Pre-Flop Raising With High Pockets

One of my golden rules is "raise when you have something to lose", that is, you have the best hand and not raising would allow someone else to get the best hand. This does not apply to low pairs, read the related post for playing low pocket pairs.

If you have JJ QQ KK or AA you must raise. The amount you raise is usually a sliding scale, Jacks should have the biggest bet whereas Aces need a signifigant raise, this is because you need to try to ensure that you have the best hand on the flop with fewer callers, with aces this isn't such a problem.

With many loose players I may go all in with AA, KK or QQ wanting callers. If you have JJ or QQ and you are pushed all in by very tight players (before you can raise) consider folding. I think that one of the most important parts of playing good poker is knowing when you are beat and having the guts to fold good cards that have a high likelyhood of being beat either pre flop or on the flop.

The amount you raise should be directly dictated by whether or not you want callers. You should get a sense for the correct amount to retain or lose players (through calling or folding) and use these amounts in you raise.

I see many players raising too little with aces or kings, virtually nobody puts you on these hands (coming only one in 221 hands) so you may as well keep people guessing about what you have. Many people raise large amounts with AJ or similar hands, so they may think that you have a drawing hand when you are actually sitting on gold.

Once thing I find profitable is if somebody raises a large amount that reduces the amount of callers, when you have AA or KK, simply call and allow the player to be the aggressor.

Essentially when I raise I am being the aggressor because nobody else has or the amount they have raised isn't enough to ensure the number of players I want to see the flop. That is, a few loose players when I have aces and 0 or 1 caller when I have JJ.

One of the worst feelings in poker is having high pockets (KK, QQ or JJ) lots of callers and the flop comes an ace. You need to architect a situation where this does not happen (often).

One thing you would have noticed if you have read my other post on pocket pairs is that I haven't mentioned pocket tens. Since I think you shouldn't raise with pocket nines or below pocket tens is in limbo.

I find pocket tens an uneasy hand that waivers between being a help and a hinderance.

50% of the time you should raise with tens however you need to properly read your situation and be comfortable that the raise amount will limit callers to one or two callers. With 10s you should be happy with no callers. If any picture card hits the flop you need to correctly read your opponent for whether they hit and bet or check accordingly.

View high pockets as an opportunity and not a guarantee and you should go well.

Some articles from: Poker Addict