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Rabid - it's not necessarily wrong but I don't think it's the most profitable way to play poker. Raising or betting too much relative to the pot is always going to cost you in the long run, except in those occasional situations where you are up against truly awful fish who pay off everything. Against a player like you, a decent opponent will clear out of your way until the perfect situation comes along, and then try to get you pot-committed quickly against their set, straight, or what have you; and because you raise more pre-flop and use a pretty hefty c-bet, you're going to be pot-committed quickly.
Here's an example. Take a 25 NL game where you & I both have full stacks. You raise to $2 with KK or AA, and I call with a small pocket pair. I flop a set. The pot being about $4.50 including blinds, you fire out for let's say 3.25. I smooth call. On the turn you figure I'm floating or can't let go of a smaller pair, so you fire away again for 3/4 pot again - which is now a bet of $8. I figure the iron's hot, so I push. And bang, you're basically pot-committed. The pot is $27, and I just raised all in for my last $12, laying you better than 3:1 to call - you're probably not folding at that point on whatever raggedy board you're looking at, so you get stacked.
This is of course an isolated example. You get paid by worse hands a lot to make up some ground. But not that often, because a lot of loose players who would otherwise be calling one or two bets with their crappy top or middle pair are folding now to your outsized aggression. They aren't in as many pots with you, and when they are you bet them out quickly. Only the fishiest of them are paying you off when you have them dominated.
Basically, I think you can turn a profit playing that way, but not as much of one. I do play hard and fast but I am mindful of always betting so that I can allow opponents to make mistakes. Calling a 4 or 5xBB raise with 45s against your AA is a borderline mistake. Calling a 2/3 or 3/4 pot bet on the flop with just a draw or a low pair when you have AA is a clear mistake - especially if you're smart enough not to pay off when they hit their draw. You should welcome these kinds of mistakes. The only thing you don't want is every player at the table making them at once. But if one or two jackasses want to call every raise I make with suited garbage, I am going to set up shop and drain them dry.
Personally I prefer a pretty standard raise of 4xBB + 1xBB for every additional limper beyond the first one. This usually thins the field effectively. If it doesn't, add another blind to your baseline raise and see if that helps on the table you're on. At 25 NL I raise to $1 most of the time, using 1.50 occasionally and 2.00 only when everyone's in. At 50 NL I almost always use 2.00 or 2.50. The action you'll get from these raises on most tables is just about right, and if you work on your post-flop skills, you'll start to welcome those idiots that come along for the ride every time. They're giving money away if you're just careful to recognize when they outdraw you, and lose as little as possible in those situations.
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AA Tough Call?
, A
. SB posts a blind of $0.10.
, 3
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Originally Posted by Rabid Dog
