Every time there's a bet made to you in a
hand of poker, you have three choices - call, raise or fold. Sociable
players who are in it for the fun of gambling tend to call way too much.
If you're in it to win, you should usually be folding and sometimes raising
– but calling only now and then. Here's why.
Suppose you're playing $10/$20 limit Hold'em and you're
seated in the middle of the table with an unsuited Q/J in the pocket.
The blinds have their money in and the next three players have all folded.
It's $10 to call, $20 to raise, or you can fold. What's your play?
Passive, sociable players would say to call because you
don't have a bad hand. But competitive, winning players know if you're
going to play this hand from this spot, you should raise. Why?
It's because between you and the two blinds, you probably
have the best hand so far and there there's $15 in the pot for the taking.
Your raise will also tend to discourage players yet to act from paying
two bets to see the flop. One of them might even throw away a bad Ace
hand like A/7 or something. And if the blinds want to play with you, let
them pay for it. If they don't want to gamble, you make a quick few bucks.
Now let's play that same hand over again, this time with
a little different twist. Let's say only the first player after the blinds
folds, and the second player raises before you. Now what's your move?
You should fold.
Why, when you had a good enough hand to raise before?
That's because before, up to your point in the betting rotation, nobody
seemed to have anything much. So your Q/J was actually looking pretty
good. But now that a player in an earlier seat than you has raised, your
Q/J isn't so good anymore.
These two contrasting examples were intended to illustrate
that very often in poker, your hand may look good enough to launch an
offensive stand. But then, somebody else in a more disadvantageous position
raises first and suddenly, your hand isn't even worth a call. It happens
all the time.
In amateurish, low stakes poker, most players just call,
call, call. At the end of the hand, everybody turns over their cards and
the best hand takes the pot. Not much skill is used in these games –
it's a lot like showdown.
But in competitive poker for money, a chronic caller is
doomed to be a chronic loser. Why is that? It's because raising gives
you two ways to win – when they fold and when you make the winning
hand. If you just call, you can't win by making anybody fold. That's why
if you hold a hand that seems good enough to play, you should consider
raising. If you don't feel it's worth a raise, there's a fair chance you
shouldn't even be calling. When you play serious poker, you should be
folding, betting or raising most of the time. Calling should be done only
sparingly.
Raising can also be an effective way to gain information.
Suppose in Hold'em you've got Js/Jc in the hole, so you raise and the
flop comes down:
10d-5d-2d
If somebody bets the $10, he might have a flush, or he
might just have a pair of 10s. Raising it another $10 may get you your
answer. If he re-raises, you should probably fold right there, rather
than call two more $20 bets to see if he really has the flush.
Nevertheless, there are still some appropriate calling
situations in poker, and most occur when you have a "draw" to
a straight or a flush. In these situations, you don't have anything unless
you hit your hand, and if you do hit it, you'll probably beat everybody.
At a time like that, you want a lot of customers, so just calling along
will let you build a bigger pot cheaply.