Whether you play no-limit holdem tournaments or cash games, you are guaranteed to have at least one player at your table who routinely enters the pot with a minimum raise. This is one of the worst plays in no-limit holdem and will often be the first sign that you are playing against a weak opponent. Before you push money in the pot with a raise, you should be asking yourself "what do I hope to accomplish with this bet?" In no-limit holdem, a raise should be made in attempt to reduce the number of players in the pot, or it should me made in attempt to win the pot right there. In pot-limit holdem, a small raise could possibly be justified to build the size of the pot, but we are talking about no-limit holdem.

Here are a few examples of the problems with a minimum raise:

Example 1
You are in late position with a drawing hand and several people have limped in before you. In this case, you should be happy to see the flop for the minimum bet. Your hand needs to improve, so you want to get in as cheaply as possible. If you make a minimum raise, it is unlikely that any player already in the hand will fold and it reopens the betting for players who may have been slow playing their hand from early position.

Example 2
You are in early position with a powerful hand like AA or KK. You do not want to scare everyone out of the pot, so you make a minimum raise. Since the amount of the raise was small, several other players enter the hand with weak hole cards in the hopes of catching a good flop. Now you have to play your high pair against several opponents when this type of hand plays well against one or two opponents.

Example 3
You are on the button with a poor hand, but everyone has folded to you. You make a minimum raise in attempt to steal the blinds. In this situation, the big blind is likely to call you with any 2 hole cards and the small blind will generally do the same. You may have position after the flop, but you will be faced with a tough decision if you miss the flop and one of the blinds bets into you.

Example 4
You have QQ in late position and everyone has folded to you. You don't want to just steal the blinds, so you make a minimum raise and the big blind calls. The flop is K95 and the big blind bets. By allowing the big blind in for a minimum raise, he could have any hand and may even be holding something like K5.

If you think about the strategy of making a minimum raise, you will quickly realize that there is just no good reason to do it. A rule-of-thumb for an initial raise is 3 to 4 times the value of the big blind. If players have limped in ahead of you, add 1 value for each limper. So, if you have KK in middle position and there are 3 limpers in the pot, your initial raise should be 6 to 7 times the value of the big blind. This type of raise reduces the number of players that will play weaker hands against you, and it greatly improves your odds of winning when you are up against a player or two rather than half the table.