Check-raising the flop: when?

[Guy McSucker]

Hello,

I have primarily been a PL/NL player for the last few years, and am currently trying to learn the limit game.

One thing that seems clear is that because the flop bet is small, check-raising the flop is a good alternative to just betting out with a decent but vulnerable hand. I feel I ought to be check-raising the flop reasonably often. Right?

So I'm trying to see how to incorporate the check-raise into my game, and I can't. The thing is, when I enter pots from early position, it's usually with a raise, and then if I hit the flop I feel obliged to bet. Apart from weird longshots and blind hands, I'm not getting into any check-raising situations.

So: what kind of preflop hands do you play that put you in a check-raising situation on the flop?

Sorry for asking such dumb questions.

Guy.

[Steve Giufre]

Hey Guy,

You wont be checkraising the flop very often when you are the preflop raiser. But you should be checkraising a lot when you have defended a blind agaist a late position raiser who is likely to bet the flop regardless of his holding. If you have an oppertunity to limit the field, and you are reasonably sure someone around back will bet, then go ahead and try to checkraise. You should also think about how much giving a free card is likely to cripple your hand in case it gets checked around.

A good case can also be made for checkraising a big draw when you able to trap players between you and the origanal bettor. You would not want to checkraise a draw if the origanal bettor was in a position where he could three bet you and limit the field.

You can also checkraise a hand like a small set on the flop, two pair etc, if you have reason to believe it is going to be bet, and you will have an oppertunity to get a player or two in between yuo or the other bettor, or even in a heads up situation depending on your opponent. Sorry this post is so messy, I'm pretty tired, I'm sure others will elaborate more.