Poker News

Tom Leonard

In this installment of Improving Performance, let’s discuss everyone’s favorite part of poker… raising. Raising is fun. It’s the power part of poker. Put the heat on the enemy! To paraphrase the great bard, “To raise or not to raise… that is the question.” Why raise? It has often been said that callers are losers and that raisers are winners. An oversimplification to be sure. Bump it or dump it! Don’t call, raise or fold! Throughout the poker literature, the raise is extolled as a great virtue. Let’s look at the reasons to raise aside from just trying to establish an aggressive image. We’ll touch on five reasons, several of which tend to overlap.

1. To get additional money in the pot when you’re a favorite to win: Well that makes sense! If you’re an odds on favorite to win, then certainly you would prefer a larger pot. Of course, it’s usually not so definite so that brings us to our second reason to raise.

2. To thin the field to enhance your odds of prevailing: This is the most common use of the raise. Making an opponent who otherwise might have drawn out on you lay down his hand is critical to winning poker. Calling all the way to the river to lose at the showdown is not a winning formula. Bump it or dump it… see above!

3. To bluff or semibluff: If you can encourage an opponent to lay down his hand by utilizing a bluff or semi-bluff, you don’t have to worry about surviving a showdown. If you have a draw that if hit will prevail, then a semi-bluff is an excellent play. A classic example is raising with the nut flush draw on the flop. If there are four players in the hand and your odds of hitting the flush are 1.86 to 1, then you’re making a very positive raise. If they fold, fine. If they call, you’re getting additional money in the pot at attractive odds. What is even better is when you hit your flush on the turn and someone else picks up a second or third nut flush draw and rides your train to the river. Now you’re rooting for him to make his flush on the river and get paid again.

4. To gain a free card on the next round of betting: This is most commonly done on a cheap street with position so you then have the option of continuing your aggressiveness or taking a free river card when it is checked to you. Since everyone knows and uses this play, it explains why pre-turn raises are many times not given that much respect.

5. To probe and gain valuable information relative to the strength of your opponent’s hand: A raise used on a cheap street that is then re-raised may give you enough information to get away from your hand before a couple of more expensive bets. Of course, you need to determine if it is actual strength that is re-raising or a wily player attempting to seize control of the hand. Once again, you really need to know your opponent’s tendencies along with how you believe they perceive your play. So there you have it. The five major reasons to raise. Returning to the lead in to this column, there is truth to the adage that raisers are winners and callers are losers That should become self evident by the advantages of all five reasons to raise Our goal for this session then is to always consider raising. Of your available options, it many times is the best choice, while folding comes in second and calling is usually a distant third. See you next “TIME.”

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