The problem with raising from late position is that in today’s game everyone expects you to do it. This in turn creates the tendency for players to want to re-steal, meaning you are far more likely to get played back at from the blinds when you raise from a late seat. This obviously depends on what sort of players you’re facing in the blinds, and careful observation can help you determine whether or not those juicy little antes are yours for the taking.
The best way to figure this out is to raise a player’s blinds a couple of times, preferably when it’s not going to damage your stack much. If they fold, it means they probably aren’t going to defend too lightly and you can liberally raise their big blind. Of course if you do it too often they will eventually play back at you (usually), but that’s okay.
Let’s say you make a standard opening raise of three times the big blind when the blinds are 500/1,000 with a 100 ante and the action is nine-handed. Each time you pick up the blinds you gain 2,400 in chips. If you open five times and the big blind only plays back at you one out of five times you end up making a profit of 6,600 in chips. And who knows, the one time they decide to play back you might actually have a hand and win even more chips.
Stealing an angry man’s chips
A defender will make it known quickly when they aren’t going to tolerate you raising their blinds. They will either re-raise you pre-flop, call and lead out or check-raise on the flop. Obviously when you run into one of these players you’re going to have to make an adjustment, but don’t make the mistake of never raising this person’s big blind. The problem with that approach (apart from being weak/passive) is that when you do actually pick up a hand, your opponent won’t play back at you and will fold. You want them to play back at you when you have a big hand, so take the occasional stab at their blinds. After all, you do have position on them.
In late position in a normal situation, your range should be the widest it ever is. The normal factors apply including your opponent’s tendencies, relative stack sizes and your own image, but the actual strength of your hand matters least when you are raising from late position. You are operating at a distinct advantage because you are acting from a position where you will be in position post-flop. Even if you are re-raised, there is some value in seeing flops because of this positional advantage.