heck-raising is when you check your hand and then raise when another player bets. In home games, the idea of check-raising is con-idered sandbagging and is frowned upon or even not allowed. However, it is allowed in most casino poker rooms and is a powerful tool to help you extract more money from your fellow players.

Check raising is a good way to get more money in the pot when you think you have the best hand. When you have a hand that can't be beaten you would want to slowplay, but if your hand is susceptible to a stronger hand you may want to utilize the check-raise. When you check-raise you are also looking to eliminate some of the players thus narrowing the field. This will depend on the position of the player you are check-raising.

A good opportunity for a check-raise comes when the player to your immediate left has raised before the flop. If you flop a strong hand and think that you have the pre-flop raiser beaten, it will be to your advantage to check-raise. If you bet, the player to your left may raise you immediately. This would force all the other players to either cold call two bets or fold. If you are certain he will bet, then you can check. Most of the other players will assume that the pre-flop player would naturally bet after the flop and many will call one bet. When the action gets back to you, a check raise will force them to call one more bet rather than two. Most players, having already called, will call a single raise.

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