Check Raise

A check-raise in poker is a common deceptive play in which a player checks early in a betting round, hoping someone else will bet. Following the induced bet, the player who initially checked would then raise in the same betting round. The benefit of this play is that it does induce a bet from opponents. When an opponent sees you ‘Check’, thus showing weakness, an opponent will often place a bet trying to take down the pot. Generally when your opponent realizes that you have a hand (following your raise), they will often lay down the hand knowing that they have been trapped. In many cases had you raised initially instead of checking, your opponent would not have committed any chips to the pot, so you would have induced a bluff and maximized your return.

This might be done, for example, when the first player believes that an opponent has an inferior hand and will not call a direct bet, but that he may attempt to bluff. The key point is that if no one else is keen to bet, then the most a player can raise (in a limit game) by is one single bet. If someone else bets first, he can raise, therefore increasing the value of the pot by two bets. In a no-limit game, there is no restriction to the size of one's bet and a check-raise is likely to be much larger than the second player's bet. Of course, if no other player chooses to open, the betting will be checked around and the play will fail.

Check-raises can also be used as an intimidation technique over the course of a game; a player who has frequently been check-raised may be less likely to attempt to steal the pot.

The check-raise is widely regarded as a very effective play, but not by all. In Doyle Brunson’s Super System, the master that is claims that the check raise is not so effective for the following reasons and you should bet out with a quality hand:

1. a failed check-raise gives other players the chance to see free cards increasing the chance that a card on the turn or river could beat your hand
2. The check raise also makes it more obvious to other players that you may have a very strong hand.

Of course this makes it a very effective play when bluffing