Raising in Hold’em; Hands Played Badly
13 reasons for raising the bet in a hold’em poker game
by George Epstein
Read more articles from George at the website www.gamingtoday.com
An opponent bets. You raise, increasing the size of the bet.
In a limit game, your raise is an additional amount equal to the size of his original bet. He may re-raise you. In no-limit games the size of the bet can be many times larger than the original bet, even all of the chips in front of you. (That’s often termed “Going all in!”)
For those of you who play recreational poker, be aware that casinos generally limit the number of raises for each betting round – usually three or four. Note: A player is said to “cap” the raising when he makes the final raise allowed. But there is no limit to the number of raises if the hand becomes heads-up (just two players remaining in the pot).
Everyone knows raising an opponent’s bet can serve to increase the size of the pot. That’s to your benefit when you hold the best hand. That raise is akin to “betting for value.” The more chips you get into the pot, the greater your reward when your hand wins the pot. But be discrete.
In this case, you don’t want your raise to force everyone to fold. Your raise is most effective in a late position, after everyone else has bet or called. Almost all of these players, having already called the original bet, will call your raise – building a huge pot for you to win.
On the other hand, such a raise – for value – would be undesirable if you were in an early position at a tight table. Everyone folds, leaving you with just a small pot. So it helps to “know” your opponents and it is best to raise to build the size of the pot from a late position.
Once the pot has grown significantly, there is more incentive for your opponents to call your bets on later streets – hoping for the “magic” card. (Little do they suspect that you hold the nuts!)
Raising may encourage opponents with marginal hands to fold. They might call with a single bet, but calling a double-bet is another matter. I call this Reducing the Size of the Playing Field (RSPF). This strategy is quite effective preflop when you hold a “made” hand (one that could win without further improvement).
For example, with pocket aces preflop, you are about an 80% favorite over each of your opponents. If four or more stay to see the flop, you become an underdog. Your pocket aces then will lose most of the time, which could be very costly. (Ideally, pocket aces play best against 3-4 opponents, but no more.) Use the raise to try to get 3-4 opponents staying to see the flop.
There are 13 reasons for raising the bet in a hold’em game.
My Claude Pepper Seniors Poker Group and I compiled these during one of our poker classes at the senior center. And I will share these with you, the readers of Gaming Today. But promise not to tell others about this… I’ll list them here for you and discuss most in future issues of Gaming Today.
The 13 Reasons for Raising
• Building the pot (see above)
• Force out opponents (see above) – RSPF
• Steal the blinds
• Semi-Bluff or Bluff
• Get information
(How good is my hand?)
•.Improve betting position
• Isolate a “maniac”
• Get a FREE card on the next betting round
• Force out a bluffer on the river
• Buy more outs
• Protect your hand
• Create or change your image
* As a psychological weapon
Comments? George “The Engineer” Epstein can be contacted at geps222@msn.com
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A review of the book
‘Hold’em Hands I Played Badly’
By Michael Hesse
by T. Dana Smith
Read more about poker at the excellent gaming website www.gamingtoday.com
If you won a gold bracelet at this year’s World Series of Poker or bet thousands in the Big Game at the Aria, don’t buy Michael Hesse’s new book, Hold’em Hands I Played Badly (288 pgs, $19.95).
But if you love playing limit hold’em in your favorite casino and want to start making some real money at the game – this is the book for you!
Relying on math, strategy and instincts, Hesse shows how to win more money than ever thought possible. How? By learning from the mistakes he made on his way up the ladder.
This new angle on winning – by eliminating common mistakes – is a powerful teaching tool. After clearly showing you how to determine your outs (his Rule of 42 is strong stuff), he gives you illustrated hands played then asks, “What Should I Have Done?”
The answers are “The Lessons,” each designed to teach how to avoid costly errors. Hesse is a 30-year veteran, semi-pro player of limit hold’em cash games and a professional analyst of mathematical systems with degrees from UCLA and MIT.
Chapters include Playing Drawing Hands, Playing Raising Hands, How to Play Tricky Hands. Using 31 real-life, illustrated game scenarios, he shows you How to Correct Mistakes in Judgment.
The final chapter includes 70 hands that illustrate the winning principles of limit hold’em.
“Three skills make you a successful poker player,” he says. “It’s knowing the math and strategies of the game, observing everything and everybody at the table, and using psychological insights to your advantage.”
While the Marines are looking for a few good men, you’re looking for a few good hands in the right situations. Hesse expertly shows how to find and play them for the maximum profit. This one’s a keeper!
