- When to Raise or Fold: Learn when to CHECK, CALL, BET, RAISE or FOLD
- The most difficult thing to know as a beginner starting to play poker is when to check, raise or fold the cards. Placing the bets is a language on its own, a two-way communication;
- To check is to say that you don't have anything and need more cards to fulfil your wanted combination.
- To call is telling that you are really hoping for one more last card to fulfil your wanted combination.
- This is a player who is very weak but may get a lot stronger next if the wanted combination comes true.
- To be the first to bet means that you believe you stand a very good chance of winning this hand.
- To raise means that you have got your wanted combination and that you believe that you will win this hand.
- This is a player who sees him or herself in a very good position.
- As in the real life it is fully possible to lie in Poker as by words;
- If you have got 2 kings on your hand and you decide to limp in to see the flop, not to reveal the true strength of your hand, and the flop comes up with 2 kings too, you will know for sure that you will win no matter what. You will also know that if you raise you may make many of the other players go fold. So you decide just to check and call until the last card is on the table. At this moment someone else might have got a pair or so, and you may find that this player starts placing bets against you. The last bets are worth a lot more than during the first two rounds, so in this case you surely will gain more money than to raise from the beginning and see everyone else go fold.
- On the other hand, if you have got nothing at all you may raise to pretend that you have the greatest kind of a hand. This will only work out when it is done at the very correct moment, and that there is no other players sitting with some quite good cards on hand. The very best effect of this kind of an action is when the pot is very small and when you have created a very obvious image of a very tight player.
- The normal and correct way of playing is to be extremely tight and aggressive. What this means is that you will have to sit and wait and wait to get the right kind of cards while you are at the very right position.
- At this moment you act like a sledgehammer and raise until it is very obvious, either from the flop itself or from being raised or called by another tight player, or a combination of the two, that your cards probably will not win. At this moment, depending on the situation, you either fold or only check or call.
- If another player is re-raising upon you I'd suggest you fold unless you are absolutely sure that your own cards probably will be better than the opponents'.
- When I see a flop I first of all look for a good straight option, mostly because that's the hardest one to see. If there's a pair on the table I do know that there might be two pairs, 3 of a kind or a full house coming up. The 4 of a kind option does happen at times, but this is so seldom that I don't see it as a reason to consider it. The times I'll lose to 4 of a kind after a betting round is very few compared to all the good pots won that same way.
- If I'm not sitting with two pairs with a top pair on hand, or a full house with the three cards as the highest pair on the table, then I'll be extremely careful about the way I play my hand.
- If there's 2 suited cards on the table I will always know that another suited card quite often will end up in a flush for another player. In this case I will never raise, and in this situation, if another player suddenly starts raising, I will no doubt fold at once!
- At the same time, as soon as the other players figure this out they might start raising against you like mad no matter what just to make you fold, right?
- Yes, and here is where the real difference in between the good and bad players comes in, because the good players know when people start thinking and acting against them, and then they start changing their playing style to adjust to this situation.
- When sitting as the last one to place the blinds, start raising some bets with nothing on hand and make the rest believe that you now have picked up a good hand again. Before the others manage to discovered your new move, a few more betting rounds will have gone past.
- At a later moment you might have got a winning hand again, and then such a few previous raises could pay you off even better than if not!
- The time to adjust your way of playing is something you will have to think of continuously during a game of poker.
- The first thing you will have to know is whom you are up against. If you have got players placed after you who have not yet placed their blinds, and often will raise, you are in a very bad situation. To be placed right after such kind of a player is 10 times better than to be sitting right before them! If you have such loose players after you, you will have to play as tight as possible to know that you can match both their raises and their cards at the moment you join in. When you go in though, you will know that your cards have an outstanding good chance of beating this player, and it will be a better payout than normal in this pot. This payout will help you paying a lot more blinds while patiently waiting for your next good chance. You will never know though, when you start joining in with your hand up against a lose player, whether your own hand is the better one or not. This is because these guys most often will raise like mad no matter what they've got themselves.
- When you are on a table with very many tight players you will have to do just the opposite thing.
- If you are on a table where players fold more often than they play, you should play just a little bit more loose (to play slightly more cards in an earlier position than you normally would do) and be very aggressive (to place your bets and to raise) when you first go in. But be very careful about what the cards on the table are like - If such a tight player doesn't fold, but maybe just call, it could be very, very risky to keep on betting. I would just check, or give up and fold if raised, or rarely with good cards call all the way out in such a situation.
- When sitting down at a table, always start playing very carefully, save your money, and wait until you have got some very good cards on hand. After a while you will probably have seen who is betting what way compared to the kind of cards which are the winning hands, and you will have a fairly good idea about who is raising with a very good starting hand or not.
- What you always have to be very careful about is to raise with a full straight. First of all; is there a flush option on the table? Is there a pair which could be the base of a full house? And finally, but not least - If you have not got the possible one or two top cards of the straight, how can you know there is not somebody else who has? Do remember this; In a straight option where three cards of the 9 to A are on the table, almost always someone will have one or two of the top cards on hand. Maybe the best you can hope for is a shared pot? This will not be a loss, but it is also not a very good pay-out compared to the bets you so far have been placing. Be very careful playing this hand if you do not have the only two possible top cards yourself!
- The way I see it, the best chance to know that you have the winning cards is when you've got a combination of the highest possible cards. A flush with an Ace on top is a very good example of this, and be very careful raising with a flush without the highest possible card on top! Many players are playing any flush option, even though this way of doing it normally will not pay out in the long run due to the costs of the times you don't manage to win compared to the income in the times you will win with such a hand. Another example of different kinds of hands can be seen on the image below.
- Let's say that you are holding 9 9 on your hand. This would have been a full house made out of the 3 highest possible cards. As long as other people are willing to place their bets you'll raise like a mad man!
- Another player who has got a hand of 9 5 would also have a full house, but in this situation it surely would be the losers hand. He would probably bet like a mad man too though.
- A third player could hold a K 7 on hand, there would be a full straight. He would bet like a mad man!
- The next player hold a 10 7 on hand. He would also have a straight, a higher one than the player above.
- But besides all this you have a full house at the top position, and are sure to win as long as nobody is sitting with a pair of 5's on hand! This option is too rare to even consider in such a situation.
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More information:
PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE
POSITION, POSITION, POSITION
THE BETTING STYLE OF OTHER PLAYERS
THE PLAYING STYLE OF OTHER PLAYERS
THE AMOUNT OF MONEY IN THE POT
YOUR OWN STARTING HAND
THE FLOP
THE TURN AND RIVER
When to CHECK, CALL, BET, RAISE or FOLD
Where to play and why
What rooms to start at
How to get your money
The Final Note
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