Raising preflop

[rwardo123]

Is it ever good to raise preflop with anything else than jj, qq, kk, aa? AK suited going against smaller stacks? or when you are down to nothing?

With what hands would you call a preflop raise 2x BB, and higher raises?

And what if you have qq or kk and someone calls. How do you bet after the ?

[Insidestr8]

Hi Rwardo123, let me take a shot at giving you my opinion on your questions.

1. Of course you should raise pre-flop with other hands. For starters you don't want to be predictable, so if you only raise with those top hands then your opponents will soon learn what hands you have when you raise. Secondly other factors come into play as to when you should raise. Two factors that I care about is my "position" and my chip stack. I do not like to raise in early position because there are too many players still to play and if I am called then I will be acting first after the flop. Other times to raise are when you are down to a very small stack and the blinds are big enough that it is worthwhile to try and steal them. Again its a good idea to make these moves in late position when there are less people to act after you.

2. Well a 2x raise can be a tough one depending upon the player. Some players make the minimum raise to try and draw you in with monster hands like AA or KK so you have to be careful with them. But against most people there is no reason not to call the raise when you are in position and have a good hand. Don't do it all the time, but if the raising player is one that does it quite frequently you may be able to take the hand away from them after the flop. Also if everyone else has folded and the small blind does a minimum raise I always like to call that in the big blind. Normally that's a cheap attempt to steal your big blind but the big blind always has position on the small blind so that gives you an advantage on every other street.

3. If I have QQ or KK and my raise is called then I'm assuming that my opponent does not have KK or AA or they should have raised me. They may well have an Ace though, so if the flop does not have an Ace in it then I'm pretty confident and I will bet out strong to try and take the pot down after the flop. If the flop is terrible you can try to slow play a bit, but I'm usually happy to take the pot down here and not let my opponent catch something on the turn or river. If you want to be tricky you can always make a minimum bet against an aggressive player and see if they re-raise you.

Its good not to always do the same thing so keep mixing it up, but always try and have a reason for why you are doing something.