Check-raising

[ep510]

I'm afraid that I don't check-raise enough, and that I'm giving away my hand every time I check. I realize that your check-raise % will be affected by your vpip, but assume a standard TAG (vpip ~14-18).

What range of check-raise % do you guys think is optimal?

[ArturiusX]

Very play style dependant, post hands, stats are meaningless for check-raising.

[ncboiler]

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Very play style dependant, post hands, stats are meaningless for check-raising.

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Yes post hands. Check raising is very situational. Don;t worry to much about people catching on to your playing style if you are new.

[Argus]

Read Small Stakes Hold'em by Miller et al. He gives a good explanation of when and why to check/raise, but you should generally do it to protect your hand when betting out won't do it, or to build a larger pot than betting would with a strong hand. Think of what you would like to accomplish (many callers or few) and where a bet is most likely to come from relative to your position, and use these factors to decide whether to check/raise or not.

[W. Deranged]

I like to think of it like this. This applies mostly to the flop, as check-raises on later streets tend to be almost purely for value, and the basic determination for those involves whether you are confident your opponent will bet and figure that a check-raise will get more bets in than simply betting out.

There are two kinds of check-raises:

1. A VALUE check-raise.

This is made when you are expecting a bet pretty close to your left, or you are in a pot that has few players (like two to three handed). In this situation, you are check-raising purely to get more money into the pot. The best situation for this is a situation where you figure that several players will have already put in money by the time you get a chance to raise, and hence you'll get a bunch of players putting in two bets. This can be done with strong hands that are not vulnerable to many other cards, or with hands like nut flush draws that like big multiway action.

2. A PROTECTION check-raise

This is done when you can expect a bet on your right, and usually is done in a pot where you are against several opponents. The idea here is that you have a hand that is vulnerable, but likely to be the best, and you would really like to encourage others to fold. An example might be AJ on a JT4 rainbow board when you are in the BB and the pot was raised from late position pre-flop. The idea is to wait until the pre-flop raiser bets, as he usually will, and then raise him, so that you can force limpers between you and the raiser to have to call two bets instead of one to continue. This is best done with vulnerable hands, and relies heavily on the fact that you can anticipate a bet coming from late position. In many situations, when you do not have reason to believe anyone will bet the flop, or have reason to believe the bet will come from your left and not your right, it is often best simply to bet out.

Just some thoughts...

[ep510]

How about a heads-up, don't [censored] me anymore check-raise with top pair? Or even with mid pair. I usually just bet these and will continue to do so, but I'm looking for some more situations to check-raise to mix it up against the regulars.

[W. Deranged]

In heads-up pots, where your opponent will almost always bet when checked to, you should be check-raising the flop pretty liberally. If you have a decent hand, mix up betting out and check-raising, depending on your opponent, the strength of your hand, and so on.

A good breakdown might be something like this: In a heads-up, blind steal type situation, figure you should be leading out with maybe 30% of your hands, check-raising 30%, and check-folding 30%, and check-calling like 10%. This is totally off the top of my head; the main idea is that you should be mixing it up. Check-raising is a good approach for solid hands; with weaker hands, it is often better to simply bet out, as you may be able to get away from the hand easier that way; similarly, with monster hands, betting out might be better as you may actually want to get raised and be able to put forth the real aggression later.