[ohnonotthat]

I'll leave it to others to provide a deeper explanation as well as additional (and likely better) examples, but briefly . . .

You have A-8/suited and call from the button after 3 others call; neither of the blinds raise.

Flop: Q-8-5/rainbow with one of your suit.

All check to the cut-off who bets; you are next to act.

Can you see where raising here is almost certainly the best choice ?

Your hand is too good to fold. It would be too good to fold without a backdoor flush draw; it's far too good with one but it's not near strong enough to smooth-call leaving a raise as your only viable alternative.

Why is to good to fold ?

1. There is a very reasonable chance you have the bettor beaten and if you don't you have as many as 5 possible outs to improve.

2. You may not have the bettor beat but may move him off his hand either immediately (unlikely) or on the turn (more likely). Put yourself in his position; assume he has Q/T or Q/J - both reasonable hands for him to have. His raise tells him he's likely beat - and possibly drawing dead or very thin. (If he has a pocket pair below Queens but above 8s he may very well fold to your raise - one of the few times you'll see an opponent bet the flop and fold to a single raise). Most players will [correctly] call and try to hit their kicker on the turn but usually fold if they miss as well as when a scare card (King, 5, 9 or 4) hits fearing they are now drawing really thin. Even if you run into a stubborn foe who believes folding is for wimps he'll almost certainly check the turn and may check the river even if you check the turn (which, btw, you shouldn't be doing very much if at all). Raising the flop allows you to take control of the hand away from him; this is almost always a good thing even with a strong hand; it's a necessity with a hand as weak as yours.

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Why is your hand to weak to call ?

Do you want to call and allow hands such as bottom pair, gutshots, middle pair (your pair) with a different kicker or even a naked backdoor draw to a flush in one of the other two suits ?

- I hope you said no. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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This is an atypical example of a semi-bluff; nevertheless it meets all the necessary criteria of any other semi-bluff.

- You may or not have the best hand but the combined chances that . . .

1. You do [have the best hand]

2. Your opponent may fold immediately (or on a later round of betting)

3. You may improve to the best hand

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To be precise, possibility #1 is a bonus. If there is any reasonable chance of getting your opponent to fold, either immediately or later in the hand, there does not need to be ANY chance of your hand being currently in front for this raise to be correct.

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I have been less than dilligent at reading responses of late (real life once again interfering with poker - sigh); PM me if you have any questions that are not answered by someone else.