Sometimes poker players are afraid to raise ‘less they have they have the cajones.
Instead of raising, they prefer to call and “control the pot” with hands that may be beaten.
But know this, a raise can actually save you more money than calling and controlling the pot when you have a big hand.
Let’s say I’ve got 9, 10 of hearts in middle position, and I decide to limp. I’m playing .25/.50
An aggressive player raises a pretty standard 3xs in the big blind. I decide to call.
We’ve got three players to the flop, and it comes 10 of spades, 9 of spades and 8 of diamonds.
Well, I’ve got top two pair, a great hand. But I’ve also got a hand that obviously can be beaten. The Big Blind bets half the pot, $2.75, and it’s up to me.
Now I could call to control the pot size. But I think that I’m going to raise instead.
My reason is obvious: There are so many draws out there, and I want to protect my good hand.
Though, I’m raising for another, more important reason.
I am not raising to get more money in the pot. I’m raising to see whether I’m beat.
When you think you might be beat, it’s one hundred times better to find out by raising on the flop, when the pot’s still small and the raise won’t cost you a lot.
If you wait until the turn to raise, you might commit yourself to the hand, where a raise will be much more expensive. By raising to $7, I’m not committing myself at all.
That raise is not quite 3xs his bet, but it is more than a min-raise, and it shows that I mean business, jack.
Not only does the third player call my raise (two bets cold), the Big Blind raises again, this time half his stack, which means that he is willing to commit to the hand.
This is an easy fold, and the reason is because of the strength I’ve showed with my raise. I raised and another player called that raise, yet that didn’t scare him. If that is not a show of nuts, I cannot say what is.
It’s conceivable too, that he could have J-10. I wouldn’t raise with that hand most of the time, especially not in a blind where I’ll be out of position for the entire hand, but we are shorthanded and he is aggressive.
Because my show of strength just made HIM show more strength, I’d fold even if there wasn’t another player in the hand.
I fold, the other player calls, and the Big Blind has us both beat when he flashes J-10 for the nuts. The third player, incidentally, had Ace of spades and King of spades, but his flush draw didn’t get there.
The reason I could get away from that strong hand so easily, even against an aggressive player, is because of my small raise on the flop. My strength didn’t scare him away, and when he showed even more strength in return, that was all that I needed to know that I was beat.
If I just call on the flop, I have no idea where I’m at going into the turn and probably should call a good bet, which would cost me the same amount of money as as a small raise on the flop.
The raise saves me money, though, and I end the night a winner.
