If your are in late position or on the button (Dealer), there is a chance that you can steal the blinds by raising if no one else has entered the pot before you. If you notice that the players to your left have previously folded their hands to a raise when they were in the blinds, this may work. You may have to test them.

You should wait until you have a semi-strong hand to do this, in case they will staunchly defend their blinds with any hand. Many players feel that if they have money in the pot, they should play the hand no matter if it was raised or not. Some players will try an outright bluff by raising from early position. If you are in an extremely tight game, this may work, but for the most part bluffing with a raise before the flop should be avoided in a low-limit game.

• Narrowing The Poker Field (0)
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• Raising And Poker (0)

You raise the pot when you want to narrow the field. Big cards hold up better against fewer players. The more opponents you can drive out, the better your chances of a large pair holding up. With many players involved in the pot, the chances of getting drawn out with a straight or flush are greater.

Your position will greatly influence how many players you can drive out with a raise. Before the flop, if you raise under the gun or from early position, you may drive out players who are holding marginal hands. If there are a lot of players who have already called, your chances of chasing any of them out with a raise in a low-limit game are slim. You will find that once a player has called a single bet, they will not fold until they have seen the flop.

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If you have the best hand, you want to get as much money into the pot as possible. Before the flop this includes your big pairs like Aces and Kings. Don't hesitate to raise or re-raise these hands. A pair of Aces is the strongest hand you can hold before the flop and a pair of Kings is the second best hand. These big pairs will not always hold up, especially against a lot of players. For this reason you want to get as much money in the pot for the times when they do hold up to win.

In a low-limit game, you should be careful with pairs of Queens and Jacks. Because many players will play a single Ace, you may find yourself in trouble with these hands if an Ace appears on the flop. Unless you think you can narrow the field, you may be better off calling with these hands. Many times players will raise with any two big cards such as King-Jack offsuit, only to see all little cards in the flop.

They eventually end up folding when another player bets out or raises when the flop fits their particular hand. They could have saved a bet by simply calling before the flop. Poker expert Mike Caro feels that there is entirely too much pre-flop raising in most games. He feels that about 60 percent of the raising could be eliminated thus saving many players money. When you raise without a strong hand, you may just be making the pot bigger for someone else to win.

• Raising And Poker (0)
• Narrowing The Poker Field (0)
• Calling A Raise In Poker (0)