Smart Poker Raises

Why do you raise when you play poker? If you are playing Texas Holdem or another poker variety you had better be asking yourself this question. And you better know the answer. When you raise you want to be doing so for a specific purpose.

Let’s look at Texas Holdem for some examples. When you get a strong hand you want to raise before the flop. You either want to narrow the field to just a caller or two or win the hand right there. If you have the best two starting hands of aces or kings you don’t want a ton of callers because you then get too many drawing hands that can beat you.

After the flop in Texas Holdem you raise to try and win the pot, protect your hand or build the pot. Most of the time you want to make your raises half the pot or the full pot size. This raise is an attempt to win the pot immediately or force those with you in the hand to pay a price to continue.

On the turn you want to make bets large enough to drive other players out if you don’t have the best hand or you want to continue to build the pot if you have the nuts.

On the river you are at the point where you are raising the pot to either bluff someone off their hand or to get more money into the pot so someone will call your winning hand.

When you make raises in poker always remember to ask yourself why you are raising before you make your bet.