Reasons to Raise in Poker

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Beginners who have just taken up poker are often of the opinion that strong starting hands always demand a raise. And it is true that one ought to raise with a strong hand for the most part. But this is not the only reason to raise in poker. Raising is often done with a variety of reasons and to a number of different ends. In fact, the most common reason behind raising is to gain a winning advantage or edge over your opponents – regardless of whether you have a good hand.

Reasons for Raising

In no limits Texas Hold’em, poker players generally raise for 5 reasons:

• To earn a free card
• To glean information
• To eliminate hands
• To bluff raise
• To increase pot size
• To Increase Pot Size

This is normally done by increasing your payout that sends out strategic bets. This strategy normally keeps the opponents hooked to the hand that is being dealt. Let me explain with the help of an example: suppose you have flopped straight or flopped a set. Now, do you intend to raise too much and give an advantage to other players out of the hand by telling them to leave right away?

In such a situation it is advisable to go for a mini raise 1x – 2x. The trick is to trick your opponents with a raise that will keep them hooked to the hand. The main objective is to make them think that you are either bluffing or going to draw.

The most simple and obvious reason for raising a pot is to acquire more money. Raising the pot thus is best possible only when a player feels that he possesses the best hand. When a player has the ‘nuts’, he may wish to go slow and play his hand slowly without raising.

To Earn A Free Card

This is another successful strategy that works really well in Limit Hold’em, but you can also successfully employ this strategy in no limits Texas Hold’em. There are, however, conditions to adhere to before you can successfully pull off this stunt. Unless you possess a position on your opponent, you can’t really do this move.

Suppose you have flopped a flush draw, but unless you have that one more card, there’s no way you can complete it, right? The bet has been placed by your opponent. And you have now started to raise. Your opponent will probably check at the turn. You are also advised to do the same. Now this strategy is a pretty tricky one, and it takes quite a lot of time to master.

To Bluff Raise

The best time to employ this strategy is when you feel your opponent does not possess a hand with which he could raise. This strategy is especially effective against loose aggressive players who turn on their aggression post flop. Even passive poker players with the ability to make tough folds can be brought down with this strategy.

However, you have to use this strategy with caution; you can’t use it too often and you can certainly never employ this strategy against any calling station. It is also advisable not to call a minimum raise, but to go for a substantial raise.

To Glean Information

This is a successful move both post flop and pre flop. The main reason for your raising, sometimes with the most marginal of hands, is to glean information about your opponent’s playing strategies and patterns. The objective is to predict how your opponent will deal next. However, this strategy is rather useless against ultra tight poker players.

When you raise your pot and your opponent re-raises in return, you immediately get to know that he is indeed holding a strong hand. Probably, his hand falls in the category # two or group # one. When your opponent chooses to just give a call, you can be certain that he is not holding a monster hand.

Thus, as you can understand, gleaning information about an opponent’s hand is a rather complex reason for raising. This strategy can sometimes save you a lot of money if used right.

To Eliminate Hands

When you want to lower the pot and don’t wish your opponents to make a draw on you, you are advised to raise with high pocket pairs such as AJ, AQ, or AK. The big blind is four times smaller/lesser compared to standard raise pre flop. Your job is to push out and eliminate all those opponents who are planning on playing their suited connectors. If any player is keen on playing other types of hands like Ace rag, nine, seven, eight or 10 and other similar stuff, they too should be your target knock out victims.

When you want to knock out your opponents before they glimpse into the flop, you should raise with KK or AA. Again, be cautious; because while this strategy works well with some opponents, against the majority of them, there are high chances that once your five cards are all revealed, you might lose dearly.

Here’s another situation when you can raise to eliminate hands: say you are holding AK and 9, 10, K is the result of the flop. This is when the top pair having the best kicker is in your hands. In such a situation, your first action would be to knock out the opponents so that they don’t get away with a flush or a straight or a two pair.

Conclusion

To round things up, I will advise all new players to keep track of the reasons for raising the next time you play online poker. Record the reasons in a notebook and note down whether those raises brought success or not. Once you make 25 entries for all of those five reasons I stated above, browse through them thoroughly and try to identify which reasons for raising caused the maximum amount of success.
After this exercise, you will find it easier to decide when to raise and when not to. Keep this exercise up, and soon you’ll be doing this almost intuitively.