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.

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• Calling A Raise In Poker (0)

Just as you are selective about your starting hands, you need to be equally selective about which hands you will call a raise with. Many Players feel that once they call a raise, they must call a re-raise or two even though they are not getting proper odds to do so.

Any player can raise the pot with any hand. It takes a weaker hand to initiate a raise than it does to call one. This does not mean that you should just raise the pot on a whim. There are five reasons to raise the pot when you are playing Texas Hold'em:

1. To get more money in the pot.
2. To narrow the field by eliminating other players.
3. To bluff.
4. To get a free card.
5. To gain information.

The two main reasons to raise before the flop are when you think you have the best hand and want to get more money in the pot, or when you want to narrow the field.

Bigger Pots
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.

• Calling A Raise In Poker (0)
• Bigger Poker Pots (0)
• Poker Calling (0)

When the pot is raised before the flop, you need to determine how your hand compares to that of the raiser. If the pot is raised before it is your turn to act, you will have to call the original bet and the raise. This is known as cold calling. If the pot were re-raised before it is your turn to act, you would have to cold-call three bets in order to enter the pot.

Unless you have a very powerful hand, you should not cold call any raises. You need a stronger hand to call a raise than you do to initiate one. If you have to cold call three bets you better have an extremely strong hand, such as, a pair of Aces or Kings or Ace-King suited, because you can pretty much figure that the player who reraised has a very strong hand. These are the only hands I will cold call a re-raise with.
I have seen many players cold call two raises with hands such as unsuited K-J, Q-T, A-T, or weaker. This can be very costly.

The problem with hands like these is that even if you make a pair after the flop, you may only have the second best hand. If you hold no pair you will pair one of your cards about 32 percent of the time. That means the odds are about 2 to 1 against you pairing one of your pocket cards. If someone has a hand strong enough to reraise, they more than likely have you beat even if you pair one of your cards.

Since you don't have any money invested in a pot that is raised before it is your turn to act, you can merely fold and wait for another hand. Why take the chance of playing a marginal hand against a raise? If you are thinking about calling the raise you must consider the following:

From what position was the raise made?
If a raise comes from early position, you have to assume the player has a strong hand and he is trying to narrow the field. Most players raising from this position don't fear being re-raised. If the raise came from middle position in an unraised pot, the player could have a semi-strong hand and be trying to narrow the field. If a player is raising from middle position in a pot that has been called by several others, it is another indication of a strong hand. If the raise came from late position in an unraised pot, a player may be trying to steal the blinds.

Who raised?
It is very important that you know who made the raise. If the player doing the raising is a very tight player, who only plays strong hands, you should have a powerful hand to consider calling. If the player is a maniac who is just looking for action, then he might be raising with any hand.

How many players have called?
The number of players who call a raise before you will determine whether you call the raise. If there are only a few players, you don't want to call with a drawing hand. If there are many players in the pot, and it has been raised, then you may be getting the proper pot odds to call. Sometimes the pot will get so big that it becomes what is known as "a protected pot." This means that you can be sure someone will be calling all the way to the end.

What is your position?
Before you call a raise, you need to determine how many players will be acting after you. Will any of them re-raise the pot? If you fear a reraise, then your hand is not strong enough to call a raise.

What do you have?
Try to determine how strong your hand is compared to the raiser. Do you think you are beat gong in? Here again, it helps to know your other players. If you have a drawing hand and there are many players in the pot, you should be drawing to the nut hand if you are calling a raise. You won't make your drawing hand very often, and when you do, you don't want it to be second best.

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