Sizing Your Pre-Flop Raises in MTTs

12 April 2010 - After having my interest piqued on a specific topic recently, I put my thoughts into an organized format to state my opinion/approach. Specifically, I'm talking about sizing your opening pre-flop raises in MTTs. This subject seems to generate a variety of opinions and strategies. I'm sure people will disagree or only partially agree. If you think otherwise, I'd love to hear your viewpoint/feedback.

So what’s the best choice? 2x, 2.25x, 2.5x, 3x, 4x, 4.5x, 5x? What’s the goal behind your open-raise sizing pre-flop? Is that goal easily deduced by thinking opponents? Are you maintaining proper balance and consistency? Are you divulging the relative strength of your hand? Are you skewing your range to too few hands? Are you allowing competent opponents to exploit you?

These are all questions you should consider when devising a proper strategy when you’re the first player to open-raise a pot pre-flop.

The simple fact is that, during any level in an MTT, consistently opening for the same amount (2x, 2.25x, 3x, whatever) is the most theoretically optimal strategy as it provides balance for your entire opening range and it prevents competent, thinking players from narrowing your range of hands. For example, if you’re always opening to 1350 at 3/600 (75a), then your opponents won’t know if you’re simply stealing or if you’re at the top of your range with QQ+.

A trend that I notice in MTTs is that players will often open-raise to a smaller amount with the portion of their range they perceive to be very strong (QQ+); this often means a limp, a min-raise, 2.5x, or 3x. On the other hand, I’ll notice these players will opt for larger sizes like 4x-5x at other times. Not only is the larger size unnecessary and wasteful when playing a short/medium stack (20-40 bbs), but the disproportion in open sizes also provides too much information about your opening range and thus allows thinking players to exploit this tendency.

If you’re varying the size of your pre-flop raises when you’re the first to open a pot—that is, if during one orbit at 3/600 you open for 1350 and then during the next orbit you open for 2200—you’re allowing thinking opponents to more easily deduce your range by correlating your opening raise size, your position, your stack depth, your image and your tendencies into a much narrower range of hands. In short, you’re making it easier for thinking players to play against you. Which is, coincidentally, the exact OPPOSITE of what you should be doing.

In my opinion, one of the biggest leaks that even successful players exhibit is opening to different sizes for different ends. The most glaring example is seen in players who open larger (3.5x, 4x, 4.5x, 5x) with the portion of their range they PERCEIVE to be vulnerable, yet strong-ish. Depending upon the player, this might mean 88-JJ, AQ, or even AK. Against observant opponents who note this tendency, the player who inconsistently opens to 4x allows the thinking opponent to generate a more concise range of hands; determine how their specific hand plays vs. that range; and then take the most optimal course of action. This might mean folding, calling, 3betting, or shoving. More specifically, if you frequently open to 4x with {88-JJ, AQo, AQs} and your opponents notice this, they will easily be able to fold hands that your range is dominating and—depending on the depth of stack sizes—they may be able to 3bet/semi-bluff you off of a hand that is a favorite pre-flop. So by opening larger (and inconsistently) in a specific spot, you’ll not only prevent good players from making mistakes against you, but you’ll also allow them to outplay you. Remember, one of the most fundamental goals of poker is to force mistakes from your opponents and capitalize on them. If you’re consistently making mistakes in specific, predictable spots, then you’re going to allow the good players to own you and capitalize on your mistakes.

Furthermore, I frequently notice players opening to larger sizes in an effort to discourage opponents from calling with weaker hands that might outflop them. This is classic “fear of flopping” and its presumed goal—that an opponent folds an inferior hand preflop—contradicts the most basic goal of poker: putting money into the middle when your hand has better equity than that of your opponent’s. Against opponents who solely make pre-flop decisions based on their cards (we’ll call these players “droolers”), opening to an unnecessarily large amount (like 4x) makes no difference from opening 2x. A drooler does not think “well, he opened x amount from early position, my hand doesn’t play well vs. that range, I’ll just fold.” A drooler does not think about the meaning of different sizes or even notice them. A drooler simply sees K5s and says, “I can make a flush, I can make two pair, I can make a strong top pair, I call!” As a result, when you’re outflopped by an opponent who has called your large open with a trash hand, you end up losing a LARGER pot than you otherwise would have. Again, this is another spot where you can avoid from leaking crucial chips. Generally, the only pre-flop raise size that will discourage droolers from calling with trash is a shove. When a drooler says “how much?” before calling, he’s just figuring out how many chips to take from his stack and put in the middle. He’s not thinking about whether it’s 2x or 8x or what that might mean. As an aside, if your goal is to just win the blinds/antes pre-flop without confrontation, an open shove—even as large as 20bb—is the better choice.

Additionally, by inconsistently opening to this larger amount, you’re generating a few sour consequences. One, you’re bloating the pot with a hand you probably don’t feel comfortable playing post-flop (this is probably the reason you opened so large). Two, you’re allowing the competent players at the table to exploit you because they likely know what your raise means, and how to play optimally against you in this exact spot.

To bring us back to the topic of consistency and balance, it’s important to employ a strategy that is both balanced in regards to hand ranges and optimal in regards to consistent sizing. Smaller, consistent raise sizes allow you to periodically steal at less risk with a wider range of hands; this is a crucial aspect to accumulating chips during an MTT and it should be in the arsenal of every player. Also smaller, consistent raises will sometimes induce over-aggressive players to spazz out and 3bet or shove over a small raise that they perceive as either weak or larcenous in nature; this is obviously a joyous result when you have the top of your range.

Again, as you balance your entire range of opening hands with consistent, smaller raises, you’ll be able to play a wider range of hands pre-flop; this in and of itself makes it more difficult for opponents to play against you because they can’t easily deduce your opening range. Second, it allows you to escape cheaply from 3bets/shoves. Third, it potentially induces aggressive opponents to make very costly mistakes against you when you have a strong hand. Fourth, it prevents you from being exploited by observant opponents. And finally, you avoid developing weak habits that limit your ceiling as a player.

So go ahead, give it a try. Implement it. Commit to it. Don’t be scared.