First B@M experience - NL pre flop raise adjustments

[ShipItHereHo]

I just played some 1/2 NL for the first time at Tunica and I realized that the normal pf raise was much higher than that of the internet. I constantly saw people raise first in to $15 or more and in some cases hugely. Also, I realized that a standard 3xBB+1bb per limper raise was never given respect and often times got many callers. The question I have is whether I should use the standard raising amount of 3xBB+1BB per limper or just follow the table dynamics and raise more.

(subject changed by TT to encourage responses)

[toss]

Depends on whether you want to play big pots or small pots. The amount you raise should reflect this.

[NickMPK]

FWIW, my "standard" first-in raise in B&M 1/2 is $10, adding about $3 for each limper before me. But I will sometimes make small raises in early position with suited connectors or monster hands. And obviously you want to get a read on your table and adjust from there.

[vmacosta]

I hardly ever play NL, so this might be somewhat outdated...

Psychological fact for very low-limit live NL:
If you raise it to $12, you'll likely get a ton of callers. If you raise it to $15 you will disproportionately reduce the field. This assumes a game where $5 chips are used. Any raise under $12 is just a pot sweetener. Because people are used to a ton of coldcallers coming along, the number of limpers before the raise becomes less important (unless you are in very late position). Learn to enjoy playing in large multiway pots with bad players.

[Oberonn]

Find your pre-flop raising range based on the table dynamics. Use this range to control pot size.

You will likely find the post-flop raises are a lot smaller than you normally see online. Follow table dynamics here also for the most part but use the opportunity to punish players for poor choices.

[LasVegasMichael]

Get used to raising to >$10 for live 1/2. In Vegas, raises of <$10 are usually snickered at and called by everyone.

Standard preflop raises are usually $12-18. Like the other poster said, adding a BB for each limper is a good idea as well.

Here is a thread from the AVP forum that got some good responses:

http://www.allvegaspoker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=66

[pig4bill]

In just about every 1/2 or 1/3 NL game I've played in, for the purposes of raising pre-flop, the BB is treated like $5.

[Hotrod0823]

[ QUOTE ]
In just about every 1/2 or 1/3 NL game I've played in, for the purposes of raising pre-flop, the BB is treated like $5.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly, you can tell the players that haven't played before and raise to 6 UTG and are surprised to get a family pot.

15.00 is routinely called PF but 15-25 bets into 30-40 pots will take down pots uncontested.

[iversonian]

Of course, there's no need to play along with them. In some games, you could just nut peddle preflop, almost, although that gets boring real fast.

As for the flop underbetting, I disagree with the others. If you have a of about $10 - $3 rake, any bet under $10 is looked at as a microbet. But the reverse is true when the pot gets > $40.

[bav]

I find B&M NL2/5 plays a little more like you're used to. But you are very correct that pre-flop, NL1/2 plays a lot bigger.

You have to adapt to it, and every table is different. Just figure out what's works at your table and run with it. Somtimes $10 preflop works, sometimes it'll take $20, usually something in between. 3x or 4x BB raises will rarely get the BB to fold and essentially never see a pre-flop limper fold, so all you will be doing is building a big pot to play for (which can be a good thing--I often use raises to $6 when I want to build a nice pot).

Oddly, after the flops the bets seem to become undersized in relation to the pots. It's like folks can't wrap their heads around this $70 pot they built from 6 people coming in for $12, and so you'll see $20 bets after the flop into $70 pots (and then people ranting about how ridiculous it was the flush draw stayed around to hit because "I bet the flop--he should have folded!").

You also have to keep your eye on stack sizes in all this. In the example of a $70 pot with 6 players, probably one or two of the 6 players seeing it don't even have $70 in their stack, and a $70 pot-size bet is going to be a substantial fraction of what several of them have left; someone who started with $140 and bet $12 preflop now has $128, so a $70 pot-size bet pretty much pot commits him to calling whatever you bet on the turn. Adjust accordingly.