Raising Preflop

[AFchung]

After a lot of snooping around the forums to try and pick up a few NLHE strategies, I realized that raising preflop is something that is absolutely agreed upon by the community. I'm having a bit of problem doing this though

The common idea is to raise 3x BB +1x for each limper. I tried this out in the last MTT and I can't seem to get it to work. When my hand hits the flop, all is well and i get to rake in a good pot, but more commonly, I will miss the flop one or two times and end up with a comparatively small stack to everyone else.

The main concern i have is raising with marginal hands. Raising AK AQ AA KK etc are no brainers, but what about medium suited connectors (late position)? What about hands that i use to mix up my play?

I think that limping in with low-medium pocket pairs was better than raising, because it allowed for more people to enter the pot. If i hit a set, there'd be more people in the pot who love to check-call down to the river with top pair and even moreso with 2 pair. I have had countless double ups from low set > 2pair. should i still be raising preflop though?

[drmcboy]

I guess the best answer is read HOH to get started. Big question!

If you're in a game where you are usually showing down hands, raising with non premium hands is not a good idea until you get more experience.

[AFchung]

i'm reading HOH a second time right now. i just go ahead and raise the way "its suppose to be done", but i'm trying to get a feel for why

[bigteif]

My guess is oppurtunity to steal the blinds and if they just call down it is easier to make a c-bet.

[Muzzard]

A quick summary of why we raise hands.

1) Take the blinds
2) To isolate weaker players
3) To get value from our premium hands

If you feel your leaking chips c-betting your pre-flop raises then make sure you're cbetting appropriately. Don't cbet into multiple players OOP, make sure the flop texture is correct, don't try and bluff calling stations.

This list isn't conclusive, but it'll be a decent starting point.