You know which hands to play and why your seat matters. This lesson covers how to enter the pot: how big to make your first raise, what to do when players have limped in front of you, and why the best players almost never limp themselves. Get these defaults right and you’ll start most hands with the initiative — which makes everything after the flop easier.
Key takeaways
- Open-raise to about 2–2.5bb online and 3bb live, adding 1bb for each limper.
- Raising gives you two ways to win; limping gives up the initiative and fold equity.
- Isolate limpers with a raise so you play the pot heads-up and in position.
- Steal the blinds from the cutoff and button with a wide range.
- Keep your open size the same for strong and weak hands so it gives nothing away.
Why raise instead of limp?
Limping — just calling the big blind — looks cheap and safe. In practice it’s one of the most expensive habits in poker:
- No fold equity. A raise can win the blinds straight away. A limp never can.
- You invite everyone in. Multiway pots make your good hands win less often.
- The big blind sees a free flop with any two cards.
- You lose the initiative. The player who raised last before the flop can bet the flop and represent strength. A limper can’t.
- Your range is capped. Opponents assume you’d have raised your best hands, so they attack you.
The standard approach for the player who’s first in is simple: raise or fold.
How much to open
| Game | Typical open size | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Online 6-max cash | 2–2.5bb | Players defend well; smaller sizes risk less to steal |
| Online from the small blind | 2.5–3bb | You’ll be out of position, so charge the big blind more |
| Live cash | 3–4bb | Live players call more; bigger sizes punish loose calls |
| Tournaments with antes | 2–2.3bb | The antes already make the pot worth winning |
Pick one size per situation and use it with your whole range. If you raise more with aces and less with small pairs, observant opponents will read your hand from your bet.
Facing limpers: isolation raises
When one or more players have limped in front of you, you have three options: fold, limp behind, or raise. With good hands, raise — it’s called an isolation raise (an “iso”) because it aims to play the pot heads-up against the weakest player.
Size: your normal open plus one big blind for each limper. Live, many players use 4–5bb plus one per limper, because live limpers call so often.
Isolating a limper
No-Limit Hold'em · live · 1/2 · 200 stacks
Preflop
Pot 3
- UTG limps for 2
- Folds to Hero on the button, who raises to 10 (4bb + 1bb for the limper)
- Blinds fold, UTG calls
Flop
Pot 23
K72- UTG checks
- Hero bets 8 — the limper's range is weak and this board rarely helped it
- UTG folds
Limpers are usually weaker than raisers: strong hands tend to raise. That’s why you can iso-raise a wider range than you’d open from the same seat — especially in position. Good hands to isolate with include pairs, suited aces, broadway cards and suited connectors on the button.
Stealing the blinds
When it’s folded to you in the cutoff, button or small blind, only one or two players are left to act, and they’ll be out of position after the flop. Raising here with a wide range is called stealing, and it’s where tight-aggressive players make much of their money.
A rough guide to how often to open when it’s folded to you in 6-max:
| Seat | Share of hands |
|---|---|
| UTG | ~15% |
| Hijack | ~20% |
| Cutoff | ~27% |
| Button | ~35–45% |
| Small blind | ~35–45% (depends on the big blind) |
Button opening range (6-max, 100bb)466 combos · 35.1% of hands
Compare every seat in the preflop charts tool, then drill them in the preflop trainer.
Common preflop mistakes
- Open-limping from any seat. Raise or fold.
- Min-raising live. A 2bb raise at a live table invites four callers.
- Different sizes for different hands. Consistency hides your strength.
- Iso-raising out of position with weak hands. The small blind is a bad seat to isolate with K8o.
- Folding too much on the button. It’s your most profitable seat; use it.
Next up: what to do when someone else raises first — 3-Betting and Facing Raises.
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