Too Many Pre-Flop Raises?

[72o]

Raising three or more good hands in a row preflop usually isn't a bad thing. Players who call you with marginal hands are even better. But it can get out of control. Then everybody starts to call your raises and you loose every respect. You end up in a lot of risky multiway pots and you have to play many hands to the showdown. This makes many moves, like continuation bets etc, impossible. Not to speak of bluffs. Especially in the late phase of a SNG when the blinds are big you want the blinds to fold to you after you raised on the button. You don't really want to see a flop with a rag ace. In such situations it may be a good idea to fold AJ and raise with 72 on the button next time.

A way to avoid this problem is to show your hand to the other players. But showing a strong hand after you lost it is a very bad idea. You will loose every respect. So you have to show it shortly before the whole table goes on tilt. But show your hand only rarely! As a good player you want to put pressure on your opponents. And in poker the biggest pressure comes from the lack of information. As long as your opponents don't know wether you are bluffing you put pressure on them. Once they know (not only assume) that you are not bluffing the pressure is gone and they feel comfortable with folding to your bets. This may be a good thing in rare situations but usually it isn't.

[jimmer]

I think the key thing to remember is your table image. If you bet/raise alot of hands and therefore win lots of small pots then fine, stick with it. However you need to realise by playing loose, sooner or later you hand will fall down.

There's nothing wrong with playing lots of hands. Just remember this;
on average, over your poker life, you'll be dealt the same number of good hands as you will bad. If you play lots of hands, you will eventally lose to someone who plays very few. (as they will only play premium (AA, KK, QQ, AK). In the short term you may win, over the long term, they will win.

[Jefecaminador]

I think the key thing to remember is your table image. If you bet/raise alot of hands and therefore win lots of small pots then fine, stick with it. However you need to realise by playing loose, sooner or later you hand will fall down.

There's nothing wrong with playing lots of hands. Just remember this;
on average, over your poker life, you'll be dealt the same number of good hands as you will bad. If you play lots of hands, you will eventally lose to someone who plays very few. (as they will only play premium (AA, KK, QQ, AK). In the short term you may win, over the long term, they will win.

I'm going to have to disagree entirely. As long as you play smart, any style you play can be a winning style. Playing tight isnt neccesarly better than playing more loose. Especially if blinds are big relative to stack sizes.

Just because a tight player has AA doesnt mean they're going to make a lot of money off of it. If you're smart about it, and realize they're playing tight, you fold, and they take down the blinds. The same way you can if you raise with 72o and they fold.

The key to playing winning poker is not one particular style, but knowing what your opponent is doing, while trying to keep them in the dark about your own actions.

[jimmer]

I'm going to have to disagree entirely. As long as you play smart, any style you play can be a winning style. Playing tight isnt neccesarly better than playing more loose. Especially if blinds are big relative to stack sizes.

Agreed

Just because a tight player has AA doesnt mean they're going to make a lot of money off of it. If you're smart about it, and realize they're playing tight, you fold, and they take down the blinds. The same way you can if you raise with 72o and they fold.

Agreed

The key to playing winning poker is not one particular style, but knowing what your opponent is doing, while trying to keep them in the dark about your own actions.

Agreed

However all your examples are dependent on table circumstances. For example the size of the blinds, table position and the strength of the other players.

You can't tell me that you could (as an extreme example) play every hand you were dealt, for the rest of your poker career and still beat someone who chose to play reasonably tight? Yes, you may show a profit in the short term, but after 50,000 hands, you'd have less money than with what you started.

After all markusgc asked

"If I raise pre-flop with a premium hands consistantly, does it lessen the value of my cards" Will people start calling with marginal hands?"

The answer is Yes, but only because someone sooner or later will have a hand which is marginly better than his. Therefore even if you got dealt pocket Aces ten times in a row, you would lose a few of them. Therefore it will "lessen" the value of of his premium hand.

I totally agree with all your points, but question is based around the fact that other players are starting to realise his play is loose. It doesn't make a differance if a loose player calls, bets, raises or re-raises every hand, the fact is the rest of the table will notice this and tighten up. Eventally he'll walk into a monster and lose.

[snoogins47]

I complete/check AA from the blinds pretty frequently.