Holdem: Raising out of the blinds
Surprisingly, there are very few instances where you should raise out of the blinds. The first is where everyone at the table folded to the blinds. If you are in one of the blinds with a good hand in this spot, raising is recommended. The second is where you have a chance of isolating a late position raiser.
For example, if you are in the small blind with pocket kings, two middle position players limp and the button raises, this is a good spot to put in a reraise out of the blinds. There is some chance that you might force the middle position limpers out of the pot and the would probably force the big blind to fold too. If by chance a middle position limper calls two raises cold and the late position player calls, you should immediately bet the flop. It will be put a lot of pressure on the middle position player because he will be concerned that the late position player will raise behind him. Additionally, he may get stuck in a raising war between you and the late position player. But you can only force the middle position limper to think twice about calling the flop if you put in that third raise out of the blinds.
Aside from these specific scenarios, you should avoid raising out of the blinds for two related reasons. First, if there are four limpers and you are in the big blind with pocket aces, a raise will not force any of these players out of the pot. They’ve called one bet, so put in a raise is hardly going to discourage them from seeing the flop.
One of the main goals of raising preflop with a strong hand is to thin the field and raising out of the big blind in this sort of situation will not accomplish this goal unless the field is super-tight. Second, given that almost all players will cause your raise preflop, you have inadvertently increased the size of the pot which gives your opponents all the more reason to try and “run you down” after the flop. For example, if there were four limpers preflop (including you) and an opponent flopped a backdoor flush draw and two over cards, he is 10-1 against winning the hand. Since he is only getting 5-1 from the pot after you bet the flop, it is a big mistake for him to call. But if you raise preflop from the button, he is now getting pot odds of 9-1 after you bet the flop. Since he can off-set the difference by implied odds, it has swung his decision on the flop from a correct fold to a correct call. Further, if he picks up a backdoor flush draw on the turn, he is now 4.5-1 against winning the pot. If you didn’t raise preflop, he would be getting pot odds of approximately 4-1, which means that it is a mistake for him to call.
This is really where you make your money in poker: by capitalizing on your opponents’ mistakes. But if you raised preflop, he would be getting pot odds of approximately 6-1 on the turn, making is correct for him to call. This goes to show you how a preflop raise out of the blinds can turn a mistake into a mathematically correct play for your opponent.
You may be thinking that the same thing is true when you raise from a middle-late position, since it also increases the size of the pot. However, your preflop raise from this position has the potential to force the blinds and late position players out of the pot, which improves your chances of winning and, in turn, effectively decreases the pot odds offered to long shot draws. That is, if you raised preflop and everyone folded around to the Jc-10c, you would always be a favourite to win the hand and win the money if it’s heads up from the flop onwards. So always keep this in mind when you have a strong starting hand in the blinds.
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