The Gambling Weblog

In poker, check-raising is considered as one way of playing a strong hand weakly in order to trap your opponents and eventually win more money from them. What is check-raising? It is when you check your hand with the intention of raising on the same round right after an opponent bets. There are amateur poker players who think that there is something unethical with check-raising. They find that this practice is deceitful and devious and that people who use this tactic are not honorable. There is no denying that check-raising is a deceitful and devious tactic, but then, isn’t these traits what make up the logic and objective of poker? Check-raising is just like the opposite of bluffing and yet both are devious tactics that make poker such an interesting game. So when do you check-raise? Two conditions must be met first in order to check-raise for value, that is, when you expect that you might be called by a worse hand. First, you must consider if you have the best hand, but not such a good one that a slowplay would be a proper one. Secondly, you must be very sure that someone behind you is going to bet when you check. When you do plan to check-raise and there are several players still involved in the pot, then you must always consider the position of the player you expect is going to bet because that position will determine the kind of hand you check-raise with.