.

if you have a good card .you need to raise that there were not many players who will be able to collect for example 23456 street

Its risk if you dont raise preflop with good cards because always someone with worse cards may win.

Originally Posted by blommen

Lets say i have Ace and 10. Most people would probably raise but i don't get why.
If You raise and get a shitty flop and your opponent bets you probably fold so that's one reason why i don't raise pre-flop.

A major mistake you are making: you are only thinking about your cards & what the flop does for you. Why fold just because you miss the flop & your opponent bets? Mathematically, it's likely he also missed on the flop. Chances of making a pair are like 37% or something - if he has something like Q9 & never hit, you are a big favourite here with A high.

Even if he hit a low pair like a 6, he would likely fold to aggression. This is how you should be thinking, not "what hand can i make".

Originally Posted by blommen

one more reason why i don't usually raise is because the whole point of having a good hand is to win the most amount of money you can. so if you raise and everyone folds you only win small and big blind.

If everyone folds and you win the blinds then good... you win a pot & your table image improves as a player willing to get aggressive preflop. Then, you move on to the next hand.

In a cash game you need to consistantly raise preflop for 2 reasons;

1. You want to build the pot.

Say the blinds are $1/2 and you have a stack of $200. If you have A 10 hearts, no preflop raise, its just you and 2 other players to the flop and the flop comes 3 hearts giving you the nut flush. There is $6 in the pot. You want to get all of your money in. If you bet $200 into a pot of $6 everyone will fold. Infact betting more than the pot amount at all usually indicates a very strong hand. There's not much you can do here to build this pot without your opponent folding. Ideally here you would raise preflop to $6. Say 1 person calls, you now have around $13-$14 in the pot. So you could bet half, say $7. Your opponent may have hit something else like top pair or have a heart himself for a flush draw too, so if he calls, the pot is now $28. That's pot building, and it relies on there being money in it preflop.

2. You want information.

Some loose players will raise 3x with a wide range of hands, including 22, or 34suited. If that player gets a monster like AA or KK they will also raise 3x to disguise their hand. New players make the mistake of just calling to see what they 'can make'. But by only calling you have no idea if your opponent has 34 suited or AA. By reraising preflop you get a better idea of what you are up against. You can win a small pot vs your opponents rubbish if he folds, a flat call perhaps means something like 99 or 10-J, and if he reraises he probably has a big hand like KK or AA and you can fold. By raising preflop you can make more accurate decisions later in the hand.

Originally Posted by Chewfulitsch

You should consider yourself lucky if everyone folds to your raised pair of Jacks.

If someone re raises you, then you have some information about his hand. You can consider his range of hands to be superior to yours and then you have a judgement call whether to call and see a flop. This way you actually save yourself some money as well. Imagine if you limped and the guy limped as well, then you see a flop which hits him and you bet big. He calls or re raises and you lose a lot of money by calling.

JJ is one of the best hands you can have - you want value from hands this strong - you just have to learn to not over play them

I think you should be raising preflop almost always (there are a few instances where limping is ok - this depends more on your stack size and the tendencies of your opponents left to act) but as a general rule always open raise. Why? because:

1. You can take the pot down preflop and realise all of your equity without a contest.
2. You don't give the BB infinite odds to call with 100% of their range (seeing a flop for free).
3. You build a bigger pot to win later.
4. You make it less inviting for opponents to bluff raise you off your hand. BTW - limp folding is like lighting money on fire - the next best is limp calling - but now you are in a bigger pot without the betting initiative with a weaker range (usually - unless you choose to limp-call your entire range).


Remember poker is still a gambling game (where skilled players can gain an edge). Every time you enter a pot you are electing to gamble with your hand. You have a range of hands to choose to gamble with (this range changes depending on our position and the tendencies of others at your table). So preflop you aren't necessarily value betting or bluffing (obviously there are exceptions at the top and bottom of your range) - you are choosing to contest the pot.


Once you see the flop - you are either value betting, bluffing, protecting your hand, slowplaying or giving up - on the flop these actions sometimes blend together, but as you progress through the turn and river you clarify what action you are taking.