Not raising Big pairs PF

[Frond]

Playing live 2/4. 3/6 Almost every time I play now I see a few people who never ever raise with TT on up. I saw a lady yesterday not rasie PF with TT and she ended up winning the pot but because she didn't raise PF the pot never got that big. Same thing with some guy who had KK. He ended up winning a fair sized pot with his hand but it should have been twice the size as it was. Yea yea I know, most LHE players suck but these types of players are really hard to read at times because they never raise with big pairs. I guess you have to make a mental note on who plays this way at your table and bookmark it in your cranium.

[argybargy2002]

Not a hell of a lot to say here other than raising big pairs is +ev and so when your opponents don't raise their big pairs they are missing out on value and decreasing thier chances to win the pot. Whatever you do don't discourage them from limping their pairs.

It's always beautiful to win a pot with AT by spiking an ace against KK.

[Scarmiglio]

Not raising Big pairs PF = Stupid. Definitely keep track of who plays this way, but don't credit them with a big pair every time you're in a hand with them. I tend to slow down with middle 1 pair type hands against these players, however you can extract huge value from them with big pairs and big hands as these players also usually play their big pair to the river regardless of the board. I've seen these players call 3bb cold on the turn with pocket QQ when the board was AK99.

[Frond]

I never discourage opponets from making dumb plays, ever. I just mentally shake my head and try and make note of them as they come along which is often at lower limits.

I admit that in my pre-SSHE past I used to be a non-raiser of TT,JJ & various other PF raising hands when playing LHE. Boy did I put a stop to that practice.

[ncskiier]

I always raise big pairs in LHE. I don't always reraise big pairs though.

If I feel like I'm already getting the field I want to play my pair against, whether HU or 3way, then I will sometimes s/c to disguise the strength of my hand. If I want to narrow the field further, I pop it.

[HoneyBadger]

I raise them 95% of the time, depending on conditions. Well, with them I pretty much mean AA, because I raise KK 99.9% of the time and JJ/QQ always. I don't always cap when it comes back to me 3bet, and I sometimes just cold call TT/JJ depending on what happened.

[James.]

don't fall into the trap of being influenced by the outcome in a couple of isolated circumstances. these goofs are giving up tremendous long term value as well as imposing increased susceptibility to loss that IS NOT overcome by difficulty in handreading with them. to disguise your hands, raise more pf not less.

[PorkchopDJG]

There may a few instances that I don't raise with a big pair before the flop. These are all limit holdem I don't know how or if it would change in no limit.
1) It's a super loose/passive type game and I have QQ or JJ in the SB or BB and 5 people have already limped in.
EXPLANATION: You raise to make people fold or build the pot if you raise here it's likely everyone else will call anyway then when the flop comes without a Q but with an A or K you are dead. Even without an A or K it is somewhat likely that someone may have caught two pair, trips or a huge draw in this multiway pot. With AA and KK I'm still probably raising from the blinds but with AK,QQ and JJ I don't really see the point. From early position yes because some may fold but from the blind no.
2) I'm in a loose/aggressive or tight/aggressive game and I have AA or KK in the BB and someone open raises from late position.
EXPLANATION:From the SB you would raise for sure to isolate the raiser and lock out the BB from calling but from the big blind you sometimes may 3bet it but you could also just call hoping to disguise your hand and raise after the aggressive player bets the flop.
3) I'm in a loose/aggressive or tight/aggressive game and I haven't played a hand in a long time and it gets folded to me in late position and I have AA I may just limp.
EXPLANATION- The aggressive guys will see this as pure weekness and raise it and maybe if someone has something like AK they threebet it allowing me to cap it when it gets back to me.

So I would say in general it's best to raise with all big pairs before the flop but there may be some circumstances when you can mix it up and play it a little differently to throw people off.

[ncskiier]

[ QUOTE ]
to disguise your hands, raise more pf not less.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like that, alot. Good point. I admit, I DO give these guys too much credit sometimes.

[habsfanca11]

Said by Nate tha' Great in Med. Stakes in a similar thread "You're not good enough to make up the extra .4 BB you miss after the flop. I'm not good enough. Mike Schneider is not good enough. Ray Zee is not good enough. Nobody is good enough. Except in very rare circumstances. Deception is worth only so much in limit hold 'em, and there are ways to be deceptive that give up far less EV. 99.9% of the time, failing to get as much action in with your aces before the flop is the wrong play, considering only the hand in a vacuum. 98.9% of the time it's the wrong play considering metagame circumstances. Anybody that puts eight bets in with top pair in the face of heavy resistance is a moron anyway, considering that you can always have a set -- or two pair, trips, a flush, a straight, given the board texture. You don't need to go out of your way to deceive morons. To the extent that slowplaying aces before the flop is correct, it is not against action players, but against weak-tight players."
(used without the authors permission)