Re Raise Poker
The first thing that any beginner-level poker player needs to understand is the different actions of a poker game. The basic actions in a poker game include folding, checking and calling, betting, raising, re-raising, and check-raising, and a skilled poker player will use all of these different actions countless times throughout the course of a game, as knowing how to use each of the actions allows a player variability and lets him or her change up the pace and keep opponents on their toes.
Re: Poker & When to re raise? Well, as Daniel Negreanu says, 'Sometimes it's better to call and play on the river.' At that time, everyone played the re-raise and you could see up to 7 bets, was. Created by LawDude on August 5, 2009. A raise of a pot that has already been raised in the betting round. Also known as a 3-bet.
While the actions may seem simple enough, mastering them isn't. Many players who have played for years still don't fold often enough or check when they should raise. You can miss out on the chance for larger winnings if you raise right off the bat instead of holding out for a check-raise, and if you raise too often from certain positions, players will soon start to call your bluff. The best thing that you can do for yourself as a poker player is to learn how and when to employ each poker action-- and the best way to do that (after reading our strategy guides, of course) is to practice, practice, practice.
Folding
For some reason, many novice players consider folding a sign of weakness, which is likely part of the reason why they don't fold nearly often enough. Folding is a natural part of any poker game-- if you try to play all the cards that you're dealt, you'll end up losing your money pretty quickly. Instead, you want to focus on your good hands and not waste money on the bad, so if you have a hand or a position that isn't good, you're going to want to fold. If the stakes get too high and you're quite far from having the nut hand, you should fold before you get trapped. Folding just means that you're choosing to bow out of the action for the rest of the hand by tossing your cards in. When you fold, you don't show your cards (as it would give an advantage to anyone who has position on you).
Getting to a point where you can choose whether to fold or play your cards is essential-- in most online games, you only have about 10 seconds to choose. If you're sure that your opponent has a better hand than you do, you should probably fold. No matter how good your hand is, if you know that your opponent's hand will beat yours, fold and get out while you can.
Checking
When you check, you basically pass when other players haven't bid. This can happen either while you're the big blind, when you've already put in the minimum bid and everyone else has done the same or folded, or when you're playing another round and the other players have all checked. Checking is considered a pretty weak move, and some schools of poker thought will tell you that if you have a decent enough hand, you should consider raising instead, as it offers you some protection (by getting less-confident players to fold). This is completely dependent on the situation, however-- raising on a hand where everyone else has checked can leave you vulnerable to a check-raise and leave you pot committed with someone else holding the better hand. Likewise, you can use a check when you have a very strong hand and you're afraid of scaring off other players if you come out raising-- this is a tactic called the check-raise. The main reason that people check is so that they can see the next card for free-- especially if they're on a draw hand, where the value of their hand is dependent on whether or not the right card hits (e.g., missing a card for a straight or flush).
Calling
Calling is a lot like checking in that you're basically passing on an opportunity to bet, but the difference is that you check when no one has bet and you call when someone has. Like checking, calling generally represents weakness or, at the very least, that you're not completely sure of your hand. If an opponent raises and you're sure that you have a better hand, it's better to re-raise (even just a little) to get your opponent to commit more chips. If you re-raise and your opponent calls, then you make more money, and if your opponent folds, then you get the same amount that you would have if you'd just called (but if your opponent is pot-committed, he or she will probably not fold). If your opponent raises and you're not sure about your hand, it's better to fold. Calling is often used like checking-- to get a chance to see the next cards so that you can potentially make a draw or strengthen your hand.
Raising
There are two forms of betting in a game of poker (well, there are a lot of different kinds of bets, but they all come down to variations on these): raising and re-raising.
Something that a lot of novice players overlook is the amount of the bet, and a lot of online poker rooms and casinos only make it easier to miss the mark in this regard. There's a minimum amount that you can bet in any poker game, and this is often set as the default in poker rooms, but betting the minimum doesn't really do much: it doesn't offer a lot of protection (especially with smaller stakes), because other players are generally willing to call a small amount, and it doesn't make for a particularly powerful bluff, as it doesn't convey a lot of confidence. If you're trying to slowly draw money out of other players, this can be useful (if you have the nut hand and want to get as many players pot-committed as possible to increase your win, for instance), and raising the same small amount during every betting phase can confuse your opponents, but you just might cost yourself a potentially bigger win by being conservative.
There's a huge amount of literature devoted to the subject of well-executed raises, and there's a lot of debate about how much you should raise. A common consensus in Texas Hold'em seems to be that when you want to raise before the flop, raise 3-4 times the big blind if there are no callers before you.
Re-raising
When someone places a bet and you then place a higher bet, you've re-raised, a move that indicates that you either have a strong hand or that you're bluffing. Either way, it indicates to opponents that you want them to believe that you have a strong hand. If you think that your opponent is bluffing when he or she raises, and that you have the stronger hand, then a re-raise is in order-- either your opponent will bow out, letting you take the pot, or you can gain the pot through having the stronger hand. Either way, you win.
Just as raising presents a conundrum in terms of how much to bet, re-raising is challenging in the same way. Many sources agree that you should re-raise about three times the previous bet, plus any callers. If someone before you bets 300 and there are no callers, you would bet 900. If there was one caller, you would bet 1200 (900 + 300), if there were two callers, you'd bet 1500 (900 + 300 + 300), and so on.
Check-raising
Check-raising is an incredibly useful tactic that is employed in poker games all the time (especially games with heavy betting, like Texas Hold'em, Stud, and Omaha). When you check-raise, you check on a good hand (one that you could have safely raised on) and hope that someone who comes after you raises. Obviously, this only works if you have an early position. By checking, you imply that you have a weak hand, and other players are more confident about their own hands, which will often lead them to bid when they shouldn't. Once the other player has raised, you re-raise, which forces your opponent either to fold, which they probably won't, since they're already pot committed, or call with a hand that is probably weaker than yours. The check-raise offers players in early position the ability to slow play strong hands, which helps to even out the disadvantages of being in poor position.
On the face of things, a “reraise” in poker seems like nothing really special. You’ve raised, someone else raised and you raise again. It happens a fair amount in poker.
Under the surface, though, a reraise is a tool in your poker arsenal like just about everything else and conveys information to the rest of the table like just about everything else. Therefore, like everything else, you need to know when to use it, when to back off, and what message you’re telling the table when you use it.
Fortunately, I’ve put together a deep dive into this poker move. We’ll talk about what it is, why you want to use it, and when you don’t want to use it. This guide will also let you know what your opponent is thinking (or bluffing) when they decide to reraise.
It may not seem like the most exciting topic in the world, but trust me. After this, you will understand the action at the table better and, I believe, your play will improve accordingly.
What is a Reraise?
As far as poker terms go, which can often be very confusing, a reraise is exactly what it sounds like. A reraise is when you raise after someone else has already raised (either you or one of your opponents.) In other words, first, there has to have been a raise at some point prior to you getting the opportunity to bet. Then, when you get the chance to bet, you choose to raise again.
See. That’s not so hard at all.
Of course, there’s a little more to it than that, especially because reraising is not something that you will be able to do with every hand of poker. Also, there are two types of reraises we want to consider. One is when you raise, someone else raises, and then you raise again. It is the most aggressive bet that you can make in a reraise situation.
The other type of raise is when you raise someone else’s raise. It’s also aggressive, but not quite as aggressive as when you reraise yourself.
In general, the messages both types of reraise convey and the strategy around them are the same except by degree. Just keep in mind, when you reraise yourself you are doubling down on how excited you are about your own cards. That may matter.
What Message(s) Might It Convey to the Table?
Essentially, any time you raise, you are sending out a message that you think you have the goods. You tell the table that either your hand is good enough to win or that you believe there’s a good chance you’re going to draw into a winner.
A reraise is like that on steroids.
Consider the sequence of a reraise:
- Someone makes a bet at the table signaling “You have to pay X chips to stay in this hand.”
- Someone raises saying “Oh yeah, pal, it’s actually going to cost you Y more.”
- Then you enter the betting, telling everyone “You’re both wrong. It’s going to cost you Z, now pay up.”
That’s why reraising is an aggressive move. You are ratcheting up the risk and reward of playing that particular hand, forcing each player to evaluate the strength of their hand versus the probably that you are bluffing.
Because of this, a reraise is a good way to force players out of the hand at the risk that someone else really has better cards than you and you lose even more chips.
On the other hand, you can trigger someone at the table. When you reraise, you send out a signal to the rest of the table that you are confident about your cards and you are willing to be a bully about it. This can cause them to match your aggression for aggression and call your reraise.
At that point, you are literally pot committed. Hopefully, it was worth it.
When Should You Reraise?
You should reraise when you don’t care (or would prefer) if your opponents fold and one of two other conditions is true: you have the goods or you don’t, but you know your bluff is going to pay off.
The first case is the easiest. If you genuinely have a strong hand (say pocket aces preflop) or a set or better post-flop, it’s not a bad thing to be aggressive. You are there to take your opponents chips and call them your own. That is the name of the game.
In the other scenario, you can reraise as part of a bluff if you get the feeling your opponents aren’t playing aggressive, don’t feel bullied by previous reraises, or are betting in such a way that they don’t seem confident in their hands.
For instance, if you’re at a table where the players before you went small bet-call-call-raise bet (perhaps ten percent of the pot or less) that’s a good sign that not everyone is feeling good about what they have. You can make a reraise that’s a significant percentage of the pot (or more in no limit) and feel confident of knocking out a few of those players even if you don’t necessarily have the cards to support it.
When to Avoid Reraising?
If you don’t have the goods, then reraising can be a great way to donate chips to your opponents’ cause. Therefore, if you don’t have a good hand and you can’t read your opponents, a reraise is a bad idea.
Also, if you don’t have great cards and your opponents are betting heavily, don’t rereaise. For instance, if the players before you opened betting and then the betting went call-raise-raise, perhaps you don’t bluff because there’s a good chance you won’t win. It’s too much to hope that everyone else is bluffing.
In fact, if you don’t love your cards, it’s a good time to consider just folding altogether.
Save the aggression for later.
When Should You Avoid a Reraise Even When You Have the Cards?
If you haven’t gotten the picture by now, reraising is an aggressive move. You have heard that, right?
That’s good because reraising is an aggressive move.
When you reraise, you are putting your opponents’ back to the wall.
Because you have increased the price of continuing the play, unless it’s the last round of betting or the other players are betting aggressively themselves, when you reraise someone is more than likely going to fold.
Maybe that’s what you want. It’s possible that you’re trying to knock out a player.
On the other hand, sometimes it’s better to keep other players in the game so that they keep feeding beautiful chips into that pot. Players cannot do that if you forced them to quit the hand.
As a victim of my own aggression, I can tell you there are several times I have reraised because I loved my cards (and I may have been tilting against an opponent) and forced everyone else to quit. When I did that, I won a small pot when I could have strung my opponents along and gotten even more money from them.
Of course, sometimes I’ve benefited from the aggressive and knocked other players out before they could have gotten the cards to beat me.
So, you have to decide which you would prefer: a better chance of winning the small pot or letting things go for a ride, not reraising, and seeing if you can grow that pot just a little bit more.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, it may be surprising that so much can go into reraising, but hopefully, this is a good reminder that everything you do at the poker table has consequences and sends information out to the rest of the table.
In the case of the reraise, the message and information is definitely unambiguous. When you reraise, you tell the table that you have cards you love because you are making it even more expensive to keep playing than the person who raised before you and the person who bet before you.
Re Raise Poker Game
When you are making this clearly aggressive move, you will often trigger a “fight or flight” response amongst the other players at the table. You will either get them to call your raise (or even reraise your reraise…) which means you better have the cards to back up your play or you will get them to fold, likely leaving you with a win.
Normally, a win is a good thing, but be careful with a reraise. Sometimes they can backfire and cause people to drop out of a hand without giving you any chips. In these cases, it would have been better for you to be more cautious so you could end up with more chips.
Reraise Poker
Ultimately, how you use the reraise is up to you. Good luck.