The 'odd' Sized Raise

[TR1N1TY 0]

The alleged 'pros' (bankroll sharing notwithstanding) who seem to have invented this move are surely chuckling at the inquiry, but I am genuinely curious behind the mindset behind the (ex) '1287 chips' raise, or the act of typing in an odd amount as opposed to just betting the standard 3 or 4x raise.Initially I assumed that this raise was designed to throw your opponent off by the fact that the odd sized raise makes the raise look 'bigger' by choosing an amount that creates the illusion of a bigger raise, because 1999 looks bigger than 2000 and that the use of this raise seems to be in position in unopened pots (you don't see REraise's with odd amounts almost exclusively FTA raises....which leads to me to assume that this is primarily a 'steal' type of manuever.With that said...I still can't put my finger on the mindset behind this ploy.I understand there is a certain psychological element involved here, but what I am confused about is why player (X) bets out 12,999 chips at 2/4K as opposed to just raising 3X. Is this solely a ploy to create the 'illusion' of a larger bet ? Or is there a deeper thinking behind it ?I like to rail the majors and all the biggest tourneys, and it seems to me this is becoming the 'norm' in terms of pre flop raises in unopened pots by many of the 'top' players. Maybe I'm just clueless (obv behind the curve) but I am genuinely curious what edge the odd sized bet has over the standard 3 or 4x in terms of forcing bb folds. This type of raise seems to be a steal most of the time but more than anything it just annoys me. I doubt that the move is designed to annoy me or tilt me into making an emotional reraise because I see it all the time deep in big events when the field are all accomplished players. But I do think there has to be some merit to it (for whatever reason) because I do see a ton of the top players doing it.anyway...nuff said(discuss)

[TB17 0]

i do it to even out my stack.

[SteveR 0]

probably just cuz their bored and wanna mess around. but also, watching jamie gold on HSP season 3 just betting a flat 5 or 10 thousand seemed kinda odd. you know everyone else would bet 6500 or something of that nature. did jamies betting on the show seem weird to anyone else?

[Jdr999 0]

You risk one less chip everytime you do this. Adds up after a while.

[ObeyTheDog 0]

It's a combination of a lot of things that doesn't really amount to much, but still can be useful from time to time.Evening off stacks is a good way to be somewhat "random" without having to think. It can also be useful when you are trying to induce a re-steal by showing your opponent that you are "saving" a nice round number behind.It also can make the bet look larger as you said.It also can make players make "mistake" calls when they think a player is all-in. Rare, but it happens.It might make it slightly more difficult to calculate exact pot odds for a player who is a math-nut. Again, trivial, but small edge.It might make a reraise slightly less likely, or at least the exact amount of the reraise off because the "auto-bets" will be skewed to a strange number. So it may throw someone off their normal betting pattern and have to come up with the bet amount on their own.It looks cool. As Joe The Pro would say, you have to be pretty pro to do that.There's more, it's all very "minor" stuff and sometimes it could get you the inverse result, but if you are consistent and always doing it, there isn't really any harm and a plethora of small edges to be gained. At the very least, it will make you pay more attention to the bet you are making so you are less likely to make a "slider" error and less likely to accidentally vary your raise too much. It makes you focus.

[XXEddie 0]

some people do it when they are bluffing so it looks biggersome people do it when they have a good hand and make the bet look bigger so their opponent callssome people do it just for funIt depends on the player. Kinda like the min-raise.

[yourboygsarida 0]

i do it a) when im boredB) later in tournaments to make hands look like steals when they arentc) make hands look like steals when they ared) to save chips. a lot of the time 2999 does the same thing as 3600 at 600/1200, but in the long run when i get repopped it saves me some chips.

[Jam-Fly 8]

i do it a) when im boredB) later in tournaments to make hands look like steals when they arentc) make hands look like steals when they ared) to save chips. a lot of the time 2999 does the same thing as 3600 at 600/1200, but in the long run when i get repopped it saves me some chips.

When the blinds are 300-600 or higher (ie when the ave stack is like <10) I rarely make the full 3xBB raise. Raising 1500 instead of 1800 at 300-600 saves u 300 every time u have to fold. U have to type in 1500 if ur raisin so i guess people think "if I HAVE to type in 1500, i might aswell type in 1537"Basically I personally don't do the 3x or 4xBB raise because I want to save chips. But the reasons for raising 2999 instead of 3000 is pretty trivial imo

[James D 0]

I think it's psycological.. it can slow people down, confused at what the bet is, it can look bigger than it is, and also it may annoy some people into making mistakes.It's somewhat similar to when you are short staked and make a small raise instead of going all in, in that people are less likely to re-raise you with something like A8, whereas if you had shoved, it is actually an 'easier call', even though it's for more chips.

[Steamed Rice 0]

I am an advocate of the "odd" sized raise. Mainly because more chips go in the middle when you do this, creating an illusion that your opponent has to call a lot of chips.

[Highlow16 0]

When i use it, I do so to even out my stack. Against the right opponent it can bother them and put them on tilt. I think its kinda fun

[mtdesmoines 3]

I think it's psycological.. it can slow people down, confused at what the bet is

It takes people's minds off the hand.

[looshle 6]

I do it alot to mess with everyone. Plus I like to open for between 2.3-3X the blind depending on how my table is playing. In the 6max FTOPS event I was opening for about 2.3-2.4X the blinds and it really made the whole table react to me. Most players are weak and when they see something they arent used to will stay conservative rather than attack it. Plus, it's fun

[pokergoat 0]

Actually, 1999 looks less to many people the 2000. This is why in the consumer market you see soda and thing like that since marked 99 cents or $1.99. It is a true fact that these numbers psychologically read as a smaller amount to people. So maybe it is also a way to get almost full value for a hand. Also, it definitely does throw people off. Like, " why the hell is this dude betting such a weird number?!?!". takes them aways from their hand and yours.

[Sens-Eh 0]

The truelly odd size bet such as 132472 makes a great bet to fool people into thinking you just pushed All-In. As tables are closing down every few minutes and players are shuffling quickly around, you will get some flat calls instead of Raises to these bets....

[farmist 0]

...or the person just had a Tourretts moment.Instead of a 1500 bet, they started screaming 'BIG HAIRY BALLS' at their cpu and bet out 1679

[Canary3 1]

I dont respond to threads started by the OP....but seriously i like to do it because it is different

[TheWacoKidd 0]

I dont respond to threads started by the OP....but seriously i like to do it because it is different

there is a lot of strategy behind it... the "cheese" raise as I call it has been the key to my success of late... it took me from making FTs on a regular basis to winning tournaments on a regular basis...but since the OP is such a clown shoe, I won't go into detail about why I do it... lol jkfrom one of my old P5 posts:"I'm just a big advocate of the "cheese" raise or "cute" raise as my friends call it, roughly 2.5x-2.75x usually... it helps control pot size, makes my c-bets smaller, opponents reraises smaller etc... also not enough ppl adjust to the odds you give them from the blinds, either they look down at a hand they want to play or not, doesnt matter if its 2.5x or 4x the majority of the time..."that is just in a nutshell there is more to it than that... things like this actually will semi tilt some opponents and make them come after you, thus giving you action when you have a big hand... ppl get frustrated with the constant small raises and will push all in for like 30 bbs with marginal holdings, I've seen it countless times... then they bemoan their luck on the rail "obv the time he has a real hand" etc...

[GrinderMJ 0]

there is a lot of strategy behind it... the "cheese" raise as I call it has been the key to my success of late... it took me from making FTs on a regular basis to winning tournaments on a regular basis...but since the OP is such a clown shoe, I won't go into detail about why I do it... lol jkfrom one of my old P5 posts:"I'm just a big advocate of the "cheese" raise or "cute" raise as my friends call it, roughly 2.5x-2.75x usually... it helps control pot size, makes my c-bets smaller, opponents reraises smaller etc... also not enough ppl adjust to the odds you give them from the blinds, either they look down at a hand they want to play or not, doesnt matter if its 2.5x or 4x the majority of the time..."that is just in a nutshell there is more to it than that... things like this actually will semi tilt some opponents and make them come after you, thus giving you action when you have a big hand... ppl get frustrated with the constant small raises and will push all in for like 30 bbs with marginal holdings, I've seen it countless times... then they bemoan their luck on the rail "obv the time he has a real hand" etc...

I don't think he's asking why top players make < 3x bb raises (it's obvious although you did a good job of explaining it) . I think he's asking why people instead of say 2500 at 500-1k make it like 2543. Granted I could be wrong and I don't get why people do it but w/e.

[MikeJohnson724 0]

there is a lot of strategy behind it... the "cheese" raise as I call it has been the key to my success of late... it took me from making FTs on a regular basis to winning tournaments on a regular basis...but since the OP is such a clown shoe, I won't go into detail about why I do it... lol jkfrom one of my old P5 posts:"I'm just a big advocate of the "cheese" raise or "cute" raise as my friends call it, roughly 2.5x-2.75x usually... it helps control pot size, makes my c-bets smaller, opponents reraises smaller etc... also not enough ppl adjust to the odds you give them from the blinds, either they look down at a hand they want to play or not, doesnt matter if its 2.5x or 4x the majority of the time..."that is just in a nutshell there is more to it than that... things like this actually will semi tilt some opponents and make them come after you, thus giving you action when you have a big hand... ppl get frustrated with the constant small raises and will push all in for like 30 bbs with marginal holdings, I've seen it countless times... then they bemoan their luck on the rail "obv the time he has a real hand" etc...

Wow, this guys is going in great lengths to act like waco. He even quoted one of Waco's posts from pocket fives. Nice Job.sw