There are many ways that you can play Texas hold em to win. Some are very straightforward and some are very complex. Some are effective if you are familiar with the game while others are not effective unless you are a champion at the tables you are playing on.
In this first article in the “How to Play Poker” series, we will cover a method for playing in a legal manner while at the same time killing your stack, so you will know what to do when you get those monster cards. This method is one that many people like to use for gaming purposes.
It is called the “Check raise”.
It is an easy method of playing poker that can be quite fun if you engage in it often. What this method does is to check the flop of any given hand. If there is a bet and a raise, you can not match the bet or raise it. You must pass check and hope that your hand remains little better than the flop. You may want to do this several times until you have no other choice but to match the bet or raise.
This can be done even if you have not hit the flop. If you have “mega88” cards, you can check to see the flop. Then, if you hit the flop, you can check again, and if you still do not hit, you can bet again. This will keep you playing even when you have no hand and your bet is likely to increase in the direction of yourlessness, thus desperate times. As an example, you are holding J-10 in middle position. There is a bet and a raise and you have nothing, then you can check and hope you still hit with your next hand, thus induce a bet and a raise.
If you do make your hand, you can either bet strong or the nuts. An example would be, you have pocket 8’s. The flop is Q-8-4. You will make a bet strong, probably around half the pot. If you have strong cards, especially clubs, you can make a really big bet and probably next card would make you the best. Here, if you have no flush draw, no pair, and no over cards, you can call a strong bet instead of the nuts.
An Example of the drawbacks of the Check Raise
You see, the Check Raise, although it is an easy play, can be dangerous. Any time that you check in front of your opponent, he can possibly make a move on you later or may even trap you in a game of trapping. As a rule of thumb,
“If you are not willing to raise, check, if you are not willing to call, call weak hands, and to raise and call strong hands, then you will be a loser.”
This is not to say that you will never raise on a hand. You may do so when all other efforts to gain the pot have been ineffective. To use the Check Raise, you must see the flop. If you do not get cards, you can either bet strong or give up.
The Practical Implications
The Practical Implications of the Check Raise
You can apply the check raise in a variety of situations. The first situation is when you want to appear strong when you are strong and you are playing against weak opponents. If you are strong, you can check in front of the strong player to induce a bet out of him.
This is also useful when you are weak and you want to show your weakness. When you weak, you can appear strong when you bet out to induce the other players to bet out as well.
When you are strong and appear weak, you are actually getting all the advantage of the strong player. You are able to check in front of the strong ones and induce them to bet when you have strong hands. weak hands, you will only check when you have more than 50% of winning the hand.
When other players play back at you, you will either choose to bet or fold when you have very good hands. If they are betting, they may scare you into folding by betting out. This will cost you your bet.
This bluff is also useful in tournaments. You can easily scare your way into losing a tournament without losing all your chips. You can also, in many poker games, use this bluff to get players to increase their bets when you have a monster hand.
This is Also Similar to the Reverse Implation
Since you want your opponents to think you are weak when strong, you can use the check raise to your advantage. Here, you shouldn’t have to make the decision. Think about your opponents whilst making this decision.
Now, you have to think whether the opponents will bet or not at the flop.