I love to check-raise. I just can’t help myself. I think it correlates to how much I hate playing hands out of position. If I’ve committed the money to play a hand out of position, it’s only because I want to make substantially more money than I’m putting at risk pre-flop, and the way to get that money is to check-raise. Check-raising is fun. It’s scary. It puts your opponent to a tough decision. Tougher than if you simply bet into him. Bet into a player and all he has to do is call & wait to see what transpires on the turn. When you check-raise, your opponent has to fear that the remainder of your chips will soon be flying into the middle of the pot. It’s such a declaration of strength.

I hate getting check-raised. Of course, it happens. If I raise pre-flop, I will bet the flop damn near 90% of the time. So I’m setting myself up to get check-raised. It doesn’t happen too often, but when it does, I have to really re-evaluate my hand. If I have a strong draw and the implied odds are there, I can call and take one off. After all, calling a check-raise in position is a pretty scary move too. It declares to the raiser, “I wasn’t fucking around with that bet buddy.”

But mostly, I love check-raising because of the look on the face of the check-raised. I love that look. That probably suggests some rather unpleasant things about my personality. But it definitely qualifies me to be a poker player.

I love the smell of check-raise in the morning… smells like… victory.

Posted by Beck in Poker