The Power of Chips: Texas Hold'em

Aggressive play has gotten a lot of good press in Texas Hold'em, but it's just a pair of words unless you dissect and fully comprehend why that is. An integral part of any aggressive player's strategy is the raise, the amount raise and the timing of the raise itself. To fully understand that, a Texas Hold'em player must know what happens when they raise and what they are saying. They need to know why a raise provokes certain responses from people, to know why many people prefer bluffing to sandbagging. Here is a brief primer into the meat and psychology behind the relatively common poker act.

The large stack of chips you threw on the table because you raised can make people throw in their cards. This could possibly be one of the greatest reasons to raise. Pushing people to a showdown is rarely desired, unless you have the absolute best hand that could occur at that pot. This robs people of the time that they may have needed to draw into their straight or flush and generally increases your chances for taking the pot down. If you're in a half made hand that could improve, make it expensive for other players to win the pot. No Limit Texas Hold'em enjoys the raise especially, as the game can get very mental very fast.

Bluffing also uses a raise to start. After all, just matching the other guy's bet is unlikely to knock him off or even scaring him. After all, poker players talk with their chips and speaking loudly can throw off people. In Texas Hold'em or any poker variant, putting in more chips means you're strong. This is why you lie and trick other people - you can't always be strong with the cards. Sometimes, they're going to enjoy throwing you twos and sevens for hole cards and you can't just keep walking away from the long line of horrible cards. You need to bluff. Generally, stone cold bluffs or bluffs when you actually have nothing are bad ideas unless you're out of options - half bluffs or made hands that can improve deserve a raise. Push the bar and the bar may reward you.

Raising may beat out any other poker move simply by having two avenues to victory. Most other avenues only have one way - to have the better hand. To raise is to scare your opponent or make them put more chips down, which gives you two outcomes - they can fold or they can push you into a showdown. Two ways to win is almost always better than a one way ticket where you absolutely need something.