The preflop raise- When, and why?

I used to do this a lot when I was a beginner playing for free on facebook, now that I use real money I noticed I do this less. Why is a pre flop raises such an important part of poker strategy?

I use it to help narrow the field of callers also its used to take control of the hand's action on further streets especially effective when you have the position.

I always try to get into the game with a raise with good cards, so as not to let my opponents with a trash look at the flop cheaply.

steve101651 said:

Why is a pre flop raises such an important part of poker strategy?

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The first reason is simply to get value.
The second reason is the isolation one opponent. By raising an early limper or even a raiser before you, you want to play the hand heads-up. You hope that all the other players will fold and that the limper will call your bet from his unfavorable early position.
The third reason may be that you want to steal the blinds

The other reason you forcing a player to call so he can see the flop. Sometimes you will get a limper calling then folding. My advice is don't raise when you don't have good cards unless you know your bluff will work.

Depending on the situation, if you have an extremely good hand it's best to isolate your opponents so your odds of winning the pot increase. To me this is a very important concept to follow.

The patience of expecting a good one and raising the bet a little makes your hand increase the probability of success since many players will retire with trash hands.

For was Less players on a flop

To do raises on preflop sometimes you need a raise usually means that the opponent has a strong hand, sometimes a raise is a weak hand in order to confuse the opponents and to limit the number of players .

I would raise on the pre-flop if i had the top 5 hands in poker no matter where i was on the table. It would be foolish not to. It will also get other players to fold giving you a much better chance at victory on the hand. I love raising from the button with a good hand.

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Hello.Pre flop raise is important .First you protect your cards ,if they are good like AK etc....Playing with less players gives the opportunity of winning pot.Also a good bluff starts from preflop as ivey said .

Get online and read some articles on playing. Read a few books and start your journey.

Thanks guys! This was great advice! When I started doing it, I didn't understand why it worked, now I get the idea.

Knowing players

Also if you see someone has been very tight and you has preflop and than they call they usually have something. Knowing the people at the table can help make some money and save you some money in certain situations.

When: Every time you are the first to enter a pot.

Why: You like money.

I use limp very seldom, therefore raise on preflop is typical for me. I use it in different situations depends of kind of game an my position at the table.

Limping will provide some more money to the original raiser if you do not connect on the flop. As the others said, you want to narrow the field and get money if you have a good hand. If the blinds are tight you could rob them.

steve101651 said:

I used to do this a lot when I was a beginner playing for free on facebook, now that I use real money I noticed I do this less. Why is a pre flop raises such an important part of poker strategy?

Click to expand...

I use pre-flop raise to increase the pot, and reduce the participating players in the hand to 2-3

You can raise preflop in order to collect the blinds and without a good hand

You can raise preflop in order to collect the blinds and without a good hand, but you need to have a reputation as a tight player, will hang a lot from the size of the bet and in what position you are. I prefer sometimes if many players, then go with a hand with an upper hand, that would hide a hand, if someone raises it, you can call or re-raise again. But in the big raises, the blinds are collected or that several rivals with a weak hand fold the cards, and you will remain 1 to 1 (for example) with an opponent who has been called, and one is easier to beat than 2-3-4-5 players.

steve101651 said:

I used to do this a lot when I was a beginner playing for free on facebook, now that I use real money I noticed I do this less. Why is a pre flop raises such an important part of poker strategy?

Click to expand...

One of the reasons we raise preflop is to build a pot, so we can stack people.

Another reason is to thin the herd. Need to clear out the "shoeclerks and crumb bums" and Norman Chad would say.

Also, it can be done in LP as a bluff, to punish limpers. Maybe this doesn't apply to online, but live 1/2 people will limp in literally any two cards to try and hit a flop. These people must be punished repeatedly. But don't get too out of line punishing limpers. We should be trying to range f*** them. Not raise 6-8o into 5 limpers, when we know these people are limp calling everything with rags. So, if you can't get pot down to HU 9r 3w, we must adjust what we open, and how often.

However, if you find yourself in a really loose game, sometimes we can over limp in LP with spec hands like 9-8s for example. Also small PPs to setmine in MW pots.

Like if we are raising to thin the herd, and it doesn't accomplish the goal, we sometimes need to see flops and play postflop. Once in a while. I don't really advocate this alot though.

However, as you rise up in stakes, and play with better players, they will know your limping range, and your raising range. In order to balance, we pretty much raise every time we enter a pot, in this case.