Wed, 02/23/2011 – 03:00 – PokerPages Staff

Two basic tenets espoused by the experts of the World Series of Poker are:  1) Unless you can call a re-raise, you shouldn’t raise and 2) don’t call unless you have the odds to raise.  An additional precept is:  Know when you have the best hand and bet it.  Together, these three principles can advance the play of the beginner poker player. 

There is always a chance of a re-raise to your raise, so make sure you are raising with a very strong holding.  Avoid raising with hands that are dominated by hands such as pocket Aces, pocket Kings or Ace-King suited, as an opponent who makes a re-raise will probably hold such a hand.  Examples of these second best hands are unsuited K-J, Q-T, A-T, or weaker.  Making a raise with a hand that could not hold up to a re-raise can be costly.

As a general rule, you should not call a raise with a hand that you would not initiate a raise.  More so, you should have a stronger holding to call a raise than you would to make a raise.  Although many beginners think that a call is indicative of holding a very strong hand, a simple call could indicate relative weakness.  The logic is that if you are holding a very powerful hand, why would you not initiate a re-raise?   

As profitability is the primary goal of poker, building the pot when you hold the best hand is key.  The best way to accomplish this is to bet, call a raise or re-raise with a dominating hand.  By doing so, you are removing the possibility that a free card or cheap card will better you opponents hand to the extent that you hold the second best, while at the same time hoping that the free card will make your opponent’s hand second best.  Playing a strong holding against an opponent’s second best is highly profitable.

To learn more, check out PokerSchoolOnline, the best source on the internet for poker related learning.  Then put those skills to work by playing for free at PokerStars.net.  Also, check out the PokerPages sections Poker Information and Poker Articles for more poker tips and strategies.