Odd raises..who does it and why?

Do people really think raising to $999 is that much more effective than raising to $1000? Recently I had an opponent that just could not seem to ever bet an even amount. So the real question is, who out there does this tactic and why? Do you think it has some psychological impact because the bet looks bigger graphically or are you hoping it will just irritate opponents, throw them off, etc....what is it exactly?

I always wonder if they're signalling what they have, like $555 do they have pocket 5s, or $777 do they have 7s? So far I've never found out the reason to my satisfaction.

I do it, not X-1, just some odd or even number that most people won't even know how many bb I'm betting. I do it from the beginning but only so it seems normal when I do it later in tournaments when I don't want to be committed with my shortstack with a full 3 or 4 bb raise. I want to be able to raise/fold without dropping too many chips, but i'm making the same raise with decent or great starting hands.

Dr_Dick said:

Do people really think raising to $999 is that much more effective than raising to $1000? Recently I had an opponent that just could not seem to ever bet an even amount. So the real question is, who out there does this tactic and why? Do you think it has some psychological impact because the bet looks bigger graphically or are you hoping it will just irritate opponents, throw them off, etc....what is it exactly?

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I've always thought most did it as just another minor irritant to "tilt" their opponents. Especially since "666" seems to show up pretty frequently.
I've asked a couple along the way and those two just said it was one of their "favorite numbers". As gamblers tend to be a superstitious lot in general, guess they think it puts some kind of extra mojo on their hand.

I do it sometimes...
- to irritate opponents or throw them off
- to show that I have thought about the amount I'm betting
- to disguise betting shemes
- to pull an opponent into the pot by giving him odds
- generally to make opps think harder about my hand

I think its used to mostly irritate people ,and to make a small bet look bigger.
It drives me nutty ..... but I'm starting to ignore it.
Sometimes I make a goofy bet back and try to tilt them.
like min-raise + 1 chip

I have been doing this a lot in certain formats, like 6-max tourneys and the Matrix tourneys on FT.

There's another tactic I take when bullying shortstacks. Let's say I have 2,500 chips and villain has 700 left, the pot is 1050 and I want to put them all-in.

On the river, I'll bet 699 if I think they have a decent but not great hand. Or I'll bet something like 1,441 if I have the nuts to make it look bluffier.

i never do it, i may type in my bet and change it up some but always a even number

I think that people that are holding great starting hands are less interested in drawing attention to themselves than people raising with KJ, this does not answer the question on why people bet these crazy amounts, but I do belive that it´s less likely that someone making a bet of 1699 with a monster than if he´d bet 1700

I do it sometimes to show strength.

I find it works well when say u have missed your draw and u put a small stack on say bottom/ middle pair.

Say u have 4000 chips and they have 625, I will bet 624 and say "I`ll leave u with a chip and a chair" or sometimes say nothing.

I would do this in a MTT - not a ring game cause ppl call u down with air in ring games

pkrplr4116 said:

I always wonder if they're signalling what they have, like $555 do they have pocket 5s, or $777 do they have 7s? So far I've never found out the reason to my satisfaction.

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I doubt that you ever will find out. Any reason could be valid and likely changes from player to player who bets odd amounts. Will you ever know even by asking 'why'? Only if you believe that poker players always give honest answers. ...

Myself, I don't do really weird amounts, but I do mix it up and do NOT want to be predictable.

dweezel said:

I think its used to mostly irritate people ,and to make a small bet look bigger.
It drives me nutty ..... but I'm starting to ignore it.
Sometimes I make a goofy bet back and try to tilt them.
like min-raise + 1 chip

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Be careful about betting a weird amount back, because if an opponent picks up on this, then they'll start to figure out that they can get a raise when they bet a weird amount. Therefore, they'll start betting weird amounts on huge hands, getting a raise, and then reraising you.

In one of the books I read, an odd bet like that can sometimes be read as a bluff because the person is trying to make his bet appear larger graphically

A $1000 bet is 2 chips of $500 , whereas a $999 bet consists of a heap of chips which can appear to be intimidating to say the least

More often than not I tend to just ignore people that do it continously as I figure that its just a ploy to irritate you.

If its done out of character then I tend to get suspiscious.

i bet weird amounts all the time, mostly for my entertainment because i find it hilarious when it's the last bet and im sure i have him beat, instead of putting him all in, for example he has 500 left ill bet 499.99 and let him hold on to that last chip, in which you could tell they weren't paying attention to the bet amount to save themselves some humiliation time, so they might have called any amount as long as it wasn't putting them all in.

pkrplr4116 said:

I always wonder if they're signalling what they have, like $555 do they have pocket 5s, or $777 do they have 7s? So far I've never found out the reason to my satisfaction.

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I regularly do this in 1-2 games...raise to $4 with pocket 4s...5 with 5s and so on all the way to 14$ with Aces...the problem being I tend to play with the same players some have caught on...so I have even reversed the order on occasion by making it 14 with pocket 5s and 5 with Aces (though I try to avoid spitting away that much preflop with low pairs)...its mostly due to just keeping myself amused and if you can get 4 or 5 players out of there with a 8$ raise on pocket 8s its not half bad.

BM0529 said:

I regularly do this in 1-2 games...raise to $4 with pocket 4s...5 with 5s and so on all the way to 14$ with Aces...the problem being I tend to play with the same players some have caught on...so I have even reversed the order on occasion by making it 14 with pocket 5s and 5 with Aces (though I try to avoid spitting away that much preflop with low pairs)...its mostly due to just keeping myself amused and if you can get 4 or 5 players out of there with a 8$ raise on pocket 8s its not half bad.

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why dont you play with your cards face up then?

Please invite me to one of your games

I may be looking too deeply into this but if I notice someone doing this frequently I try to exploit it as a tell. Maybe they bet a certain amount when they have it or when they don't.

If for instance someone bets 777 or something else similar (555, 444 or anything you can just autopilot in quickly) repeatedly but then randomly throws out 799 or 733 you have to ask why....are they trying to get a call by lowering the bet amount? 733 looks more appealing than 777 or 799....They've decided to think about the bet they're making, so now I need to figure out why...Just something to consider....

well i think it might just be people who read that to throw your opponent off you should bet different amounts so they can't get a read on you.So to show off their brillance they say "hey,i'll bet 947, they will be so confused i can't lose."oh so clever.or maybe they think that making a funky bet will get you to call/fold ,whichever option they are looking at.either way i guess it is no worse or better than any other strategy though i personally don't get involed till i can see what they are holding in their hands after these funky bets.....imasquare... i like doing that sometimes too ..it is pretty funny..lol

grafkarow vbmenu_register("postmenu_1035341", true);

pretty much nailed all the reasons for doing this. good post.