Postflop Coach — free heads-up postflop poker trainer中文 · 日本語 · Deutsch

Facing Raises

Lesson 15 · Fold, call, or re-raise when raised · 28 practice questions

Raise = strength or semi-bluff

When you bet and get raised, villain's range shrinks dramatically. Most players raise the flop or the turn with two kinds of hands: strong made hands — two pair, sets, straights — and strong draws played as semi-bluffs. Raises with pure air are rare, and on the river bluff-raises are rarer still. So the first question after a raise is not 'do I have a good hand?' but 'how does my hand do against two pair or better, plus draws?'. Against that range, top pair top kicker is a bluff-catcher on a draw-heavy board and close to worthless on a dry one; an overpair is the same hand with a different name.

Example. Flop A♠8♦3♣: you bet, villain raises, it costs 12 to call with 18 in the pot, and you hold A♥K♦. You need 12/(18+12+12) = 29%. On a board this dry he has few draws, but he also raises worse aces for value, and you hold the best one-pair hand there is: call, and re-evaluate on the turn. On J♠T♠4♦ with Q♥8♣ (10 to call, pot 14) there is little to evaluate: no pair and only a gutshot against a range of two pair, sets and big draws — fold.

Common mistake: reading a raise as a bluff because 'he can't have it every time'. He does not need to: a range of sets, two pair and big draws is ahead of one pair almost every time.

Fold the bottom of your range

Facing a raise you still defend a share of your betting range — but it is the top share. The hands that go are the ones at the bottom of what you bet: air, weak pairs, weak top pairs on coordinated boards, naked gutshots. What stays is strong enough to beat some of his value or to draw to the nuts. Board texture moves the line: on a dry board his raising range has few draws, so one pair is in worse shape; on a wet board he has many semi-bluffs, so a good one-pair hand can continue once — but a weak kicker on a connected board is dominated by everything that raises for value.

Example. Turn Q♥J♦9♠5♣: you bet, villain raises, 16 to call with 22 in the pot, and you hold Q♠4♦. You need 16/(22+16+16) = 30%. His value range — K-T, T-8, sets, two pair — crushes a queen with no kicker, and you block none of it: folding is the standard line. Compare the turn J♥T♦4♣2♠ with Q♣Q♦ at the same price: an overpair beats his semi-bluffs and some worse value — call. On the river, with 6♥4♦ on K♥9♦6♣3♠2♥ after a thin bet gets raised (16 to call, pot 20), third pair beats nothing that raises: fold.

Common mistake: calling a raise 'to see what he does on the next street' with a hand that cannot improve. The next street is a bigger bet into the same problem.

Re-raise with the nuts

Some hands are too strong to just call a raise with. When you hold a set, a straight or the nut flush and villain raises, he is telling you he has a hand that wants to put money in — two pair, a smaller set, a big draw. Re-raising gets that money in while he still wants to pay, before a scare card arrives and slows him down. Strong draws can re-raise too: a nut flush draw has plenty of equity when called and folds out the hands that are slightly ahead. What you should not do is slow-play into aggression on a wet board: the cards that complete draws also kill your action.

Example. Flop 9♠8♦6♥: you hold 6♣6♠, bottom set, and face a raise (10 to call, pot 14). The board is full of straight draws and two-pair hands that will pay now and may not pay on the next card: re-raise. River K♠9♠4♠J♦2♣ with A♠6♠ — the nut flush — facing a raise of 22 into 30: re-raise, because there is no better hand and plenty of worse flushes that call. With A♠K♠ on J♠T♠4♦ facing a raise, calling and re-raising are both good: you have the nut flush draw, a gutshot and two overcards.

Common mistake: re-raising one pair 'to find out where I am'. You do find out — by getting the money in behind, or by folding out everything you beat.

Key takeaways

• Raised on a dry board with one pair → call only with the best kicker; fold weak top pair and worse.
• Raised on a wet board with top pair top kicker or an overpair → call once and re-evaluate; fold top pair with a weak kicker.
• Raised with air, a bare gutshot or a small pair → fold; the price (about 30%) is not there.
• Raised while holding a set, a straight or the nut flush → re-raise, especially when the board can still change.
• Raised while holding a nut flush draw or a combo draw → call or re-raise; never fold.

Sample drill from this lesson

FAQ

Key terms in this lesson

Equity · Gutshot vs OESD (Straight Draws) · Range (Poker Hand Range) · Board Texture (Wet vs Dry) · Bluff Catcher · Scare Card · Thin Value Bet · Semi-Bluff

All 29 lessons