Poker Pays My Bills

Raising to try to get information about your opponent’s hand is very rarely the best way to find out where you stand. Using chips (paying money) to learn about your opponent’s hand is expensive in the long run, and is unnecessary for getting a read on your opponents hand strength, especially when you have position on your opponent.

Let’s say you and one opponent see the turn and you are last to act. You have a medium-strength made hand (with little chance of improving) and your opponent bets into you. You think he may have a strong made hand, but that there is also a chance he bluffing or semi-bluffing. You are not sure whether you are ahead right now but your hand is too good to fold just yet.

You feel that while you are strong enough to call this bet, you probably won’t want to call another big bet on the river because you are not sure if you have the best hand. You also fear that if your opponent is bluffing, he may force you to lay down the best hand on the river by making another big bet. In order to avoid a tough river decision, many players decide to raise here “to see where they stand.”

The reality is that you do not need to raise here to find out if your hand is good. A better play here is to just call and see what your opponent does on the river. Your opponent’s action on the river will give you even more information about the strength of his hand. This way you get to use your position (instead of your money) to help you gain the information you need.

On the river, a variety of things can happen. Your opponent may check a better hand, or may bet a small amount (perhaps less than you would have raised on the previous round). Or he might make a strong bet that indicates genuine strength. Pay attention to the timing and size of the river bet. Consider your opponent, his tendencies and playing style. How aggressive is he? What hands have you seen him show down and how did he play them? What does he think you have given how you played your hand? If he thinks you are strong and he bets regardless, he is most likely even stronger and you can fold confidently. If you appeared weak throughout the hand and he bets really strong, there is a greater chance he trying to push you off your hand. (After all, if he thinks you are weak then he can’t expect you to call a big bet, so his bet is less likely to be a value bet and more likely to be a bluff.)

Now let’s say you are in a similar situation where you and one opponent see the turn and you are last to act. Again you have a medium-strength made hand (with little chance of improving) and your opponent bets into you, but this time you think that you are more likely to be ahead. If you think you are likely to be ahead, it is often correct to use a min-raise “free-showdown” play. This play is executed by minimum-raising your opponent’s turn bet with the intention of:

1. checking behind on the river if he calls. (This is technically more of a “cheap” showdown play than a “free” one because of the cost of the turn raise.)

2. folding if he re-raises you. (Most players will not 3-bet a turn raise without a very strong hand.

This play allows you to price your hand on the turn to avoid facing a potentially larger (and harder to call) river bet. It also nearly eliminated the risk of you folding the best hand on the river, because your opponent will be far less likely to bluff the river when you have shown such strength on the turn. After all, turn raises are scary because many players raise the turn with monster hands. Another benefit of this play is that you protect your hand and charge draws the all times you are ahead.

Occasionally, your opponent may call your turn raise and still bet the river. If his river bet is tiny, you should probably call because he may be making a blocking bet to keep you from making a larger bet. If his river bet is strong however, you should probably fold. Remember that a turn raise is strong and you opponent is less likely to be bluffing into an opponent who has shown strength.
Overall, raising for information is a risky play, and should only be used when you think it is more likely your hand is best.

November 15th, 2009 Magdalena posted in No-Limit Cash Game Strategy