I play on Pokerstars and once the blinds go up to the 15/30, I start 2,5x'ing. Once I reach to 30bb I switch over to minraising. When we are still deep and the opponent 3bets often, i switch to minraising.
I've watched a few videos so far, and I've noticed 3'xing at 15/30 and 2,5x'ing once villain 3bets wider. So my question here is, am I too tight with my preflop sizing? And am I losing any value because the pots are smaller in position?
What do you suggest me and what are the reasons to 3x'ing over 2,5'xing?
You sound like you're right on track, and you have the right reasons. You don't need to change.
I'll ask the other guys to weigh in on the rest of your question, but I agree with Skates, you seem to know what you're doing and have good reasons for doing so.
A quick note, there is a lot of difference in the mid blind levels between some of the top players. I see guys like Skates, livb and a few other high stakes people doing minraises a little deeper than the average winners do. Then there's guys like bcm and croix who I see doing 3x raises at smaller effective stacks than the normal. So you get different "styles" for different big winners. It's much more important that you know how to adjust to your opponent's reaction to your PFR than if you use a 3x or 2x at 30bbs than actually having a set raise.
Primo, Hokie and I have all advocated a kind of standard PFR sizing as a default for low to mid stakes players. You can find this in many of our forum posts, but on this site specifically in Primo's first "husng from scratch" video. It's definitely a good start and a good default to have and you're miles ahead of most players if you follow the advice in that video (which it seems you pretty much are).
Thanks for the replies guys. Do you advocate to use different opening raisesizes at the same blinds in the same match (against weaker opponents).
Like for example, take these factors into consideration:
-You have a hand you don't want to be 3bet off, and by 3x'ing you expect him to call instead of 3betting compared to 2x'ing it.
-Villain 3bets wide no matter your opening size, so you decide to put in less money with weaker hands (2x it with bottom range, 3x it with top range)
-It's a hand that connects well with flop, like JQ, and you decide to 3x it compared with hands you are opening but that are weaker, like J7.
-You have 66, and you think when you 3x it, he will be less inclined to play back at you postflop.
There's possibly more factors I can't think of right now, but I was just wondering if it's a good thing to switch and if you guys do it too. By the way, if you guys can think of any other factors, I appreciate if you write it here.
I mostly change my PFR based on how my opponent is playing, I don't really alter is for hand strength as a general rule. I have before but I really dislike doing the old "3-4x raise Ax, PP and 2x the rest" type stuff or "I'll minraise this button 75bb deep bc I have AA and want action." I find that you outlevel yourself too often in those cases and it's a bad mindset to get into preflop bc it can hurt your postflop play. I'm not even mentioning the fact that a lot of players are going to be "putting you on hands" preflop when you alter sizes like that, and if you're using the stereotypical hand ranges that I mentioned above, they are going to be correct too often. Also, add in the rare guy that has seen you play or played you and remembers how you play, he will figure out your PFR ranges very quickly if you change sizes based on strength. Now, that last part isn't so big of a deal, especially in the lower stakes, it's why we don't care that much about balancing our ranges and bet sizing a lot of the time.
if your getting 3bet such an obscene amoun in this scenario, especially <50bb deep, you prolly need to widen your 4b-shoving range or begin to incorporate some limping and introduce another level of meta to the action, also if he is 3betting very wide, raising small pre-flop and just seeing pots in position w/alot of hands that play well post can't be that bad of an idea, he will def. be spewing a ton if your not calling too lightly