Check-raising is a tactic that you won’t use much in an average, low limit game. It’s usually more profitable for you to stick to a solid, straightforward way of playing, especially when you’re a beginner. When the other players at the table are, on average, better than you, any attempt to get fancy will often backfire. Plus, you won’t always be able to count on someone else’s betting if you check with the intention of raising.
You can, however, put yourself in a position where you’ll have the best chance of pulling off a successful check-raise. I’m going to give you four similar, but separate, exercises to perform to teach you how to check-raise successfully.

You are to perform each of these exercises only when you are in early position and there are four or more players left to act behind you. You may decide for yourself what constitutes early position. You are to perform only one of the exercises for each time you play a regular-length session in your usual game. Your results will be easier to interpret if you do not mix these exercises together during the same playing session.

Again, only when you are in early position and there are four or more players to act behind you, you can try one of the following:

1. Try for a check-raise on the flop when you believe you’ve flopped the best hand. I would say that for a hand to qualify as the best hand, it should be no worse than top pair with top kicker or a pocket overpair to the flop. Top two pair, a set, and any completed hand obviously all qualify as the best hand.

Do this for an entire playing session, and try to estimate how much more money you won by check-raising. When you get home and you’re completing your notes for the game, convert that amount into big bets per hour and mention it in your notes.

2. Try for a check-raise on the turn, observing the same criteria as you used on the flop, in Exercise 1. Again, estimate your extra win, convert it into big bets per hour, and add it to your notes.

3. Try for a check-raise on the flop, but only when you flop the nut four-flush draw, an open-end straight or what you believe is the probable best hand. When you’re in one of the blinds, you’ll often have nonstandard cards and be lucky enough to flop an unusual two pair or better. These hands count as probable best hands. Estimate your extra win, convert it to big bets per hour, and write it in your notes.

4. Follow the same guidelines as those in Exercise 3, but this time practice them on the turn instead of on the flop. Estimate your extra win, convert it to big bets per hour, and make it part of your notes. online betting

If the only time you ever attempted to check-raise in the future was when you were in one of the four situations described above, you’d have very good results and your hourly rate would probably increase substantially. As you gain experience and become a more accomplished hold ‘em player, you can loosen up your check-raising requirements a little. Don’t be too loose, though; it doesn’t pay to play fancy. Stick with what you know best. Good luck.

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9. Don't forget that you can check-raise when you're on a draw. If you have the nut four-flush draw or an open-end straight draw, you can check-raise if you're getting the right odds. Trapping five or more players for an extra bet when you have one of these hands is a great move. It will show a big profit in the long run and have a hugely positive impact on your hourly rate.

10. If you have a set or a completed hand, you can obviously beat one big pair or two pair. If a card comes on the end that could possibly make the other players two pair, especially if it's an ace, I'd definitely go for the check-raise.

For example, if you hold 1049*, the board is JV843474, and you get the A* on the river, another player could very possibly have made aces and jacks or aces and 8s. He could even be holding A*K* and have made top pair with top kicker. Why don't you occasionally give another player a chance to bet in this situation? Check, so he'll bet. When he does, raise him.

Be a little more careful if the river card is a king. If you play mostly high cards, as I recommend, you'll often be in a position where a king on the river could make someone else a straight. If you hold 1049*, and the board is QVJ4347*, a king on the river will make you a straight, but anyone holding Al 0 will beat you.

Answer to Test Your Knowledge Question #8
With a flop of Q47*2V, there's no straight or flush draw out there. So the player check-raising you must have a hand worth betting and protecting. The question is, does he have a good hand and is therefore check-raising to get extra value from it, or does he have a hand that's good on the flop, but vulnerable?

If he's in early position, he's probably holding good cards, like AVQV, and betting for value. If he's in late position, he might have something like Q410*, and be hoping to win the hand right there. He might also be holding 7*74 or 242* in late position and be betting for value. It helps to know your players. In any event, he's not bluffing and he's not on a draw.

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If the flop is Q47^2V, and someone check-raises to make you fold, what do you think he probably has? If he wants you to call the two bets, what do you think he has? Answer at the end of the chapter.

3. If you are check-raised on the flop, let the hand go if you've already got one bet in and you think you're beat. Too many players will automatically go ahead and call that extra bet without thinking about it. Resist the temptation to go on automatic pilot just because you want to see one more card. Players who can fold in this situation will plug a major leak in their game and add substantially to their hourly rate.

4. Pay attention when there's a raise before the flop. After the flop, you may want to remember exactly where that player is sitting in relation to you. You may need him to help you with a check-raise. After the flop, no one at the table, including the dealer, is allowed to say who raised earlier.

5. If you're going to check-raise, you might think that you need a 50-50 chance that someone else will bet when you check. You actually need a much better chance than that. You need to factor in the possibility that you will be reraised, and you also need to allow for those times that you check-raise and lose the hand. If you're a beginning player, I recommend that you hold yourself to a standard of "virtually certain" that there'll be a bet if you check.

6. When you're in late position or on the button against a lot of players, and everyone has checked to you, be aware that someone out there is probably waiting to check-raise you. The more players there are in the hand, the less likely it is that they all have checking hands.

7. A check-raise on the turn means something different than a check-raise before the flop or on the flop. A player who allows you to call one bet and then check-raises you on the turn knows that you need to see only one more card to make your hand and that, in all probability, you'll call. That player, therefore, always has a great hand. Learn to fold more often in this spot.

8. If you're check-raised and you don't know what to do, remember that you do know two things: you know what your hand is, and you know that the other player's hand is either better or worse than yours. All you have to do is decide whether he could be playing this way with a hand worse than yours.

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Check-raising is not a big part of the game. When you're in first position with a good hand, and you're genuinely undecided between betting for value and trying for a check-raise, you should usually go ahead and bet. Don't try to get fancy. You'll make the most money just by playing your hand in a straightforward manner. Bet when strong, check when weak.

That said, check-raising can be useful in certain situations, so it's important to know how this tactic works. Check-raising is designed to do one of two things:

1. Force players to fold if they don't want to call two or more bets cold.
2. Trap players for an extra bet after they have already called a bet.

To visualize how check-raising works, try a simple exercise. Imagine that there are four players in a game and you're in the big blind. The small blind folded, so you're Player #1, the player on your left is Player #2, the player across from you is Player #3, and the player on your right, and on the button, is Player #4. Because of the pre-flop action, you happen to know that Player #3 has a good hand and will bet or raise on the flop. The focus of this exercise, though, is Player #2.

When the flop comes, you can act in one of two ways:

1. You bet, and Player #2 calls. When Player #3 raises, everyone calls, including Player #2. Player #2 has now called two bets.

2. You check. Player #2 also checks and Player #3 bets. When the action gets back to you, you raise (you just check-raised) and Player #2, faced with the prospect of calling two bets cold, probably folds.

With your check-raise, you've just knocked out an opponent who probably had a mediocre hand and didn't want to call two bets at once.

Here's a list of points to keep in mind when you're thinking about check-raising:
1. Let your big, overall objective in the hand be your guide. Do you want players to fold, or do you want them in the hand so you can trap them for extra bets?

2. If someone check-raises you, and it's unexpected, pause and take a moment to think about what it might mean. Does the other player want you to call two bets cold, or is he worried that you'll call one bet and then another if he just bets?

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The next time you play in your usual game, keep track of your play on the turn. Note whether you call or fold and whether your play turns out to be the right move. Count only those times when there's a bet on the turn and the winner (even if it's you) shows his hand on the river. Hands which don't go to the river, hands in which the winner is not called on the river, and hands in which everyone checks on the turn should not be part of this survey.
You should have four categories of entries in your notes:

1. You folded and it was the right decision (FY).
2. You folded and it was the wrong decision (FN).
3. You called and it was the right decision (CY).
4. You called and it was the wrong decision (CN).

You can prepare ahead of time by making the FY, FN, CY, and CN entries in your notebook, so you'll only have to make a mark under the right entry after each hand is over. If you have space and time, and can do it without drawing undue attention to yourself at the table, record why you made the wrong decision when you do. Analyze your mistakes-do you call or fold too often?-and if you can, correct them. Good luck.

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If you're drawing to a straight or a flush, and you make the hand on the turn, you should usually bet it right out into the players you were formerly checking to. Worried that you'll be giving away your hand? You are. That's not a problem, though.

The later it is in the hand, the more important it is that you win the pot right there. You don't need to disguise your hand anymore. The other players will either have the right odds to chase you down, or they won't. Make them pay no matter what they have.

Realize that if you check on the turn, especially if everyone else has already checked to you, you're giving your opponents not one, but two free cards. They get to check with you on the turn, and they get to see the river card without putting any more money in the pot. Again, if you can think of any good reason at all to bet on the turn, you should do so. Free cards are something that your opponents are supposed to give you, not something you give them.

An easy way to understand the above advice is to realize that you're going to check and call when you have outs and bet when you don't. A flush draw is a hand that has outs, so you should usually check and call. When you make the flush, you no longer have any more outs, and now you should be betting. Same way with a straight draw.

The above advice notwithstanding, the turn represents an excellent opportunity for you to vary your play. A great deal of the time, you'll be folding on the turn. It's a common play, and there's certainly no disgrace in folding. Even better is to check, act like you're going to fold, and then instead raise when the action gets back around to you.

If you can make that check-raise play as often as one-third of the time you have a playable hand, you'll be training your opponents to check behind you when you check, because they fear a check-raise. Then, those times when you check with a bad hand, you'll often get a free card, because everyone will also check, thinking they're depriving you of a chance to check-raise.

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Decisions made when you see the turn card are often routine and automatic. By this point, you'll have one of three types of hands:

1. Weak pairs, busted draws, and any hand that's obviously beat and doesn't have the right odds to play.

2. The probable best hand (could be an overpair, top pair with top kicker, a set or a completed hand).

3. A draw to the probable best hand with the right odds to continue (could be an open-end straight draw or a nut flush draw).

The way to play any of these hands is fairly straightforward. If you have a lousy hand, fold if there's a bet and wait for the next hand. If you have the probable best hand, then you should bet to get value from your hand and eliminate players. If you have a draw to the probable best hand, you'll usually check and call.

Because the bets double on the turn, a bet or a raise will force out the weaker hands, especially if the pot is small and they're not getting the right odds to call. The turn is when the undecided hands will fold rather than call a big bet. If you're equally undecided between betting or checking, you should usually opt for the bet. Betting greatly increases the chance you'll win the hand; often you'll do so right there on the turn.

If you already have a good hand on the turn, one with which you'd definitely call a bet, you should occasionally consider raising, even though it's not a bona fide raising hand. Since you'll probably have to put one big bet in on the turn and another one in on the river, sometime you can manage to put them both in at once on the turn. This play turns out to be especially profitable if your hand improves on the river. You've gotten in an extra bet with a winning hand and made the second-best hands pay more to try to beat you.

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