Strategies to Keep Your Opponents In the Round
The worst thing that any player can do with a really great hand in poker; is make it very obvious to their opponents that they hold one, by betting big every time they get the chance. Smart opponents will know right away that you more than likely have a good hand, and shortly after they will fold. If everyone folds before you can raise the bet to a good amount, then your hand is completely wasted. The pot will still go to you of course, but it won’t be near as much as if you kept your opponents betting a little more after each turn. There are a couple great solutions to help rack up the chips with an awesome hand; and they have many other benefits as well
The first solution is a classic tactic called “Check Raising”. Check Raising is the simple art of checking your hand with the intention of later raising, in the same round, after an opponent bets. Check raising works best when you are absolutely sure you have one of the highest possible hands on the table; but it can also help you determine what exactly your opponents are trying to do with their own hand. In most cases if your opponent is bluffing; Check Raising will help you figure it out. Before you decide to use this tactic however you must be sure of a few things. The first thing to be sure of is obviously your hand’s strength; the stronger the better. Although, you want to make sure that your hand isn’t too high; otherwise Slow-Play would be the better choice. The next thing to be sure of is whether or not the person behind you will raise the bet after you check. You also want to make sure that the bet you make yourself isn’t too high so that it scares off opponents from calling.
The other solution is known as “Slow-playing”. Slow-playing is when you check or call to keep your opponents in; and plan to make your move in a later round. Most methods of Slow-Play involve only calling or checking for each round until just before the river, and then once there slapping down a large bet. This generally is what many good poker players will use as a strategy when they plan to go all in. As with many strategies in poker this can be a very dangerous move in many cases if you are not sure the hand you hold is the highest.
Both of these methods should be learned and mastered by the poker novice. It should also be noted very early that players should not overuse these strategies; because then they would become very predictable for their opponents. Thus, it is very important to only use these strategies when they are profitable.
One of the biggest benefits of using these strategies is the overall reward size of the pot. Betting big from the beginning will scare opponents into folding their hand; which also means they will not bet. The pot amount will remain small and the entire hand will be wasted. Using these strategies however, even if all the opponents fold earlier on in the hand; a good chunk of the pot will return to you as a reward for your patience.
Your opponents will also not be able to judge what you are doing in later hands if you space out the use of these strategies. This helps the entire game in the long run because it will always keep your opponents guessing; therefore they won’t be so quick to judge your hands strength or weakness. This will enable you to get away with successful bluffs; as well as trick opponents into betting more into the pot.
There is another strategy which will help in the event a good hand is not received right away but is attributed in one of the later rounds. This particular tactic is named the “Overcall”, or in some cases “Fishing for the Overcall”. A good hand is dealt let’s say in the final round, the River. The same thing needs to be done here that is done with the other strategies; you do not want to scare off your opponents. The best course of action in this situation calls for holding out and simply calling another player’s bet, to encourage the other opponents into doing the same. This will raise the overall pot value, and will earn you a bigger heap of chips as opposed to betting big and making everyone dive out of the way.
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