Another Preflop Play That Gives Away Your Hand

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Last month I wrote about 4 Common Preflop Plays That Give Away Your Hand. Recently I’ve seen a couple of players try out a slightly different giveaway play.

This play has been around forever. I saw it in limit hold’em games, and now I see it again in no-limit games. Only a few players do it, but those who do tend to do it again and again. I’ll call it the “fooling around” raise.

Here’s how it goes in no-limit. Some guy limps in. Or maybe he calls a regular-sized raise. Then another player behind him raises/reraises. There might be a call or two, and then our original limper/caller decides to reraise. But it’s not a big reraise (that might imply a big hand). It’s a small raise, perhaps a min-raise. Yesterday in a $1-$2 game I saw this “fool around raiser” call for $2, and then when it was $12 back to him, he made it $22 to go. He had pocket threes.

Then I saw him, after a $10 raise and a call, make it $20 to go. He had J9 if I remember right.

Then he limped in for $2, and I made it $15 with pocket queens. A tight player called from the blind (very likely a small/medium pocket pair or AK). Then the fooler around made it $30 to go. I reraised $60 more. The tight player whined about wanting to see a flop and folded. Then the fooler around grinned and folded.

I’ve seen these “fooling around” raises regularly as long as I’ve been playing. Again, only a small percentage of players do them, but those who do tend to do them regularly. They usually choose drawing hands such as connectors or small pocket pairs. Be on the lookout. They are very exploitable, so if you find a fooler around in your game, rejoice.

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