A check-raise is when you decide to check your hand in an un-raised pot when the action comes around to you, wait for your opponent to bet, and then come over the top and raise them. Essentially it can be boiled down to the idea that you are checking with the intention of raising your opponent’s bet.
This strategy is commonly used as a tactic to get another player to commit more chips to a pot and then immediately put a lot of pressure on them. Check-raising typically results in getting your opponent to fold as it conveys that you are holding a very strong hand, which is why this is a great move to use during a bluff rather than when you hold the nuts.
Don’t Check-Raise Your Strongest Hands
When you have the nuts, or a very good hand, the last thing you want to do is scare your opponent into folding. This is an extremely common misconception about check-raising, as many players believe they should check-raise their big hands on the turn or the river in order to build the pot. While this can work in scenarios where you are confident that your opponent also has a great (yet beaten) hand, a check-raise is more powerful as a bluff/semi-bluff tool.
In order for your check-raise to work in a bluff scenario there are a few key pieces of information that you need to evaluate.
First off, if you believe that your opponent holds a strong hand, you do not want to risk a check-raise bluff, as it is not a move you will be able to repeat on the next street, nor will you want to risk a standard bet. Instead, you want to be confident that the other player has a hand that they are willing to fold. Additionally, if you know that a particular player commonly bets out after being checked to, this is a situation where a check-raise can be introduced to push opponents that make a lot of continuation bets off their hands.
Focus on the Small Pots
On top of deciding when to attempt a check-raise, you will want to take a couple of other things into consideration. To protect yourself financially, you should really focus on making check-raises in small pots rather than large ones that could be costly if you get called and lose the hand. As for the size of the raise, it should be at least twice the amount of your opponent’s bet in order to get the reaction you are going for. Lastly, your own hand should be of at least marginal strength or have good draw potential. It won’t do you any good to check-raise with trash very often.
As with any new strategy, you should drop down one buy-in level in order to minimize your bankroll risk while you work on your new technique. Just think of it as working out your swing in the minors before stepping back up into the big leagues. It is also suggested that you read our article on how to slow-play big hands (Slow-Playing Big Hands – Intermediate), as combining these techniques together will make you a chip extracting force at any table.
Key Points
• Do not check-raise your strongest hands.
• Raise at least twice your opponent’s bet amount.
• Look to check-raise more often in small pots.
• Do not check-raise opponents that you feel have strong hands.
Chris
- Chris Laquinta is a magazine editor, content specialist and poker fanatic with 10+ years writing experience and over 1,500 published articles. Chris is a naitive of Southern California, where he spent his entire life learning gaming concepts and theories from relatives that had been former professional gamblers. He currently resides in Torrance, CA where he works as a professional content writer and part-time SNG professional.
