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To Call Or Raise?
When developing your game in poker it is always important to know when to call and when to raise your opponent. Although there would be numerous arguments on each hand on whether to call or raise an initial bet, it is then necessary to work out the pros and cons of each option and make the best decision based on your thoughts.
The initial questions to ask yourself when faced with the decision includes:
- Is the player a weak player?
- What range of cards is the player playing?
- Do they bluff?
- Will they call or fold to a re-raise?
- What are they like to do on the next street?
With this in mind you can then choose whether to call or fold. Here are some pros and cons for each decision.
Calling- Pros
- will not heavily dent your stack
- If you are in position you can then make another decision on the next street
- You do not over commit yourself to the pot
- You avoid busting out
- Cons
- By only calling you do not know the strength of your opponent¡¯s hand
- You do not put any pressure on your opponent
- Pros
- You put the pressure on your opponent
- Raising defines a strong hand and it may lead to your opponent folding a stronger hand
- Raising may save you some money in the next street as your opponent might fear betting.
- Raising helps define your opponent¡¯s hand
- Signals to others on the table not to mess with you
- Cons
- Raising will often commit you to the pot
- You may be running into a monster and bust out or lose all your money
- Frequent raising will lead to an image that you may be bluffing or willing to add to the pot with any hand.
Look to evaluate when to raise and call to your game to increase your list of moves and play repertoire.
