[FTR Quick Tip #002] Preflop Raise Sizing

Originally Posted by Mike1013

I expect to outplay everyone postflop and therefore benefit from a larger pot.

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I usually open to 3.5x from all positions except the CO and BTN. [...] In the cutoff I tend to open to a bit less than 3x, and from the BTN around 2.5x.

There's an interesting contradiction in this. On one hand we benefit from a larger pot when we expect to have a post-flop advantage but on the other hand we make big raises from EP when this advantage is the smallest and small raises from LP when this advantage is the biggest.

Originally Posted by Fielmann

There's an interesting contradiction in this. On one hand we benefit from a larger pot when we expect to have a post-flop advantage but on the other hand we make big raises from EP when this advantage is the smallest and small raises from LP when this advantage is the biggest.

There are several ways of seeing this:
- you raise more in EP with strong hands because you make less money OOP than you make IP, so you compensate for that by playing a bigger pot (that's assuming that you are not a loosing player oop of course. Also since there are a lot of players behind you, you have a good chance of getting called.
- you raise less IP because your range is much wider, so most of the time you prefer to play a smaller pot, and you have a better chance of getting called when you have a big hand.

Of course it'd be nice to also raise big with your big hands IP and get called and make even more money, but unless the players behind you are fish (as mentioned by OP in his last post), you won't get called enough and if you start raising small with your weak hands and big with your big hands, your game becomes transparent.