CHECK-RAISE POKER

The check-raise in poker is considered an ultra agressive poker move. The master of modern day check raising must be Phil Ivey. Watch the short video at the bottom of this page. It is awesome and will leave you baffled at the level of these guys. For check-raise moves, Ive got to say this must be one of the best ive seen.

CHEEKY CHECK-RAISE POKER

Check raising is part of the game of poker. It adds strategy to the game. When you are check-raised, you think twice about what your next move is going to be. It is a common deceptive play in which a player checks early in a betting round, hoping someone else will open. The player who checked then raises in the same round.So get amongst it and learn to check raise effectively.

You are holding the nuts after the flop and first to play. You know the mood of the table and it is an aggressive one. You know someone is going to fire in some kind of bet so you decide to check. One player raises, two fold and another two call. The pot is looking good and it's back to you. Throw in a big bet. Now your opponents know you either have a big hand or trying to steal the sizable pot. The original raiser calls because he has a decent hand and feels he has put too much into the pot to drop out now. The other two grudgingly fold.

You now have the original raiser at your mercy. He is going to pay a heavy price to see what you have and that's exactly what you wanted. He has become pot committed.It was your timely check raise that put the original raiser on tilt. He is not thinking clearly and is only thinking of the size of the pot. Now you can cash in on his failure to admit defeat.

This might be done, for example, when the first player believes that an opponent has an inferior hand and will not call a direct bet, but that he may attempt to bluff, allowing the first player to win more money than he would by betting straightforwardly. The key point is that if no one else is keen to bet, then the most a player can raise (in a limit game) by is one single bet. If someone else bets first, he can raise, therefore increasing the value of the pot by two bets. In a no-limit game, there is no restriction to the size of one's bet and a check-raise is likely to be much larger than the second player's bet. Of course, if no other player chooses to open, the betting will be checked around and the play will fail.

While it can be an important part of one's poker strategy, this play is not allowed in some home games and certain small-stakes casino games. It is also frequently not allowed in the game of California lowball.

Check-raises can also be used as an intimidation technique over the course of a game; a player who has frequently been check-raised may be less likely to attempt to steal the pot.

Not all players agree that a check-raise is an especially effective play, however. In Super System, poker legend Doyle Brunson claims to check-raise very rarely; he insists that it is clearly more profitable to simply bet a quality hand, regardless if the opponent will try to bluff or not. His reasoning for this is for twofold: checking gives other players the chance to see free cards, which may improve their hand (to better than yours), and check-raising also makes it obvious to other players that you may have a very strong hand. This second side-effect, however, can potentially be used as a strong bluff technique. for example if you check simply because you want to see a cheap card but it comes back around to you with an unconvincing raise. You might be waiting on a card to make a hand.Why not throw in a re-raise.

Option 1 - Your opponents fold and you win the pot there and then.

Option 2 - You get called but you still have a chance to make your hand.

Option 3 - The other guy re-raises. Its probably time to fold.