Check-raising.

Lately I've been thinking about the idea of check-raising, and whether or not it's the right thing to do in certain situations. Here is what I decided:

(I'm completely ignoring the idea of check-raising on a bluff here. I think that's another discussion entirely.)


My conditions for check-raising for value:

1.) There is a significant chance an opponent will outdraw you.

2.) You are confident a player after you will bet.

3.) You are confident you have the best hand.

Reason 1.) seems peculiar, but I'll explain my reasoning. Check-raising is such a strong play, that a lot of players will fold very strong hands in the face of such a bet. You really only want this to occur when you think there is a significant chance that an opponent may outdraw you, since otherwise you're losing out on a betting round and an additional opportunity to extract value from an opponent. However, when draws are present, you want to squeeze as much as possible out of your opponents in a single betting round, and the way to do this is to check-raise.

Reasons 2.) and 3.) are fairly self-evident. Obviously it makes very little sense to attempt a check-raise when there's a good chance you may lose a round of betting. And clearly you don't want to make the mistake of investing an enormous amount in a pot where you may be beaten (unless you want your opponent to fold, of course, but here I'm stipulating that the hand is being played for value), so 3.) is pretty obvious also.

I've found that betting the flop, then check raising the turn = best way to maximize profit with the best hand. It seems that people often think you are bluffing and they will usually call me with any type of draw, or re-raise me with TPTK. It seems that once you show strength people think that you are always bluffing. It's especially been helpful with my hands that I hit a set on. It seems to always bring The Sheriff out in people.

Yeah, especially when I think there's a strong chance my opponent has an overpair, I like to bet small, call the raise, then check-raise the size of the pot on the turn. There's even a chance that an opponent will feel too pot-committed to fold by that point.

I very seldom check-raise any more becasue it seems to get me in alot of trouble. I prefer to lead out.