Poker Strategy : Checkraising

The check-raise is a deceptive poker play in which a player checks early in the betting round, hoping someone else will fire a bet. The player who checked then raises in the same round.

This might be done, for example, when the first player in a betting round believes his opponent has an inferior hand and will never call a direct bet. He might however attempt to bluff, allowing the first player to win more money than he would when betting straightforwardly. 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-raising can also be used as an intimidation technique over the course of a game; a player who has frequently been check-raised is probably less likely to attempt to steal the pot.

Some players will disagree that a check-raise is an effective play. In Super/System, poker legend Doyle Brunson claims to check-raise very rarely in no-limit hold 'em; he contends that it is more profitable to simply bet a quality hand, regardless of whether his opponent will try to bluff. His reasoning for this is for twofold: a failed check-raise gives other players the chance to see free cards, which may improve their hand (to better than yours), and check-raising also makes it obvious to other players that you may have a very strong hand.

While this is a very important deception technique, this play is unfortunately not allowed in some home games and even certain casino-games.