the mini-raise

[TexArcher]

It can mean many things from many players at different stages in a hand, as noted below, but from what I've seen it's most often someone who a) has a great starting hand preflop, or b) made a very strong hand on the flop, and in both instances villain does not know how to bet it correctly.

[wyrd]

I find more often than not a minbet means they're on some sort of draw. If the board is ragged, then this isn't the case. If there's two to a flush or connected cards on the board, I go ahead and bet the pot if I have a hand or was preflop raiser. The majority of the time they end up folding.

That said, there are very few players who minbet to keep everyone in when there's a lot of players. This juices up the pot for them. Keep note of these players.