Check raising is really one of the trickest part of the game for me. When it works, or your doing it for value it's great. When it doesnt you seem to almost always ask yourself, "why did I do that?"
The key is to know "why" you do it, and have a good justifiable reason to do so. For exsample....
Let's say we have Qd7d on a Qs7hTh board. We called an open from late position, and we are in the BB. We obviously check to the aggressor, but we are checking because donking is worest then checking. We want to get money in the pot, deny
equity to drawing hands, and build value while we have it. So everything point to a check raise for value....
On the flip side we need to be balanced, and also check raise as a bluff. This is where it gets tricky....
For example, let say we open from the LJ possition and got called by the BTN. We have KsJs flop comes JhQs2s... we have middle pair with a strong flush draw, but not the best. We should be checking our middle pair, cause if we CBet, and get raised now we are playing a bloated pot where we are forced to make a tough decision on the turn if we miss (check turn, call or fold to a big bet). If we check raise as a bluff (figuring we got a price of it, but really isnt good enough to constitute a check raise for value) we maintain control of the pot, and can condense down thier range if they call us. This allows the hand to be played a lot easier. Cause if we check on missed turns, they are checking back alot of the time giving us a free river. If we hit, we are still checking turn to all
After playing a live tournament sat and just missing itm , 11th, 9 paid, I reflected on some of my hands trying to think how I could of maybe built a bigger stack and Maybe could of went little deeper. My conclusion was my check raises cost me money, and in general I've been making a lot of bad plays check raising. As I think about it, I wonder when is right time to check raise, and am thinking really not that often, maybe even more to bluff, as every time, nearly, it leads to a fold. Playing players that are not the best, just calling their bet seems to more profitable, let them keep firing. I sometimes just want to take big pot down, not let some crazy river beat me. Just curious if any thoughts on this
Check raising is really one of the trickest part of the game for me. When it works, or your doing it for value it's great. When it doesnt you seem to almost always ask yourself, "why did I do that?"
The key is to know "why" you do it, and have a good justifiable reason to do so. For exsample....
Let's say we have Qd7d on a Qs7hTh board. We called an open from late position, and we are in the BB. We obviously check to the aggressor, but we are checking because donking is worest then checking. We want to get money in the pot, deny equity to drawing hands, and build value while we have it. So everything points to a check raise for value....
On the flip side we need to be balanced, and also check raise as a bluff. This is where it gets tricky....
For example, let say we open from the LJ possition and got called by the BTN. We have KsJs flop comes JhQs2s... we have middle pair with a strong flush draw, but not the best. We should be checking our middle pair, cause if we CBet, and get raised now we are playing a bloated pot where we are forced to make a tough decision on the turn if we miss (check turn, call or fold to a big bet). If we check raise as a bluff (figuring we got a piece of it, but really isnt good enough to constitute a check raise for value) we maintain control of the pot, and can condense down thier range if they call us. This allows the hand to be played a lot easier. Cause if we check on missed turns, they are checking back alot of the time giving us a free river. If we hit, we are still checking turn to allow them to bluff to extract more value....
In the rare case they do fire the turn after we check raise as a bluff, we can evaluate our equity, and deside if we have proper pot
odds to continue to possibly hit on the river. (More likely to call small bets/more likely to fold to big bets) the thing is, after a check raise Vil is more likely to bet big with Nutted hands, and either check or bet small with bluffs and middling hands. Then we rinse and repeat the same strat we hand for the turn on the river. With the exception if we hit. We might consider a donk to extract value from a passive/call heavy player when the river card gives us a the nuts or close to it.
