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Article has been taken from PokeriInfo website with their permission.
Check-raising is used for two purposes:
| * Building up the pot with a very strong hand. You can not raise in early position. With a very strong hand, you must check first and when someone has bet, bang the raise on the table. |
* Driving out other players. With a strong pair, two pair, or trips, the winning strategy is to destroy the pot odds for draws. |
When check-raising you have to be sure that someone will bet. If there is a preflop raiser, this player will usually bet routinely on the flop, too. Furthermore, if the flop brings a big card - especially an A - it is very probable that it fits someone's pocket hand and he will bet.
The bettor's position is important, too. If you want to get more money into the pot, the bettor must sit directly next to you so that the opponents have to call one bet two times and don't fold. Provided, of course, that the bettor won't reraise. If you intend to force players out, the bettor must sit in last position (bet directly before you) so that you get the raise immediately after him and the opponents should pay two bets at the same time, don't get correct pot odds, and have to fold.
Check-raising provides the same kind of benefits as semi-bluffing. The opponents are often afraid of a new check-raise on the next betting round, avoid betting, and give a free card. On the other hand, if somebody bets despite the check-raise earlier, he is signaling a strong hand. Check-raising can also help in building one's image. In the future, the opponents can never be perfectly sure, what a check really means. Creating uncertainty plays a crucial role in winning poker strategy.
Good Opportunities
Check-raising can kick out draws both on the flop and the turn. If the goal is to build up the pot, it can be profitable to wait for the turn until the bets double. On the other hand, there is no reason to wait until the river, because one can no longer take advantage of the extra benefits of check-raising (e.g. take a free card). Furthermore, draws will pay on the turn, but if failed, not on the river.
Check-raising is a strong play for well-hidden hands like small sets. Small, because someone has to bet and therefore the cards making a pair with the highest card on the board have to be out. If your pocket pair makes a set with the highest card on the board, bet yourself, because nobody else would, except if there was a raise before the flop with a high pair or two high cards.
Check-raising is usually not recommended if the river card gives you a flush or a straight. The risk is that nobody will bet or if bet, will not pay your raise. It is better to bet and hope that the pot odds demand that someone call. Although, in case of a tiny pot, it may be wiser to check and wish somebody will try a bluff, since if you bet, the pot might not be worth a call.
Although check-raising can be a bluff or a semi-bluff, there is generally a strong hand behind it, setting up a classic trap. If the pot odds require calling a single bet before the raise, they allow the raise to be called, too. Because the pot is huge now, the odds will usually allow calling one bet on the next round also and possibly still one more. This bill is expensive. Therefore, the winning strategy is to fold average hands, if they can't improve to very strong combinations. Suppose you have A-T in the pocket and the flop is A-5-7. A check-raiser usually has at least 2 pair, probably a set. The kicker problem, the small potential to improve, and the risk of losing five small bets more favor folding. The savings are worth as much as the earnings. |
