[Rottersod]

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I´m fairly new to live play -- migrating from the online world after the UIGEA. I like live a lot more -- it´s slower, but more fun and different strategies.

One thing that I´m just realizing is that people open-raise for a LOT more than what is standard online. I´ve seen a few people on here comment that a 10xBB open-raise is pretty standard. WHY?!? This doesn´t make sense to me. How can this be a good strategy?

Normal buy-in is 100BB right? So open-raise for 10% of your stack? And then what if you face a small raise? to 20BB? Or 25BB? You may be getting the right pot-odds to call, but with 1/4 of your stack in pre-flop, you have no wiggle room after the flop to get information or fold.

I can see if you (and everyone else) had 300BB stacks, maybe. But, even then, a 3-4BB raise is standard because you are getting the right price relative to the blinds. 10xBB, probably not.

I´m pretty sure they don´t do this in high-stakes-poker, right? I think a 3.5x BB raise is standard (since it´s a pot-size raise).

So, my question is... WHY?? Why is 10xBB raise standard... and how can it be right/good?

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I haven't seen 10X BB as standard in any of the games I play - from $100 (2/3) to $500 (5/5). The standard these days is about 6XBB on average. You need to raise more than 3X to get rid of a few limpers or else your middle suited connectors and top pairs are going to be worth a lot less, and a hand like AJ or AQ is going to be busted a lot more than you'd like. Try raising 3XBB with AQs and what will you do when you get 7 callers and the flop is 9TJo? Your 8's and K's may already be in play by 1/2 the players and you probably don't want to hit your A and get busted by A9. But if you'd have raised 6X PF and gotten 2 callers you might be in a better position to take a stab at a bet and see if you can take it all down right then if you knew what kind of range to put them on.