A lot of the general advice I see about raise sizing seems to be to raise to an amount that will get 1 or 2 callers. Is this really what we want? What are the factors we should consider?

Say we're in a 1-2 game with 8 fish, who will each call a $12 raise with 50% of hands and call a $25 raise with 15% of hands. This means that if we bet $12, we expect 4 callers on average, and if we bet $25, we expect 1 caller on average.

The $12 raise is letting our opponents make big mistakes by calling much too wide. Assuming we play well postflop, we should be able to make a lot of money in this situation.

On the other hand, the $25 raise is actually making our opponents play better. They're folding most of their junk, and we're now up against somebody with a much stronger range. We can still outplay them postflop and make a consistent profit, but is it a bigger profit than what we'd get with the smaller raise?

Also, with the $25 raise, would we want to tighten up our own range to account for villain's tighter calling range? Would we also reduce the amount of speculative hands we play since we're putting in a bigger portion of our stack preflop? Does reducing the number of hands we play in this manner reduce our overall EV?

Almost invariably, no.

In 1/2 my typical open is $7, a pot sized raise. Not only will my opponents call this raise quite liberally (as you have correctly pointed out), this sizing also enables me to open some marginal hands and incur the attendant image benefits. Further, by playing with a greater SPR my presumed post flop skills will have a chance to make me some real monies.

very rough simulation but gives you an idea

Equity Win Tie
MP2 56.21% 55.85% 0.35% AA
MP3 10.97% 10.42% 0.55% 33+, A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J4s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, A2o+, K5o+, Q7o+, J7o+, T7o+, 98o
CO 10.93% 10.38% 0.55% 33+, A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J4s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, A2o+, K5o+, Q7o+, J7o+, T7o+, 98o
BU 10.95% 10.40% 0.55% 33+, A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J4s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, A2o+, K5o+, Q7o+, J7o+, T7o+, 98o
SB 10.94% 10.39% 0.56% 33+, A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J4s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, A2o+, K5o+, Q7o+, J7o+, T7o+, 98o

Equity Win Tie
MP2 84.86% 84.25% 0.61% AA
MP3 15.14% 14.54% 0.61% 77+, A7s+, K9s+, QTs+, JTs, ATo+, KTo+, QJo

This thread could go up to 100 posts if it takes off. Always an interesting topic.

1) Are you opening or 3-betting?
2) What position are you in?
3) Are there any limpers yet?
4) Are there any short stacks in front or behind?
5) What is your image at the table?

A very common theory is that you open 'all hands' for $7 (or similar 'same' amount) in 1/2 so you don't give off the strength of your holding ... BUT you also need to increase that with consideration of the limpers already in the pot as well (dead money). An open to $7 does you no good with 3-4 limpers already in the pot .. unless you are looking to 4-bet someone (hopefully).

I open pots at 1/2 for $7, $11 and $16 regardless of my holding and regardless of position. Yes, I will open AA for $7 some of the time. I play in a game of regs so I feel the need to mix things up across my range. In a casino I will play more 'standard' against unknowns but will still try to create some confusion in there as well. But in 'all' cases I will match/add some of the dead money to my standard opening bet as well, which create even more confusion for some opponents.

Your thoughts about 'allowing' loose players to play better/smaller range against you has merit, but how are your post-Flop skills? You may need to thin the field to play more comfortably. What is your image at the table ... just as loose? Are you going to get a bunch more folds on the Flop against 2 opponents as 4? Hopefully more, which means you are more likely to pick up the same sized pot without additional 'random' hands in play.

There is so much to this topic ... some say be a robot/consistent, some say you need to be all over the map. Pre-Flop is the best time for playing POKER, not cards, which makes this such an open and debatable topic. GL

as more come in they make less of a mistake for each one entering. and you lose the ability to read hands. hence, your playing advantage goes down as well.

It all depends.

If you are talking about live poker (1/2 NL), the open raise sizes are usually 4-5x or larger. This is coz blinds don't matter in live poker esp @ 1/2 (200nl live).

Blind's aren't really worth stealing @ 1/2-2/5 nl, and stealing blinds doesn't make up a ton of ur winrate @ LLSNL. Compared to online 6-max and sometimes even full-ring there is a lot more blind stealing because there are less whale + less action/loose play. And ppl aren't defending etc...

Stacking the whales that will call 84s for 15 dollars vs. ur open is what u want.