Q&A #101: Sweetening The Pot In No Limit
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Have you heard someone say that they’re raising in order to sweeten the pot? Do you think they’re nuts? Or is there method to their madness? This is today’s question from Greyzy:
Every once in a while I hear someone saying that he raised preflop with DRAWING hands like ATs- to sweeten the pot. Personally I think that this is wrong, but I’d like to learn more about it and adjust in case I am mistaken.
I’ll give you my reasons NOT to raise and am hoping to hear good arguments why, when and how raising makes sense:
First of all, my definition of “sweetening the pot” is this: a PF raise with the intention of getting several callers in order to build a medium to big pot preflop. This excludes steals! Usually there will be limpers already and the raise will be between 1BB to 4BB (added to the 1BB you would need to just call). I am also talking about DRAWING hands only!
In general any raise that is intented to get called (value raise) should have a positive expectation, meaning that my chance of winning are greater than my relative share of the money that I put in. Therefore the only drawing hands that I think where a PF raise makes sense are suited connectors, because you may hit a flush OR a straight.
a) suited aces (ATs-):
I usually make good money with small suited aces from players that shouldn’t have been in the pot in the first place. They hit something on the flop and cannot let go afterwards. A PF raise might drive them out, so I do NOT raise. I will hardly drive out any better aces, so there’s not much sense in spending money for the attempt. I might also drive out KT, QT, JT, T9 when I hold ATs, but I got them outkicked, so why do it?
b) suited kings (KQs to K9s):
I tend to raise here, but not to build a big pot. I want to drive out hands that might hurt me in case I make top pair. I also want to put pressure on folks with a (suited) ace, especially the one of my suit. Second, I gain fold equity on the flop, making it harder for people to call me when a king (or ace) comes.
c) unsuited connectors:
It’s just too unlikely to hit the straight to justify putting any more money in PF.
So does sweetening the pot make sense, or is it a bunch of -EV nonsense?
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Tags: no-limit-holdem, poker, pot sweetener, pot sweetening raise
Good question and made me think about what I do. Here’s my unsophisticated 2 cents:
I raise from late position to sweeten if I know the blinds or UTG are passive and ususally call with Ax or any 2 face cards. When the flop comes with mid or low cards, I’m pretty sure that I can take the sweetened pot with a post-flop bet because I’m percieved to already have a pocket pair because of my pre-flop bet. If face cards come, and I’m checked to, I’ll represent a big flop pair or possible set and I’m likely to reraise a 1/2 pot bet from an early position player to cement the perception. Sometimes I lose a pot, but the gain from the times I win outright is worth it. Plus I’ve gained some info on a player of what their likely range of holdings are to push.