I have a few questions about pre flop bet sizing. 1) kk utg 2)AA 3 limpers in the co 3)AK suited utg 4) AK off mp with a utg bet of 15. Looking forward to discussions

Barring some special read that the table is super loose and aggro, I usually stick to the 4xbb+1bb per limper formula. Maybe add 1bb or 2bb if you are raising out of the blinds and there are more than one limper. So...

1. $20
2. $35-$40 depending on table conditions.
3. $20
4. Depending on who is doing the UTG raising I may flat here, but If I 3 bet I make it $55-$60.

If there are a bunch of moneys at your table and you can raise to $50 with AA and still get called/stack someone who has top pair, then go for it.

from utg with a premium hand I am making it at least 25 or 30, depending on the table. The last thing I want is to bet 15 or 20 with a parade of callers behind.

1) 25/30 (depending on weak passive or aggro table)
2)30
3)35
4)45 unless he is a nit

In general raise to 4x then adjust it for additional callers, and also for in or out of position.

It largely depends on the table conditions. There's no correct answer

[QUOTE=wck117;45970614]It largely depends on the table conditions. There's no correct answer[/QUOTE

Let's say we have no reads and the table just started

I'm a big proponent of disguising my hand. To do this I tend to raise the same amounts, unless I'm 3 betting or have a read on certain limpers or callers. Is this a mistake?

This is very table and player dependent. It also depends of effective stack sizes with each player. Here are some guidelines assuming ~100bb to ~150bb.

1) Raise to $25 with KK. Being in early position, you really want this heads up or down to two callers. If you are getting 3+ calls alot, raise to $30 or $35 pre instead. If you still get alot of callers, pot will be big enough to get stacks in. If you get too many folds too often, try raising to $15 or $20. But $25 gets it done at most tables.

2) Raise to $35. If $50 will get one caller often, I'd raise to that. If everyone is short around ~50bb, I'd raise to $25 as I want action and dont mind three calls when stacks are that short.

3) $25 or $30 pre with AK UTG. you just have ace high and flop a pair only 33% of the time. if everyone folds, its still a win for you. you REALLY want one or two calls only so you can get value easily, know where you're at, AND bluff people out when you miss (say flop is Q73r and you bomb flop you can get 55, 66, even TT, JJ to fold).

4) Standard flat. It's safe to assume most people only raise UTG with TT+, AQ+ and sometimes way tighter. You don't necessarily mind multiple callers here either as you can have someone outkicked postflop when you hit a pair. If you do 3bet, I'd 3bet to $45 or $50. But I generally want a good idea of how wide a UTG raising range is and what hands they will call with and how they play post flop before 3betting AK.

If you were in the blinds with AK and there was an UTG raise and 3+ calls, I'd likely 3bet AK almost always even against an unknown. 3bet fold of course.

Generally when it comes to raise sizing, you want to raise the maximum they will call that will get you one or two callers most often. You want to raise big enough that you don't get 3+ calls often but don't raise so big that you pick up blinds way too often. This is assuming you have a value hand like AQ+, TT+. Although if there are a bunch of limpers, you want to raise way bigger and don't mind if they all fold (unless you have QQ+ but even then.....) as you'll pick up ~6bb variance free which is always good

[QUOTE=slimshady1999;45972068]This is very table and player dependent. It also depends of effective stack sizes with each player. Here are some guidelines assuming ~100bb to ~150bb.

1) Raise to $25 with KK. Being in early position, you really want this heads up or down to two callers. If you are getting 3+ calls alot, raise to $30 or $35 pre instead. If you still get alot of callers, pot will be big enough to get stacks in. If you get too many folds too often, try raising to $15 or $20. But $25 gets it done at most tables.

2) Raise to $35. If $50 will get one caller often, I'd raise to that. If everyone is short around ~50bb, I'd raise to $25 as I want action and dont mind three calls when stacks are that short.

3) $25 or $30 pre with AK UTG. you just have ace high and flop a pair only 33% of the time. if everyone folds, its still a win for you. you REALLY want one or two calls only so you can get value easily, know where you're at, AND bluff people out when you miss (say flop is Q73r and you bomb flop you can get 55, 66, even TT, JJ to fold).

4) Standard flat. It's safe to assume most people only raise UTG with TT+, AQ+ and sometimes way tighter. You don't necessarily mind multiple callers here either as you can have someone outkicked postflop when you hit a pair. If you do 3bet, I'd 3bet to $45 or $50. But I generally want a good idea of how wide a UTG raising range is and what hands they will call with and how they play post flop before 3betting AK.

If you were in the blinds with AK and there was an UTG raise and 3+ calls, I'd likely 3bet AK almost always even against an unknown. 3bet fold of course.[/QUOTE

I like it, thanks for the input.

25
30
25
#4 depends on the utg villains opening range. If it's reasonably wide and I 3! It's around 60.

But I'm going to sometimes open bigger if the game is playing call happy preflop.

Be careful, 2/5 players are a tad more observant than 1/2 players and some will eagerly pick up on bet sizing tells. If you have some inscrutable formula you could be OK, but some of these formulas do correlate with hand strength. Even if the correlation is weak, it can work against you.

This is exactly why I'm getting others opinions. I tend to raise the same amounts whether i have AA or 55 pre, I've found this useful for the most part in position. However, in early position this tactic is not working very well. Should probably tighten my opening range oop and use my post flop hand reading more often

Most players won't notice the difference though, unless its to the extreme (you raise $15 with 55 and $35 with AA). Even then, as long as they don't adjust (even if they don't notice), keep doing what makes you the most money EVEN if your hand is face up.

In early position you want to have a tight raising range UTG (something like 88+, AJ+, KQ at the widest). I will raise 22+ and some SCs at tighter nitty tables. Position matters that much. Even AJ, KQ has a ~50% chance of being dominated when you pick it up UTG at a full ring table. The %s are much worse for hands like KTs, QJs, QTs, Q9s