Beginner Strategies
May 12 2008
To be a winning poker player you’ve got to be aggressive and aggression means raising, raising and more raising. However, you don’t want to simply put in raise after raise by rote. That’s not being aggressive; that’s being stupid with your chips. There are reasons to raise and if one of them doesn’t fit your situation then raising probably isn’t the right move. Here’s why you raise.
Get money into the pot – That’s clearly the most obvious reason to raise. If you’ve got the nuts or a terrific draw you should try and get as many chips into the middle as possible. Unless you think slow-playing will earn you more money, you should raise when you think you’re holding the best hand.
To eliminate opponents – Guess what? The fewer players against you in a hand, the better the odds are that you’ll win the hand. This is what raising to eliminate the number of players in a hand is all about. Some players believe that by eliminating other players you’re reducing the potential size of the pot, and that’s true, but it doesn’t matter how big the pot is if you don’t win it. You’ll discover this the next time you don’t raise and the small blind hangs around with junk like 7-9 and hits two pair on the flop to crack your pocket aces.
Bluffing – Raising without a winning hand is what bluffing is all about. If you think you can steal the pot with a hefty raise or bet, then take a stab at it. Just don’t do it too often or telegraph your bets by always making the same kind of bluff raise.
Check-raising – A check-raise is a raise made after initially checking the hand. This is a highly deceptive play that was actually forbidden at tables in the past. Now the check-raise is a poker-playing staple, but there are still some rules to follow to check-raise effectively. First of all you should only attempt a check-raise when you’re sure someone will bet after you check. And second, don’t check-raise on a draw because the odds on making your draw hardly ever make the bet worth it in the long run.
Find more handy poker basics in the
Bodog Online Poker Guide.
