I just recently started playing in the 1/2 nl game at my local casino and noticed how the "standard" raise seems to be from $15 to $20. 7.5 to 10x the BB?! is this normal most everywhere else at this limit? i couldn't believe how the players snickered about my raise to $8 from UTG and how they joked about how that wasn't a "real" raise and then watched a calling domino effect. in fact when i made the raise the dealer even said,"that's it?" so should i just play supertight/aggressive or get prepared to have a bigger bankroll??

That seems pretty standard. I usually raise to $15 or $20, once in a while I'll make it $10 just to mix things up a little.

What's your roll for this game??

Yeah, smallball doesn't exist in live $1/$2 games. Wait for good hands and raise the hell out of them.

my bankroll is at $2400 right now but i'm guessin i may need more huh?

ok so next question....what about the marginal situations.... say a guy in early pos raises to $20 and i have a hand like 10s, JJs, or maybe an AQs...now what? just call?

It depends. What is the buyin? How loose is the game? How loose is the player?

It really depends on the stack sizes. I've seen 1/2nl games with $500 max buy-in like at ceasers, and as little as $40 max at the bike. This is going to effect the standard preflop raise. But in gerneral I'd say with buyins between $100-200, it is around $10-15.

No, this is ridiculous.

i play live 1/2 and 2/4 often.

live 1/2 standard raise is from 8-12. anything more and its because the table is more agressive and loose.
Probably weekend play. (time / day is a issue also)

If you're playing in a game of 15-20 standard raise and you arent comfortable, just switch tables, or relax and be really patient.

Live 1/2 games tend to have oversize openers, but (as Royal already noted) 15-20 is unusually large. My theory on this is that people playing live at this level call oversize raises without sufficient values out of boredom. So if people call something absurd, then the raisers naturally raise something absurd.

There's also the ratio of the bet to the stack sizes to consider. If the raiser is willing to go down to felt with an overpair, he's much better of making a large raise to destroy his opponents' implied odds.

How's this affect our own strategy? Will we can obviously exploit the other players' tendency to call preflop raises that are too large by making those raises at the right point in time. Attempting to steal the blinds becomes a very bad gamble. (Raising without values preflop and then stealing on the flop still can work under the right circumstances, though.)

We're also going to have to play fewer speculative hands than we would in a game with a 3x standard opener. (That is, with all other things being equal. If the players are donkeys after the flop, then we still might want to play a lot of hands.) In particular, we're not playing as many hands for their straight and flush value.

You don't have to go with the flow. You're playing these guys because you think you can beat them, so don't emulate them blindly. (Don't start raising to 20 UTG with AQo, even if all the other kids are doing it.)

When I play $1/$2 live, I usually raise to $12 to $15. This usually narrows the field to two to four players total. Some players that I've played with raise to $8 or so, but you might get a lot more callers.

If any dealer ever said anything at all questionable about my play, I'd put them in their place and/or call the poker room manager to complain. It's a dealer's job to remain objective. If it were a dealer that I know, and I could tell that he was kidding around, I'd laugh it off but, during the next shuffle, I'd quietly let him know he shouldn't do it again.

Thanks for all the help guys

I wouldn't make a blanket statement like saying "15-20 is a standard raise at a lot of 1/2 NL tables" but I would agree that the typical opening raise is almost always more than the 4 to 5 BBs that's typical of most NL cash games in person.

With that being said, if you're comfortable sitting there, then just wait for some hands. If someone makes it $20, gets called 3 times and you wake up with a big hand, you can just push and take a really nice sized pot down preflop. Also, if people are willing to call those raises, just wait for your big hands and get paid

In a game like this... it is good to wait a good 15-20 minutes to really get a feel on how the game plays out.

Main things i'd focus on:

-How many people on average call the large preflop raise
-How does it play out post-flop? [i]Will it passively get checked down when both people miss, will people play back with marginal holdings?
-picking out the tight, solid players from LAG players.


It seems to me like that table was full of people ready to gamble. Buy-in for the max and don't be afraid to some marginal starting hands... but ONLY in position with multiple callers. This basically prevents you from exposing yourself to unprofitable negative EV situations.

When you do get a decent draw in this sort of game ... play it very hard on the flop. Especially in a 2-4 way pot where there is already 60-80$.

man i wish i had you in my pocket when a dealer at Rama told me i was spouting bull[i]s[/]hit and the manager did squat