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Raising certainly isn't bad here since I will likely have the best hand.

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This pretty much sums it up. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

If you look at your own reasoning, then you've come up with a lot of strong arguments for raising and some pretty weak ones for just calling, so raising is pretty clear.

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I can still raise the flop if I hit. This will get the same amount of money in the pot as the case where I 3-bet and bet the flop after everyone checks to me, but now with a much bigger advantage.


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This doesn't really hold up, since both are calling your raise now 100% of the time, but that won't necesserally be the case on the flop.

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- I keep the pot smaller which makes it easier to play TPTK.


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TPTK is a pretty strong hand, that you generally shouldn't mind playing a big pot with. People call down lighter in big pots, so even if you get outdrawn occassionally, you'll get lots of value.

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I would be more inclined to just call if the players are bad.

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This seems backwards to me. If you just call it should be for deception purposes against players, who actually know how to read hands. Bad players don't think about what you have, when you 3bet.