Live NL pre-flop raise sizing

[pig4bill]

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standard raise at 1/2 is $10. If someone raises to $15 or higher it screams pocket pair 88+, its amazing how the $5 difference in raise tells so much. This is just my experience though.

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There is often something to this, but I've seen it be "scared" QQ as well. One thing it does (nearly always) scream is that the raiser isn't very good at postflop play.

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Add AJ to that mix as well.

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Or 8 10 sooted.

[bleechdp]

I was sitting on the BTN at Borgata one night...UTG+1 makes it 15....3 callers...to me....i make it $50 to go with KK on button....i figure - 15*4 = 60 , was a loose game, so i made it 50...got 1 caller...so...60+50+35 = 145 , thats a juicy Preflop Pot. Obviously, i coulda done things differently, but it was the 1-4am time when the LAG Donks show up...and i had just taken the guy for about 120 a few hands before with AA...so i wanted to isolate him...he stacked off with 99 on a 10,2,2 - 7 - K rainbow board. I Love the borgata when bars let out


when i left the room that night...i noticed a guy at the next tabel with about 3K at a 1/2 table...i have yet to hit a run of cards like that

[jeffnc]

Live play is really weird sometimes. You'll see all sorts of strange amounts, like raising to $17 or whatever. Or bets of $16 on the flop when the pot holds $40. Once the preflop raise gets over 4x, just start rounding to $5 chips I say.

Anyway, this strangeness and looseness gives you a lot of flexibility in your raising amounts. Once you see what the raises mean at your table, you can start raising to anywhere between $2 and $20 at a $1/2 table. This gives you a great deal of flexibility in manipulating the pot size, if not the number of players to see the flop. It can be very helpful to know that if you have aces, you raise to $20, and one of your opponents has $80, he can't hurt you no matter what happens on the flop.

[Sam Spade]

The majority of your opponents will have no idea about pot size raises preflop or 3 betting to isolate. They do what those around them do, and you can exploit it. The average pf raise is at my local room is 12-15. A reraise usually means JJ-AA or AK, but the players have no idea why they are reraising or how much they should make it.

Friday night I am playing in my regular 1-2 game. I catch AA in the SB in a straddled pot. ($5 straddle with $175 effective stacks). Three callers making it $23 in the pot. I make it $50 to go, the table looks at me like I am an idiot, and I get berated for losing all of my customers. Most of your opponents just won't get it.

[JaviSRK]

This is kind of related:

When I played live the first time at Caesar's Palace playing 1/2NL, there was a pot I was involved in where I was the BB, everyone limped to me, so I checked. I had 2 pair on the flop, and me not knowing what to do, I bet $2. I got some "is that it?" replies.

"Is that not enough, dealer?"
Dealer laughs, "It is a legal bet..."

folds all around.

[PantsOnFire]

You are correct that generally the pf raise size live is much bigger.

You can't just stick with your preset amount. If you do that, you find yourself with AA in a 6-handed pot. And I guarantee you that the action on the flop is going to make your AA shrivel right up.

Here is a example hand. One of my first hands at a new 1/2 NL table was KK in CO. UTG+1 raise to $10, call, call, me raise to $50 and three calls. I have $150 behind and a $203 pot. No A, UTG bet $50, I shove, get two calls. Both have A8 on a 8 6 2 board. Case 8 comes on the river. I have to excuse myself since this was right after lunch and I only brought $200, duh..

[Rottersod]

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standard raise at 1/2 is $10. If someone raises to $15 or higher it screams pocket pair 88+, its amazing how the $5 difference in raise tells so much. This is just my experience though.

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There is often something to this, but I've seen it be "scared" QQ as well. One thing it does (nearly always) scream is that the raiser isn't very good at postflop play.

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Add AJ to that mix as well.

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Or 8 10 sooted.

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Not really. Most people at those stakes prefer to limp with these types of hands.

[txbarbarossa]

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standard raise at 1/2 is $10. If someone raises to $15 or higher it screams pocket pair 88+, its amazing how the $5 difference in raise tells so much. This is just my experience though.

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There is often something to this, but I've seen it be "scared" QQ as well. One thing it does (nearly always) scream is that the raiser isn't very good at postflop play.

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This is true. In fact making the std $10 preflop raise will disguise the strength of say a KK or AA. I've had players call me down with Ace high or any Top pair b/c I made a "small" preflop raise.

Casino games, especially at 1-2NL, have been extremely fishy in my experience. The rule is that it plays about 10 times worse in stakes than online. I.e. 1-2NL online plays like 10-20NL live, etc.

I will say this.. as 1-2NL live game is extremely loose. It's really an issue of patience and pushing big hands and folding the rest of the time. Figure out the suckers real fast and you will very rarely lose. Usually about half the table or more are complete donks.

[BrunoThePug]

I plan to mostly play at Treasure island which spreads a $1/$3 NL $500 max game.

I'm now trying to figure out how to adjust, if much at all, for the deep stack aspect of the game. I've read a bit in the NLTAP book about how the game is different but probably need to read some more.

Of course this is a whole other thread [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Matt Flynn]

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I've never played live no-limit before. When I play online I use the 4xBB + 1BB per limper rule.

I'm going to be staying/playing at Treasure island who spreads a $1/$3 NL game.

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live no-limit is just like online no-limit, except it's much slower and much easier, and you don't have to get your own beer.