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Raise

(An example of a full raise on a $20 betting round is raising a $15 all-in bet to $35.) Multiple all-in wagers, each of an amount too small to individually qualify as a raise, still act as a raise and reopen the betting if the resulting wager size to a player qualifies as a raise. Similarly, if you minimum raise a player that bets into you, you will often be giving them the correct odds to outdraw you, even if you have the best hand at the time. In addition to this, a minimum bet or raise tells you very little about your opponent’s hand, as they are almost always going to call regardless of what they might be holding.

- To increase the amount of the bet.
When you are facing a bet from another player, you will typically have the option to fold, call, or raise. If you “fold” it means that you throw your hand away and concede the pot to the other players who remain in the hand. This is your best option if you do not want to match the wager your opponent has bet. If you “call” it means you match the wager that your opponent bet. This gives you the right to proceed in the hand. If you raise, it means you increase the current wager by an amount that constitutes a legal raise, as defined by house rules. House rules regarding raising can vary from poker room to poker room. Rules pertaining to raising also differ between games with structured betting and those with unstructured betting.
In a Limit Holdem Game, the betting is structured. This means that the size of the bets and raises on each betting round are dictated by the stakes of the game. For example a $3/$6 Limit Hold’em game would have a $3 small bet and a $6 big bet, and bets and raises would be required to be in exactly those amounts. In No-Limit and Pot Limit Hold’em, the betting is unstructured. This means that in No-Limit play, a player may bet any amount equal to or greater than the minimum established wager, up to their entire stack, and in Pot-Limit play, a player may bet any amount equal to or greater than the minimum established wager, up to the size of the pot. In these games, the minimum wager is established by the amount of the big blind. This remains the minimum wager throughout the hand until a player increases it.
Rules regarding raising can get a little tricky, especially for games with unstructured betting. In most poker rooms, the raise rule for No-Limit and Pot-Limit play would be phrased something like “In order to constitute a legal raise, the increase in the wager must be equal to or greater than the amount of the previous bet or raise.” The problem is that the “previous bet or raise” amount may only be a part of the wager you are currently facing. That is because the “previous bet or raise” amount is only the amount added to the current wager by the last player to bet or raise. If there was no previous action on a betting round, then a player’s bet will establish the minimum wager for that betting round, an be the entire amount of the current wager. Often, this will not be the case, and the current wager will also include blind bets or earlier action from the same betting round. In the traditional raise rule, the minimum raise requirement is based only on the action of the last player to bet or raise.
Consider the following, in a $5/$10 blind No-Limit Hold’em game, a player raises to $20 before the flop. This constitutes a legal raise because the increase is “equal to or greater than the amount of the previous bet or raise.” In this case, the previous bet or raise was the $10 blind bet. In order to make a legal raise, the raise had to increase the wager by at least the amount established by the big blind, or $10. Our player’s raise to $20 consists of a $10 call and a $10 raise, which constitutes a legal raise. Now, the total amount of the current wager is $20, but the previous player only raised $10. In this situation, the amount of the minimum established wager has not been changed, it remains at $10. Under the traditional raise rule, if a third player wanted to reraise, they would have to increase the wager by at least the minimum established amount, or $10. If our third player wanted to reraise the minimum amount, he would make it $30 to go, which would consist of a $20 call and a $10 raise. But, the game is No-Limit, and our third player elects to raise more than the minimum. He makes it $40 to go, which can be broken down into a $20 call and a $20 raise. The rules of No-Limit Hold’em state that the minimum bet amount, once established for a particular betting round, cannot be regressive. In other words, the minimum bet for any particular betting round can only stay the same or increase, it can never decrease. When our third player made it $40 to go, his $20 raise increased the minimum wager from $10 to $20. This means that if the initial raiser wanted to reraise when the action got back to him, he would have to make it a minimum of $60 to go, consisting of a $40 call and a $20 raise. Of course, that would be the minimum reraise, but since we are playing No-Limit, he could theoretically bet up to his entire stack. On subsequent betting rounds, the minimum wager reverts back to its initial amount of $10, as established by the size of the big blind. Increases to the minimum wager do not carry over from betting round to betting round.
Since this can all be a little confusing, some clubs have implemented a simplified raising rule that states that a legal raise must be “equal to or greater than the entire amount of the current wager.” With the simplified raise rule, the amount that the previous actor bet or raised is irrelevant. Here, the minimum wager is set at the entire amount of the current wager, including all prior action. This is done for simplicity’s sake, so that the current wager need not be broken down into a call amount and a raise amount. Consider the previous situation where we were playing $5/$10 blind No-Limit Holdem, and a player raised and made it $20 to go. Under the simplified raise rule, the minimum wager is now established at $20, the amount of the current wager. In this situation, if our third player wanted to raise, he would have to make it a minimum of $40 to go, because he would have to at least double the current wager, whereas with the other, more traditional raise rule, he could have made it a minimum of $30. With the simplified raise rule, if the initial player wanted to reraise the $40, he would have to make it a minimum of $80 to go. You can see that with this simplified raise rule, the minimum wager will tend to increase more often than with the tradition raise rule we discussed previously. Many poker purists consider this simplified raise rule a bastardization of the rules of play, and dislike it intensely.
Usage: Raise it Up, I Raise, Check Raise, Check Raised, Raised Preflop
Previous Poker Term: Rainbow
Next Poker Term: Rake

In addition to the many forms of poker, there are also several betting variations that are played. In our rules of poker lesson we explained how to play Texas hold’em but we didn’t mention the betting limits in our example hand, as it may have been a case of too much, too soon. In this poker lesson we’re going to use hold’em as the game format – but this time using the different betting variations; fixed-limit, pot-limit and no-limit.

For simplicity we’ll assume a hold’em poker game with a small blind of $1 and a big blind of $2. While the three different betting structures will all be posting the same amount, you’ll see a big difference in how the games will play due to the different betting variations.

Fixed Limit

In fixed limit, as its name implies, one’s choice of how much to bet is fixed by the stakes. Using our example of $1 and $2 blinds, the player “under the gun” (this is the first player to the left of the big blind) has three options.

• He may call the $2 big blind.
• He may raise but is only permitted to raise $2 as the limits are fixed.
• He may fold and sit out this hand and wait for a new deal. He may not check as the purpose of the blinds is to create the initial action.

If anyone wishes to raise then they can only do so in increments of $2, as shown here:

After this first round of betting the dealer delivers the flop. Players are still limited to a maximum bet of $2 and raises of $2. However, on the turn and river the betting amount doubles, so in our example the betting would now be in $4 increments. These are known as ‘big bets’. There isn’t a choice of betting either $2 or $4. If one now wishes to bet, the amount must be $4 and raises must be in $4 increments. In fact, a fixed limit game with blinds of $1 and $2 is called a $2-$4 game due to the early betting rounds being limited to $2 and the last two rounds doubling but limited to $4.

In fixed limit games, each round of betting usually has a maximum number of allowable raises, which is generally capped at three. If there’s a bet, it can usually only be raised three times, after which all players must call, or fold. In a $2-$4 game the most a player could wager on the first two betting rounds would be $8 (a call, raise, raise, raise) and $16 on the turn and river, if the betting was capped. It’s worth pointing out that some venues will allow more than 3 raises per betting round, so be sure to know the house rules before you sit down and play.

It is generally believed that the primary strategy for a fixed limit hold’em poker game stresses the importance of value betting. We will be explaining and expounding upon value betting and other strategic nuances of poker in later lessons but for now just know that value betting occurs when you actually want your opponents to call your bets as you believe you hold the best hand. So just save this little nugget of information for later in your poker development.

It’s also worth briefly mentioning a variation on fixed limit called spread limit poker. It’s very similar to fixed limit except the amount of the allowable bet is fixed to a range rather than a particular amount. For example in a $1-$3 spread limit poker game you have the option to bet or raise anywhere from $1 to $3. The normal restriction is that each bet or raise must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise. For example if the action is on you and an opponent raised $2 you could not re-raise $1. Your options for re-raising would be either $2 or $3.

Pot Limit

In pot limit play the amount a player can wager is determined by the size of the pot, hence the name pot limit. Pot limit play can get a whole lot pricier than limit play. As the size of the pot grows, the size of the bets can also increase. Let’s review an example using the same stakes of a $1 and $2 blind structure, as we did in limit play.

In pot limit the first player to the left of the big blind has the same options as the player in fixed limit in terms of calling, raising or folding. The difference is in how much he can raise. Calling would simply be matching the $2 posted big blind. Folding requires nothing but mucking (throwing away) your cards. If the player wishes to raise he can raise to a total of $7. How that number is arrived at is as follows: small blind bet of $1 plus the big blind bet of $2 plus a call of $2 equals $5, which would be the raise. The raiser is then calling $2 and raising $5 for a total of $7.

To demonstrate the dramatic difference between our first variation of betting in fixed, let’s see what can happen after the flop in pot limit.

Minimum Re Raise In Poker Tournaments

With $31 in the pot, the first player can bet anywhere from $2 to $31. The next player has several options, but if he wishes to raise then the minimum amount he can raise is the size of the previous bet. The maximum he can raise is $93 more ($62 in the pot, plus the call of $31), meaning his total bet would be $124. Wow, this could get expensive!

The thing to remember in pot limit is a player who wishes to raise first counts the amount he would need to call and adds it to the pot and then can raise the size of the pot. As you can see the betting in pot limit hold’em can escalate much quicker than in fixed limit hold’em. The emphasis in pot limit is placed on post flop play. The reason for this is that you can normally see flops fairly cheaply before the pot grows to the size where raises can get pretty expensive. So our nugget to remember at this juncture for the betting variation of pot limit is to focus to strong post flop play.

No Limit

No limit hold’em has been called by many but most notably, Doyle Brunson (legendary poker player), as the ‘Cadillac of poker’. Its name says it all – there is no limit, except the size of the blinds. Still using the same blind structure as $1 and $2, the first player to act can call, fold or raise. The difference from the other two structures is that a player can raise a minimum of the size of the big blind, but his maximum allowable bet is only limited to the chips he has in front of him at the table (the amount he started the hand with). If there has been a bet beforehand, then the minimum raise amount would be the size of the previous bet. For example, if a player bets $50 then if the next player wishes to raise he must bet at least $100. This is the same as in pot limit, but with one big different, there is no maximum limit.

To use an extreme example to demonstrate the dynamic this format of betting offers, let’s imagine a player in the same $1 small blind and $2 big blind game that happens to have $10,000 in front of him. The action is on him and if he wishes to play he must at least call the $2, however he can elect to raise his entire $10,000!

So you thought pot limit could get expensive – not compared to no limit.

Please bear in mind that although this player has gone all-in for $10,000 – it’s really only $200 – which is the total amount the other player can wager. He can’t win money that another player doesn’t have, and vice versa. This is not like the movies! If you recall the scene from the classic western comedy ‘A Big Hand for the Little Lady’ – she gets up during the middle of a poker hand and runs to the bank to get the deed for the ranch – to call someone’s bet. Well, you can’t do that in Texas hold’em. You can’t do that in any casino anywhere in the world. Poker is always played at table stakes, and table stakes means you can only wager the amount of money you have in front of you when the hand begins. You can’t reach into your wallet mid-stream and pull out more money. You certainly can’t run and get the deed to your ranch, and toss that into the pot – or the keys to your BMW, as a way of calling a bet. That’s the movies – not real life!

Conclusion

How To Raise In Poker

The betting variations described in this lesson are listed in order of excitement, danger, risk and reward. The first variation, fixed limit is safer than either of the other two due to the limit which can be bet. As you can see both pot limit and no limit can become daunting as the amounts bet and raised can escalate very quickly. Which you may favour becomes a matter of taste. Some prefer the smooth, relaxing ride of a carousel while others crave the adrenalin rush offered by a roller coaster.

By Tom 'TIME' Leonard

Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.