Poker has some of what at first may seem like most basic of tactical moves, but ironically perhaps represents the most psychologically challenging to reason out. The check raise is without a doubt an example of this, and perhaps it is the fact that the tactical move itself is SO easy that it presents such a struggle for another play to discern from and take the appropriate action.
Check raising is by some people considered to be dishonest, cheap, and even in a few poker circles banned. The truth of the matter is it is a great and strategic move that every player should use, whether they use it often or not it should at least be occasionally. The general concept is you represent a weak hand by checking to your opponent after the flop. Your opponent seeing your check bets to you and then when the action is back on you, you raise and lock his bet in. So as you can see that fact that you have locked in your opponents chips does a lot for you. First off the pot is larger and secondly if your not trying to get him to fold out you have just forced him to invest more of his money. This may now force him to look at the pot differently and he could chase you and dump more chips to you since he could be feeling he is invested and has to stick with it. This is exactly what you want to, especially if you have a great hand.
So with that said and the general idea behind the check raise. We can now focus how to deal with it when it’s being used against you. First let us touch on some more tactics you can use to make it more effective. Perhaps the best thing to tie in with it is if you like to use it a lot to throw in some bluffs to keep your opponent guessing. Because just like any bluff it helps make you look looser at the table if you lose. This loss could be see by your opponent and then when you get a monster you might get more people to chase after you and ultimately that makes you more. All of this because they had the perception that you were a worse or perhaps just a looser player, which comes out to be your exceptional benefit and gain. Always remember no matter what you need to keep your opponents playing against you guessing at your cards, and always keep in mind setting up your opponents for traps later on in the game.
To defend yourself against check raises is really hard because the skill with which it is applied is very heavily depends on a player. More often than not it is safer to cut your loses if you don’t think you have the cards and chips to back up and rationalize the call. One common thing is for people to occasionally use one when the get a great hand because they think about it when they have such great cards.. Playing online a lot you will see people will often not think to throw in decoy bluffs for later on in the game and only tend to attempt traps and pull in money when they have a large amount of money and the best of cards. Unless of course they are overly aggressive overall in which case you need to deal with them on that level more importantly than anything and perhaps leaving that table in a cash game could be the best answer. The point is you need to realize the situation and not be afraid to cut a hand loose when it gets too steep for you.
Always thought the check-raise will be seen in tournaments and in cash games and you as a player needs to properly deal with it. Whether it may even cost a few chips to see the hand through and gain the valuable experience from it to better call your opponent next run. Whatever the case be prepared for it and remember you can use it too!
