The art of poker has been called the art of raising. If you play, as I do, only a few hands an hour then it is essential to get as much money into the pot as possible when you have a winning hand. There are people who will call any raise even if they could not make a poker hand out of the next ten cards. These people are known as LOSERS. If you do not have a hand after the flop or the possibility of the best hand then you need to drop and try again the next hand.
In Texas Holdem if you peek at your hole cards when they are first dealt and you have Ace/Ace then raise. If any one raises you, then raise them back. You are sitting with the best possible hand, right at that moment. While Ace/Ace is a terrific hand to start out with things can go down hill fast, so you want to raise to eliminate other players and increase your odds of winning.
Raising or reraising at this time will also give you information about the other players hands. It is quite possible that someone else also has Ace/Ace. If so, the worst thing that can happen to you is that you will split the pot with him. Unless, of course, he has the Ace of diamonds and four more diamonds come out in the Flop and the Turn or worst yet, the River. Hey. It's poker. Anything can happen.
I know some guys, when they sit down to a poker game, think that they have only two options. Raise or drop. That is: if their cards are good enough to sit in on the hand they should be able to raise. It puts poker in a nice black and white light. Neither life nor poker is that way. Things change and they change rapidly. Suppose you take the Ace/Ace that you have in the hand at the beginning of this article. All the betting is done and the dealer lays out the flop. It comes Deuce of Clubs, Ten of Hearts and Three of Hearts. To somebody with two Hearts in the pocket, a Heart flush has become a possibility. Then comes the Turn. The dealer lays down the Ace of Hearts. You have three aces but your opponent has an Ace high flush. Raise or Drop? It might be a good idea to try and sneak in as cheaply as possible. It is no mystery to you that he might have a flush. There are three hearts laying on the table for all to see. The only thing that can help you now is the case Ace for four of a kind, or pairing a card on the table for a full house.
The only point to playing in a poker game of any kind is to separate the other folks from their money and put all of their chips in your stack. It will not happen if you do not raise when you have the best hand or when a raise will make every one think that you have the best hand. Lots of folks think that poker is lots of bluff. In my view unless you get caught bluffing a couple of times a night you are playing too tight. You have to keep your opponents confused. Do not hesitate to raise when you have the best shot.
When you are playing in the free games be prepared to be called every time. It is almost impossible to raise everbody out of a pot. Before you join in one take a look at the Average Pot column when you sign into the game. A high number in this column will indicate that the folks who playing are not serious about poker and call every thing with no chance to win. Playing in these types of holdem games is good practice for developing patience. If you do get a moderately good hand in the first two cards and it is not improved dramatically on the flop. Get out. With everybody calling right up to the last card you can almost bet that it will be a great hand that wins the pot.
Be aware that these people are training themselves to be losers. Nobody gets a hand delt to them that allows them to stay to see the flop every time. But when they finally buy in to a real money game they will have trained themselves to bet the come and see your raises all the way to the river. It will have happeded often enough that they pull the winning hand on the river that they will be unable to drop out as long as they have the vaguest hope of winning. Good for them. It's their money...Soon to be yours.
What is intresting is to see how they react to you and how much time it takes. After you have sat into the game for an hour or so dropping hand after hand. It still takes them awile to recognize that if they call you they had better have a hand and not just the hope of a hand. It is as if you are invisable if you do not play in every hand.
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