Tuning Your Raise
In tournament poker the question often arises, “What is a standard raise?” Conventional wisdom suggests as standard a raise of three times the big blind or, if there are antes involved, the exact sum of the antes and blinds. Rather than yield to conventional wisdom (a product of conventional minds) I would instead ask two questions: “What are you trying to do with your raise?” and “What bet gets that job done?”
Assuming you want to pick up the blinds and antes without a fight, you need to tune your raise to the amount of fight you find at the table. Let’s say the blinds are 400 and 800 with a 100 ante. Only at a fiercely timid table would a bet of, say, 1600 fold the field, because with 2200 in the pot that weenie 1600 would just be offering tasty odds for all sorts of wacky draws. On the other hand, if you bet twice the total ticket, say 4400, in that situation, you’d be overbetting the pot, at the risk of overcommitting your stack. You’d happily make that bet with A-A,… Continue reading Tuning Your Raise
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Poker glossary:
- CAP - To cap the betting is to make the last permitted raise in a round.
- FAVORITE - Before all the cards are dealt, a hand that figures to be the winner. Ant: UNDERDOG.
- SEMI-BLUFF - To bluff with a come hand that figures to win if it hits.
- DRAWING DEAD - A draw in which it is impossible to obtain a winning hand for any of a variety of reasons: an opponent's hand is better than whatever you are drawing to, the card(s) that make your hand are out of play, or (in Hold'em) give an opponent a stronger hand even if it makes yours. Frequently used in the past tense, since one rarely knows it at the time.
- HOUSE RULE - Rules and interpretations (e.g., use of wild cards, or rules on having to show beaten hands) that are specific to an establishment or even tables within the establishment.
- BUTTON CHARGE - A periodic fee paid by whoever is the button, perhaps every 20 minutes or 30 minutes. Constitutes part or all of the HOUSE CUT.
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