Preflop Raising In No-Limit Hold’em Is The Key To Success
How can you decide if someone is a beginner or an advanced poker player? Is there any way of telling when you sit down to a table and you see the other players for the first time? We will find the answers to these questions with one easy fact: what the preferred play of your opponent is preflop.
Before getting to the point I tell you some crucial facts to know. In No Limit Hold’em you should play about 18-20% of your hands. Of course it can be a bit different depending on how loose or tight you are. You have to keep in mind though that almost every time you enter a pot you have to raise or reraise it. What does “almost” mean here? Raising preflop when you enter the pot in No-Limit Texas Hold’em can be maximum 2-3% less than the percent of your playing hands preflop. For example: if you play 20% of the hands preflop you should raise 17-18% and only limp 2-3% of the time. You just have to concentrate on keeping the difference at a minimum.
When you enter a pot you have to decide how you want to bet. A normal bet size is 3-3.5BB. If you 3bet then you can make it about 10BB. If someone limped before you, then make your bets 4-5BB. These values can of course depend on your opponents. If you have a great hand and you know they will call you then your bet size can be larger. At the same time, against loose opponents there is no reason to make many bluffs preflop. Against tight players your bet size can be as small as 2-2.5BB because they will fold often enough anyway. The same is true against players who like to 4bet. You should keep your bet sizes small.
The argument for raising is easy. If you raise or reraise you show strength. When other players only call you, most of the time you will have a good read on them. Most likely they hold two high cards or a small pair. Regardless of what comes on the flop, you can just go ahead and make a continuation bet. Your opponents will have no idea where they stand because you made the preflop raise and it is normal to make a continuation bet. They will just fold most of the time. Based on this information you probably also understand why you should not make calls preflop. In that case you will be the one in a trap without knowing on the flop what you should do with your medium pair when three high cards come. Just be the aggressor and make your life easier.
When you are entering the pot always ask yourself why not raise right away? And what do you do when you get reraised? If you cannot answer to that then your hand is probably not strong enough to play at all.
The very few cases when a limp is reasonable are when many players enter the pot and you have small connecting cards or not too strong high cards. In these cases you can make a lot of money when you hit the flop.
I really hope by now you can answer the question at the beginning of the article alone. The first tell bad players make is that they limp too often. Good players like raising and rerasing but not limping and calling.
I wish you good luck at the tables and use the best rakeback opportunities to get the most out of online poker.
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