During the past few months we've been examining strategies for lower limit and beginning hold'em players, and we've done so by examining strategic concepts which apply to various stages of a hand:  before the flop, on the flop, the turn, and the river.  But some strategic concepts can be called into action anytime a hand is in play.  In fact, for the next few issues we'll explore a variety of these strategic ideas, so that you can accumulate an arsenal of hold'em weapons.  Once you've acquired them, all you need do is determine which strategic concept is best employed in any given situation, and you'll be well on your way to being a significantly better poker player.

The question of when, and whether to raise is a strategic decision unrelated to the stage of the hand you're playing.  You can face a decision to raise at any point during a hand, from that pair of kings you've been dealt before the flop, to that straight you've made on the turn or river. 

Players handle raising in a variety of ways -- from overly cautious, to overly aggressive, to downright maniacal.  And while there are exceptions to every rule, let's see if we can build a strategy which is correct for most situations you're likely to encounter at the table.

Why Raise?
Raising is one of poker's eternal enigmas.  Some players love to fire in raise after raise.  The more action they create, the happier they are -- never mind whether their cards justify it.  Others never raise unless they're holding the nuts, and even then its done with trepidation.

I've seen some players who will raise from early position with a hand like As-8s, believing that any suited ace is a powerhouse.  Other players routinely raise in early position with hands like K-J or even Q-J.  Some players always raise with Big Slick.  Others, far fewer in number, treat A-K like any other drawing hand, and call with it.

Some players will raise with any pair of 7's or bigger, and they'll do it from any position, regardless of the texture of the game.  Others never raise with aces when they're in the blind, for fear of giving away too much information about their hand.

Who's right?  When should you raise, and why should you do it?  To generate a plan of action, we need to explore the reasons players raise.

Here are five reasons to raise the pot in hold'em.  Let's look at each of them.

Raising To Get More Money In the Pot  
What's the most common reason for raising?  This one!  You've got a powerhouse hand.  Someone bets, there are three callers, and it's your turn to act.  What do you do?  You raise.  Of course!  You're holding a winner, and want to get more money into the pot, since that pot figures to migrate over to your stack of chips once the hand has been concluded. 

Getting more money in the pot is the most common reason players raise.  But you don't always have to hold the best hand to raise.  Suppose you're on the button with Ad-Kd and the flop is Jd-9d-6c.  It's a loose game.  The blind comes out betting and is called by 4 others.  Now it's your turn to act.  You're getting 5:1 on your money, and with two cards to come the odds against making the nut flush are better than 2:1.  Since this bet has a positive expectation, it is worth money each time you make it -- regardless of whether you win that particular time. 

Since that's the case, go ahead and raise.  You might as well make as much as you can when you're lucky enough to hit your hand. 

Raising To Eliminate Opponents
You've got a pair of queens.  You're in fifth position and no one has called the blinds. Your pair of queens will play better against one or two opponents than a whole slew of them.   Fire when ready.  Go ahead and raise.

Here's another situation.  You've got that same pair of queens, and you're in fifth position.  The player to your immediate right raises.  What should you do?  Fire away!  Make it three bets.  If your opponent is the type who would raise with aces, kings, jacks or A-K, A-Q, A-J, K-Q, K-J or maybe even A-10s, the odds are against him having a pair bigger than yours.  They favor his holding two big cards.  Go ahead and reraise.  If the flop doesn't produce any overcards to your queens, you're the favorite. 

If two overcards fall, you're probably an underdog, and ought to give it up if your opponent bets into you.  If just one overcard falls and you're heads up, its a judgment call, and unless you've got a terrific read on your opponent, you'll seldom be sure where you stand.

If he's clever, and tries for a checkraise by checking the flop and turn, go ahead and check behind him.  If he bets the river, you're going to call him anyway, but you've also given him an opportunity to bluff with a hand which is worse than your pair of queens, so calling is not that bad an option.

But if you bet and he checkraises on the turn, you're probably beaten.  Fold.

Any time you've got a hand which plays better against fewer, rather than many opponents, raise or reraise to limit your opposition.

Raising To Get a Free Card on a More Expensive Street
You're last to act with a Q-J.  The flop was 10-9-4 of mixed suits and you're facing three opponents.  The player who is first to act bets, and is called by the others.  Can you raise?  Sure!  If the turn card is not the king or eight you're looking for, the fact that you raised enables you to see the river for free, as long as the bettor and subsequent callers each check the turn.  And if you make the nut straight on the turn, well, you've gotten more money in a pot -- which by all appearances will soon belong to you.

Raising To Define Your Hand 
I recall a game where I was last to act with kings, and reraised a very strong player to my right.  The flop was Ac-Kh-4s.  My opponent bet, I raised, and he reraised.  Because I know his play so well, I was sure he would not have raised if he flopped a set of aces.  He would have checked the flop, called my bet and checkraised on the turn.  I put him on A-K, with a smaller possibility he held a hand like Ah-Jh.  The turn card was the 6h.  He bet, and I raised.  He called.  If he had flopped a set of aces, he would have had reraised, since a set of aces would have been the best possible hand on the turn. 

Now I figured him for A-K.  Since my opponent also knows my play very well, I didn't believe he would have called with less than two pair.  I was also quite sure my raise told him I had at least two pair, and more likely a set.  When the 8h fell on the river he bet, I raised, and he reraised.  It was then I knew my assessment was wrong.  He could not possibly have A-K.  He had to have entered the pot with a hand like A-J suited and tried to steal the pot with his bet on the turn -- since he had top pair with a reasonably good kicker as well as an opportunity to draw out if another heart fell on the river.   That's exactly what happened.  He made the nut flush.  Although my analysis was correct, I was too late to save myself any money, and he won a big pot.

With the benefit of the instant replay described above, you can see how each of us, by virtue of our bets, raises and reraises, were defining our hands in terms of what we presumed each other was holding.  Although I defined my set of kings against the possible hands he could have been holding, I incorrectly assumed he made two pair.  While this was a costly error in judgment, you can learn something at my expense about how to raise and reraise to define your own hand against what you suspect your opponent might have.

Raising To Prevent a Free Card
Just as it is correct in certain situations to raise on the flop in order to gain a free card on the turn, it is also correct to raise in order to prevent your opponents from getting a free, or relatively inexpensive card.

Here's an example.  You hold A-10 in fifth position.  On the flop only three other players are active: the big blind, and seats eight and nine.  The flop comes A-9-7.  The big blind bets.  With no raise before the flop, there's no way to determine what he might be holding.  You may be outkicked if he holds A-K, A-Q or A-J.  If he holds A-9 or A-7 or 9-7 you're also beaten.  On the other hand, he may be betting with A-6, trying to win the pot right there if no one else holds an ace.

While you have some idea about the players in seats eight and nine, you're not certain you have the best hand.  However, it's fair to assume that if either seats eight or nine had A-K, A-Q or A-J, they probably would have raised before the flop.  While they may have called with a hand like A-5 suited, its more likely they're holding connectors or a small pair.   It is also possible one of them flopped a set, although the odds do not favor it.  If they did, however, you'll not hear from them now.  They'll wait and raise on the turn -- when the bets double.

What should you do in this position?  While calling is not a bad idea, raising is probably better.  If the players in seats eight or nine hold hands like 10-9 or 9-8, they may call a single bet on the flop, in hopes of catching a miracle card on the turn, or perhaps picking up a straight draw.  However, if they are reasonably prudent players, they will not call a raised pot with second or third pair and little else to support it.

Is this a form of raising to thin out the field?  Yes, it is.  But in this case, you're doing so after the flop has defined -- or partially defined -- your opponents hands.  If it's the kind of flop which provides some help to your opponents, enough so they might stick around in hopes of outdrawing you if they can see another card for free, or for no more than a single bet, then a raise which forces them to fold is correct.

If your raise forces seats eight and nine to fold, you are heads up against the blind, and you have the added advantage of acting last on the turn and the river.  You may also have the best hand.  Unless the blind has flopped a big hand, like two pair or a set, he is probably not going to bet into you on the turn.  This gives you the opportunity to check behind him.    If he isn't holding much of a hand, and is an aggressive player, checking behind him may elicit a bluff on the river, which you can easily snap off.

If he is not a particularly aggressive player, but tends to call too much with too little, you can bet the turn and the river without much fear of a raise, but with the certainty he will call you with very marginal hands.

If, however, one of your opponents has flopped either a set or two pair, your strategy will fail.  You'll be called on the flop, and if you bet the turn you'll be looking at a checkraise.  If that's the case, you're probably better off releasing the hand at that point, since it is hard to envision anyone raising with a hand worse than yours, unless they are fond of bluff-raising.  Since you just don't see too many bluff raises in lower limit games, you might as well assume you're beaten and save your money. 

These five reasons to raise often act in concert with one another.  While it is logical to raise solely to limit the field, it is seldom worth a raise just to define your hand -- and for no other reason.  But by raising to limit the field, you will always gain some information about how your hand stacks up against the competition. 

If, for example,  you've raised with a pair of tens and are reraised, there's bad news and good news in the air.  You may well have achieved your goal of going heads up against one opponent, but you may also be beaten.  If two overcards fall on the flop, you ought to assume you are beaten.  The good news, scant as it may be, is that you've learned enough about the quality of your opponent's hand to save money by folding as soon as he bets the flop.

Summary
Raising can be a dicey proposition.  Most of the time you raise you will not be entirely sure you have the best hand.   Moreover, you'll encounter some opponents who take raising so personally that their response to any raise is simply to raise back -- even when their hands don't warrant it.  Although they're making the wrong play, it can sew seeds of confusion in your own mind.  You'll ask yourself;  "Just what could they be holding?" 

This is another reason why it is so critically important to know your opponents.  Once you get a fix on their play, you'll be able to tell who is likely to be out of line when they raise or reraise, and which players usually have the hand they represent when they take similar action.

If you're going to be a selectively aggressive player, you can't let the fear of a reraise stop you from raising when proper strategy calls for it.  Most of the time you'll be correct in your assessment of the relative value of your hand versus that of your opponent.  Sometimes you'll misread them, like I did in the example cited earlier.  Not to worry.  Poker is a game where you'll seldom be making decisions with 100% of the fact available to you.  It is a game of decisions based on incomplete information.  In fact, if you waited to raise until you held the nuts, you would never lose a big pot like I described, but your net winnings would be substantially less.  Why?  Because you were unwilling to take a risk warranted by your hand and the play of your opponents.

Remember, in poker your batting average, while important, is not critical.  You want to be selective, but not so selective that you pass on money you could have won, but for the fact that you didn't have absolute certainty about the value of your hand compared to your opponent's. 

You are looking for that proverbial fine line.  You want to be aggressive enough to optimize your winnings.  Optimize is the operative word!  You are not playing to maximize your winning opportunities.  If you did you'd simply play every hand, and you would go broke while winning more hands than anyone else at the table.  You are also not playing to minimize your losing opportunities.  If you did, you'd be playing nothing but very big hands, and your opponents would soon wise up, and the only time you'd get any action is when your opponent holds a better hand than yours.