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EXPERT VIEW - Check Raising All The Time Is Not Smart!
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15 March 2006
Online poker people, hear my plea. Do not check raise all the time, every time you have any sort of hand. I know a lot of you, especially younger folk who are convinced that playing no limit poker in your dorm room makes you sexy and cool, feel that check raising is a rush, and that trying to trap opponents is pure poker. However, check raising and trapping in general can only work if it is unpredictable, which means you cannot do it regularly and still expect it to be effective.
I want to make two separate points here.
1 - There are only certain hands and situations where a check raise is the right poker strategy to implement. If you play with a small pair in the face of heavy pre-flop action, and then you flop a set it is good to check-raise. The reason? Your hand is well concealed, and no one will suspect that you are about to fly over the top. Your trap will work, which is why you set it in the first place. You play poker to maximize profit, and in this case you ensure a big payoff if your hand holds up.
There are a lot more wrong situations out there, and online poker players love to check raise here all the time. These include: flopping top pair with a decent kicker, flopping two small pair with a bigger card on the board, flopping a nut draw. There are times when the latter play can work, but only if you have previously demonstrated a willingness to value bet hands. If you don`t even know what value betting means as a concept stop reading and find out. You need to be able to value bet a hand before you ever consider check raising a hand. It`s sort of like learning to crawl before you decide to run a sprint, or learning to paint a still life before you dabble in Abstract art.
2. - A check raise is far more valuable as a weapon when it confuses your opponents. If you check and then fold a couple of times you are ready to trap with a check raise. Similarly if you appear to be a straight up and down player who bets out when he has something you can then check raise and execute it well. But, if you always check and call the flop then check and raise the turn it won`t take long for a good player to acknowledge this and punish you. You won`t get paid off for your strong hands, and without that there is no way to succeed at poker.
My advice is simple: Don`t fall in love with one move in any game or sport. Vary your play, and stop trying to impress your opponents who couldn`t care less anyway. The check raise is the most overused play in online poker today.
Posted by: Marc Weinberg at 16:05
0 Comments
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