D. Harrington in his book on FR cash recommends raising first-in with any ace from the cutoff. This seems pretty standard and seems to make sense, because your hand is probably best against three players.

However, why not RFI with Ax from an earlier position, like the hijack (button plus two)? After all, your hand is probably best.

For that matter, even at BTN+6, Ax is probably the best hand. Why not RFI there?

See if you can convince me not to raise there.

I'm aware of the argument that you need to get past the flop, and if you hit the ace you may be out-kicked. But couldn't you make that same argument when RFI-ing from the cutoff?

If you probably have the best hand, don't you want to raise to protect it?

If you have A2o and RFI, you might get better aces, e.g., A9o, to fold.

More people behind you = less chance you have the best hand.
You are either winning the blinds or getting in a ****ed-up spot OOP in a larger pot.
Some people will notice and 3-bet you every time.
(imo)

Because you have no kicker with ace-rag. So you raise in EP, get 3 callers and there's an ace on the flop. Are you happy with that flop? Or you raise and someone 3-bets you, your A7o was a good bet, right?

If I'm understanding your post correctly...the answer is pretty simple (at least, I think it is for beginners). The earlier you raise with Ax, the more hands are left still to act after you, which means the more likely someone really is holding A-higher-x (or any number of hands that are way ahead of yours). We're playing a game of odds here. Not only that, but the earlier you're putting in that raise, the more likely you are to be stuck in an awkward hand OOP. These 2 things together make it very clear why it's much better to only raise in late position with Ax.

Yeah raise any Ax on the BTN or CO.

Otherwise it's a typical fish play, they love Ace-rag from any position.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I was feeling the urge to raise with ace-rag earlier than CO, and you all have helped me get over it.

I would raise A5s maybe from Hijack(don't play FR) but as you go out from there in full ring, that hand is not even statistically likely to be best. Where CO and later it is.

In a limped pot i will raise all aces from button and co. Raising Ax from ep just looks like spewtardedness to me.

Totally off subject but i remember seeing in a vid that you are better 3-bet bluffing with a hand like A4 then A9. The dudes reasoning was that a hand like A4 gets more Superior aces to fold

3bet bluffing with Ax also has blockers to good hands that contain an A and has reasonable equity vs. PP that might call the 3bet which are a large portion of a 3bet call range

It depends on your hand reading abilities. If you are comfortable playing Ax OOP and can play if profitably (not many people can) then go ahead. The only way to learn is to try it.

But yea...

Ax from EP...

- Can get 3b
- Can't call a 3b
- 4b can be gross
- Pick up multiple callers and be OOP
- Whiff board and waste cbets
- Hit board and waste cbets

because the chance of playing the hand oop is way higher

Ace-rag hands are essentially all about range and reverse implied odds.

When opened from early position your opponents should be folding weak Ax hands if they are smart, and when it comes to Aces should only be flatting with decent Ace-x hands

eg. You open A5 from early, opponent flats with AJ/AT/A9 etc. when an Ace flops you're screwed. You're likely losing a medium to large sized pot.

When they call with 89 and the Ace flops you're likely picking up a small pot on the flop.

Basically when you flop top pair with A5 or similar and get action, you should be worried.

Your conclusion is wrong because your premise is wrong. Your hand is probably not best here.

If you have A2o, it's just about 1 in 6 that a hand made up of two other randomly selected cards is beating you (any Ace except A2, and any pair). In CO, there are 3 players after you, and your odds of being best - before you get any information about responses - are better than even. At BTN+6 (i.e. UTG on a full-ring table), you are behind somebody more than 3/4 of the time.

The other reason you're almost certainly wrong is that you're talking about "raising for information". At least, that's the only thing I can imagine that RFI stands for; and I had to think for a good long time about what it could stand for at all. The fact that I had to think about what "RFI" stands for, when I hang out on this forum regularly, implies that RFIing is not a good idea in general. DUCY?

There are basically no certainties in poker, especially preflop. But smart players know the odds.

Preflop, if you probably have the best hand, you raise to (a) narrow the field (because playing multiway is hard) and (b) get calls from worse hands. You can't really bet for protection because you don't yet know what you need to protect against. It depends how wet the flop is.

If other players know/believe you will open with any Ace, then bad ones will probably never fold any Ace either (unless they were going to fold it to basically anyone), and good ones will not realistically fold A8 or better (and may call with slightly worse assuming there are also other high-card combinations in your range). DUCY?

Honestly, I don't think it matters. If you aren't opening A9 for value in that spot then both are equally bluffy, and if the aces in opponent's call range are AT+ or better, then either way you're getting called the same amount, and are behind basically the same amount when you get called.

I think he has RFI to mean Raise First In

This is the best answer.

In the CO you have position over 2/3 of the people left to act.

In MP you have position on only 2 out of possibly 5 or 6 left to act, and end up with a much better chance of having to act before an overcaller .