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Raise (Poker)
A raise in poker is an increase as to the amount that other players need to match if they wish to remain in the hand. By raising , the player is increasing the size of the pot. For other players to call the raise, they will need to match the bet made. Players will raise either because they have a big hand and want to extract chips from their opponents, or to bluff and get everyone to fold, thus winning the pot.
The difficulty up against a raise is working out whether the player raising is bluffing or actually has a big hand. As there is no way to know for sure, you will need to use your experience and any information relating to the player (see knowing your opponents) to make a decision.
When a player has made an initial raise and a second player puts in a bigger raise, this is called a re-raise. Players who re-raise must do so in denominations of the initial bet, for instance, a player raises $10, the next player could not re-raise a further $6 - it would need to be a minimum of $10. The reason behind this minimum raise rules is to prevent 'nuisance raises', in which a player would raise a $50 raise by a further 0.50 cents. This would simply waste time and have no real effect on the outcome or value of the pot.
When a player raises, he is showing strength however as deception plays a big part in poker strategy, players who show strength are usually weak and vice versa. Of course knowing this, players do use a certain amount of reverse psychology. When a player raises, there are one of two outcomes that the player wants. Either he wants other players to call or to fold.
This is where intelligent play comes into it. If you are looking for callers, you need to look weak so you may slow play or make an overbet, which is a raise bigger than the value of the pot. Alternatively you may make an undersized raise to lure your opponents in. There are a number of different ways to make a raise in order to influence how your opponents respond. Some players or maniacs raise all the time, which makes them difficult to read as when they do actually hit big hands, you can't distinguish the raise from all the rest.
A popular raise is the check raise which is a deceptive play in which you act weak to get your opponent to make a bet, then making a larger re-raise to take down the pot.
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