hey everyone
raising before the flop is just one of your tools shall we say, aa or kk is good head to head at best you wanna raise enough to isolate one person, all in is way overused, everyone will agree there, but raising is one of the few things you can do to gain information, checking just tells me everyone wants a free card to make their hand better. raise it up and make em pay for each card, see who really has a hand or not. oddly this also works against maniacs if you really hit a monster hand on the flop, raise him about 1/3 of what he has most of em just go all-in figuring you will fold. if he calls do it again get him pot commited and take his chips. i love maniacs at tables always willing to give away chips.