To Bluff
Bluffing is a big part of the game, so big in fact that there’s an entire chapter on the subject later in this book. Betting to bluff, however, is not the same thing as raising to bluff. Raising to bluff, especially when all the cards are out, is a tactic that is very seldom used except at the highest limit games ($40-$80 and above).

In those hands, decisions about calling and folding are based on reading a player’s actions in a specific hand. Plus, you’re getting great pot odds to call that last raise. Usually, the pot is so big that it is mathematically correct to make a “crying call” rather than lose the entire pot for want of calling one last bet.
I saw raising as a bluff used in a lower limit game only once in the last year. I’ll share that example with you:

Player A raised before the flop. Only Player B called. The flop was 9*6V34. Player A checked. Player B checked right behind him. The turn was the A4. Player A bet and Player B raised him. Player A folded immediately. Player B showed KVQV and said, “If you had an ace, you would have bet it on the flop.”

There are three reasons this raise as a bluff worked:
1. Player B knew his opponent. A player who raises before the flop will usually have AA, KK, QQ, or at least AK or AQ. He will almost always bet on the flop against a single opponent, especially with a ragged flop. Since Player A didn’t bet, Player B deduced that he didn’t have one of these hands.

2. Player B, even though he may have believed that he had the best hand after the flop, did not bet. Why? Because there were five small bets in the pot, and if Player B bet after Player A checked, Player A would be getting pot odds of 6 to l to call. There are a lot of hands with which you can call when you have only a l out of 7 chance of winning and the pot gives you the correct odds to call.

3. Player B, by not betting on the flop, kept the pot small and ensured that it offered the worst possible odds. The rake and the jackpot drop had reduced the pot to only four small bets (or only two big bets), by the time the turn card came. When Player A got raised on the turn, he realized that he did not have the right odds to call a raise with the prospect of having to call another bet on the river. He was getting odds of 7 to l to call the first raise. Even if his hand was as good as a pocket pair, he was 22 to l to hit it on the river. Play online casino games here.

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• Raising To Get A Free Poker Card (0)
• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand Part2 (0)
• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand (0)

You now have two pair. What can you determine now about your chances? If you know your opponent would raise in early position only with big pairs or big cards, then you know you have him beat with only one card to come, so you should raise.

The phrase "only one card to come" is a very important one in the game of Texas hold 'em. Why? Because that phrase sums up a particular situation while implying a relatively safe prediction about the future. There are sports with similar phrases.

What if I told you that Jeff Gordon was the leader during the Indianapolis 500? Not much information there. What if I now specified that Jeff Gordon was the leader-with one lap to go? See the difference?

What if you knew that Nick Faldo was leading the US Open by two strokes? Again, not very exciting, because two strokes is not that big a lead among professionals. What if I added that Nick Faldo was leading the US Open by two strokes-with one hole to go? It means something entirely different now, doesn't it?

In the last example we looked at, if your opponent has A*A4 or KVK>, then he has only eight outs with which to beat you on the river: the two other aces or kings, three 8s or three 2s. You are a 5 to l favorite not to lose this hand with only one card to come. You can raise for value with confidence, even though you know you don't have the best possible hand. You have the best probable hand, and that's good enough.

• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand (0)
• Raising To Get A Free Poker Card Part2 (0)
• Raising To Get A Free Poker Card Part4 (0)

Of the five reasons to raise, this one is the easiest to understand. Whenever you have the best hand and you want to make the other players pay the price for having second-best hands, all you have to do is raise. Let's look at an example:
You have A*94 and the board is K*9V5*l04 with the river card to come.
If there's a bet, you should raise. Why? Well, let's see:
You: re not trying to eliminate any players. In fact, you want everyone to call this bet and raise.

You're not trying to get a free card on the river. In fact, it costs just as much to raise on the turn as it does to bet on the river.

You're not trying to gain information. You don't really are what anyone else has; you're a big favorite over whatever it is. Anyone with a set needs the board to pair, and they have only ten outs. Anyone holding J*Q* needs the A4 or the 94 to make a straight flush, and you're the only one who knows those cards aren't in the deck because they're in your hand. Anyone holding two pair has only eight outs to make a full house.

You're certainly not bluffing. Bluffing would be betting without so much as a pair. You've got the nut flush at this point.

So why are you raising? You are raising to get other players to put more money into a pot you expect to win. That's betting for value.

You don't always have to have the nuts to be able to bet for value. If you think you have the best hand at the table, you can also raise for value, even if your hand isn't the best hand possible. The key is knowing when your hand is probably the best, even if it's not the best possible hand. Let's look at another example:

You're in the big blind with 6*5*. The player on your left raises, making it two bets to go. Two other players call. With 7 to 1 odds, you call too. The flop is 8*5*2*. You check, the preflop raiser bets, and the other two players fold. You call because you can beat A*K>, you're getting 9 to 1 pot odds, and you're against only one other player, who might check when the turn card comes. The turn card is the 6*.

• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand Part2 (0)
• Raising To Get A Free Poker Card Part4 (0)
• Raising To Get A Free Poker Card Part3 (0)

I'm going to fold, but there's one more mental exercise I'm going to perform before I throw the hand away. I ask myself the Big Picture Question: "Is there any way he could have played his hand this way with a hand worse than mine?" Maybe my answer is "No." In that case, I'm certainly right to fold now.

Using one type of reasoning, I've determined that his hand is much better than mine. Using another type of reasoning, I've also determined that his hand can't possibly be worse than mine. Putting the two together, it's a cinch I'm beat.

I want you to go back and look at what could be called the tempo, or cadence, of the hand you just analyzed. Before the flop it was bet-raise-call. After the flop is was bet-raise-reraise and then (after analyzing the hand) fold. I want you to know that ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the after-the-flop action would have been bet-raise-reraise-call. Instead it was bet-raise-reraise-fold

Have you ever seen anyone raise and then fold when it was reraised, when he had to call only one more small bet to see the next card? Who folds after he has raised and has to call only one bet to see the next card? You do, that's who! If you're beat, and you know it, then there's absolutely no reason you should call another bet this hand. Too many players will call that last reraise because it happens so quickly and they don't give it too much thought.

Don't fall into the trap of making automatic plays just because you're in the middle of a heated contest. Your raise served its purpose-you found out what you wanted to know about your opponent's hand. It's only one hand, so let it go. Take comfort in the fact that you're saving a bet where you know other players would be losing that bet and subsequent ones.

• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand Part2 (0)
• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand (0)
• Raising To Get A Free Poker Card Part3 (0)

On the Flop
Raising to gain information on the flop is a very common tactic. Basically, you want to know the answer to one of two questions:

1. At the moment, does my opponent have a better hand than I dot
2. Is he on a drawl

Let's look at an example of this sort of situation:
You have A*8*. Your opponent raised before the flop, and the flop is A49*5*. He bets into you, telling you that he has at least a pair of aces. Whether your opponent actually does have the aces is something you don't yet know. If you just call here, and then call again on the turn and the river, you'll never know where you stand. He could have kings and be giving you a chance to fold. Here, you raise to gain information. If he folds, then it was your raise that told him that you have an ace or better, and he couldn't beat that. If he reraises you, then you've found out what you wanted to know. Consider the following hands (again, "s" means "suited):

AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010, 99, AKs, AQs, AJs, AK, AQ, AJ, KQs, KJs, KlOs, KQ, KJ, KIO, QJ, QIO, JlOs
There are 160 different hands represented here! These are all hands that he could have raised with before the flop. When he bet into you on the flop, he could have had any one of these hands. If you know this player, maybe you know that if he flopped nothing in this spot he would have checked it. Go through the above list and eliminate any hand that would have been nothing on the flop.

Now, go through the list and eliminate any hand that would have been something on the flop, but you think most players would have checked. Since he didn't check on the flop, he doesn't have those hands.

The next step is to eliminate hands with which he would just have called your raise. He didn't just call, so he doesn't have those hands. Now look at the hands that are left.

Which of these hands seems to fit with what you know about how he played his hand so far?
In most situations, I think AA, 99, AKs and AK are excellent candidates. I think he positively has one of these hands, even though I'm not sure exactly which one it is. I don't have to know which hand he has, all I have to know is that he's got me beat and I don't have the right odds to continue with the hand.

• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand Part2 (0)
• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand (0)
• Raising To Get A Free Poker Card Part4 (0)

1. A pair that's weak under these particular circumstances. It could be top pair with a weak kicker or bottom pair with a good kicker (why not bottom pair with a weak kicker? Because you don't continue with hands that bad)! You could have a pocket pair that is beat by the board, but you don't think it paired any of your opponents' cards.
2. A straight- or flush- draw.

Let's look at some examples of these types of hands:

You're in the blind with K¥5*. The flop is K*9*3V. There's a bet and you raise.
The other player will often check to you on the turn. If you like the turn card, or it improves your hand, or you feel that your pair of kings is the best hand, regardless of kicker, then you can bet it again. If the turn card doesn't help you, and your opponent checks into you, you can check and save a big bet. If it then turns out that your opponent had you beat with, say K>84, then you got a free card when you had the worst hand. Drawing for free with the worst hand! It doesn't get any better than that, and it happened because you raised to get a free card.

You have A434. The flop is JV6*34. There's a bet and you raise.
If the bettor checks to you on the turn you can also check and see the river card before you have to put any more money in the hand. If you spike another ace or 3, you'll have gotten in an extra bet with a winning hand, which is the essence of all forms of poker. If you miss on the turn and the river, you will at least have gotten to see the river for free.

If you repeat this situation over and over during the course of a game, occasionally you'll hit your hand, and you'll win much more than the cost of that little $3 raise on the flop. There's also the possibility that your small pair is the best hand at the showdown, and you, then he's telling you the opposite. Pocket aces and kings are two hands with which no one should mind reraising a sole opponent before the flop.

If he reraises, then you can put him on pocket aces or kings. If you know your opponent is a little looser than most, you might want to give him credit for pocket queens or jacks or possibly AK suited.

• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand Part2 (0)
• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand (0)
• Raising To Get A Free Poker Card Part4 (0)

Actually, it's not really a free card. It's a cheap card, usually costing one-half of a big bet (one full small bet) instead of the full big bet. Here's how it works in a nutshell: If you call $3 on the flop and $6 on the turn, you will, of course, have $9 invested on those two calls. If, however, you raise and make it $6 to call on the flop, your opponents will often check to you on the turn. It may be because they don't want to be raised again, it may be because you've convinced them that you have the better hand, or it may be because they truly don't know what else to do.

Whatever your opponents' reasons for checking may be, you can also check behind them, thereby not investing any money on the turn card. You've now paid only $6 on the flop and nothing on the turn, for a total of $6.

You see that by raising on the flop, you've saved $3 you would have spent if you'd just called on the flop and on the turn. You should learn to execute this valuable tactic well, because this situation arises often in hold 'em games. If this tactic works for you only twice in an hour, you'll have saved one big bet per hour, which is quite a lot. Professional poker players feel that they are doing quite well if they can win just one to two big bets per hour, so you can see how learning a tactic worth one big bet per hour is so valuable.
Raising to get a free card works best on the flop, because the bet doubles on the next card. If you've raised before the flop, however, the other players will sometimes all check to you on the flop. You can then also check, and you all get to see the turn card for free. This happens less often but it's worth keeping in mind.

When you raise on the flop hoping to get a free card, it will usually be because you have one of two types of hands:

• Poker – Raising To Bluff Or To Semi-bluff (0)
• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand Part2 (0)
• Raising To Get Value From Your Poker Hand (0)