"I'd rather be a raiser than a caller"

Richard~

"Unless you have a monster draw or are slow playing a big hand, calling is often the wrong play at the table. In fact, it often times takes a stronger hand to make a call than it does to make a raise.

"You raised with that?" is a question I hear a lot after showing down a hand. You can make a raise with any two cards (sometimes less than that), but it takes a real hand to make a call." - Roy winston


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I got this in an email from full tilt poker academy a while back, what the hell just happened? <.<

JimmyHo

sometimes its good to raise with a draw because if you hit, you may not get anymore money as a result of the draw heavy board. Also when you raise, you have another way to win the hand right then and there (other player folds).

For example, at my weekend 1/3 game, I get dealt QKd in the SB. I raise to $15 and get four callers. Flop comes AdJh5d. I have nut flush draw with gutshot. I check and early position player makes it $50. I usually would bet in this situation but I know someone is going to take a stab at the pot. It is folded around to me and I bump it to $125. Other player only has about $175 behind. He folds and I am happy with the pot. If I just called, he would likely bet $100 on the flop and would be committed anyways come the turn.

betrthanphil

Some bad plays that I see a lot are people check calling an all in with a draw, I hate to see it. Say your middle position with 5k in chips blinds are 75/150 and you raise to 400 and the button calls leaving himself with 900 in chips, blinds fold so the pot is 925. You have a hand like KJ and the flop comes q105. You know you arent going to fold, so you might as well bet the 900 yourself and maybe he will fold, but if you check most of the time they will push into you and you call anyways. That is a situation where I think it is a lot better to bet then check, even if you have AJ or A10. Im not sure if that is what this is refering to, but thats what i thought of when reading the title of the thread.

HammerDad

I agree and have stated, I will raise any two cards. But my calling range tightens up WAY considerably.

I will bet draws as a means of a) building a pot in the event I hit or b) semi-bluffing and hoping to take it down right there.

But for sure, I would rather be betting/raising then calling. It takes the decision of the play off my shoulders and makes the villain think over the hand to see if they are good. Plus, there is adage that aggressive poker is winning poker.

Unknown

I'd rather be calling.....it means i have you f@cked

Richard~

Raising us to me per definition when you raise a bet someone has made in other words 3 betting pre and raising for example a cbet postflop. This is why this seems so messed up