Raise (Poker)

Raise is the term in poker which indicates a player’s intention to make a larger bet than has previously been made. The bet amount will act as the amount that must be matched by every player wishing to stay in the hand.

An example of this might be where you are second to act. The player who is first to act indicates ‘check’ meaning that they do not wish to make a bet or raise. With the action on you now you have the opportunity to ‘check’ also or to raise the pot. You decide to raise and proceed to raise the pot 500 chips. Going clockwise round the table and starting from your left, all players must match your bet of 500 chips if they wish to remain in the pot.

The decision on whether to call is determined on the strength of your hand, your table position and any other information that you know about the players at the table. For instance there may be 10,000 chips in the pot and a player raises 500 – this would indicate weakness as it is a very small bet. A player may raise you 500 chips, which is a small amount but you know that they only play AA and KK, so you fold.

The amount of the raise is very important as it indicates strength and whether you want a call. If you were to raise all-in, you would likely only get called if you were beat (or raised only a small amount). It is therefore very important to bet enough when trying to chase a player out of a pot and similarly not bet too much when trying to induce a call.