Why people raise before the river in texas hold'em poker?

Question

i don't understand what people get from raising money before the flop or even before the river, why not check until the river and then decide to raise if you have a good hand.

maybe it has a little point if you have no good hand and you want to bloff, but i see people also go all in with good hands, which they still can lose after they see the community cards, why not wait until you see all cards?

Answer 1

People raise to for many reasons.

1) Believe they have the best hand and want to make the pot bigger

2) To get information on what their opponent's have

3) To force other people to fold WHO MAY HAVE A BETTER HAND THAN THEM

...and a bunch more other reasons actually.

You generally don't want any player to see the Flop, Turn, or River for free(no bets). You want them to "pay" to see the next card that may help their hand, or Fold, because it's too much for them to see the next card even if they COULD have a good hand later on.

Your chips are your resources to determine information and muscle people out of pots you want to win.

Answer 2

First of all, you want to build a pot up with money. If you wait all the way till the river to bet, then you will win very little. The goal is to build a pot up the entire hand.

And most importantly, if you do have the best hand from the start, you may want to bet to keep other people from improving their hands. If you have AA and 3 clubs come on the flop, you will want to bet a lot to keep people from catching a flush and beating you.

Answer 3

There's a long and complicated answer to this question, and I won't go into it here. There are plenty of books and websites that will explain proper betting strategies to you. But here's the bottom line:

Poker is a game of luck and skill. Everyone has luck, and relying on it will not make you a winner. Knowing when and how much to bet is the most important element of playing skilled poker, and if you don't ever bet anytime except after the river, you will ALWAYS be a loser.

Answer 4

If you are talking about high-raises - The most common reason for this is to eliminate people who are looking to 'fish' for a good hand as the flop, turn, and river come out - for example, If I have a pocket pair of Kings, and I want to make sure that someone isn't going to be hanging around with 2 lower, but suited cards - then raising before the flop helps me know that I have probably run of most 'long-shot fishers'.  

If you are talking about lower 'massage' raises -  the main reasons for this is to a)  - increase the amount of money in the pot -plain and simple (usually if you're fairly certain of winning); b)  - to see how serious the opponent is/ coax the opponent into re-raising; or c) - gambling on buying the pot (if no one else has any cards at all and you suddenly seem to be reasonably betting)

Your logic is sound in that there is more chance to win as more card-information becomes available.  However, the majority of poker takes place in a high-uncertainty environment.  That is why studying card probabilities, other player's betting habits, and other player's propensity for risk are all very important.  The main thing to remember is that poker is a mental game above all else - even above what cards people actually have.  Its about what cards other people think someone has :).

When interpreting people's betting ask -How is your raise going to be interpreted by others?  Also - How are others trying to have their bets be interpreted? (i.e. -what seems to be the point of their raise -to chase you off, get just a bit more money out of you, or test your waters)  Also, while studying peoples betting patterns you can determine why they bet certain ways in certain situations and what they have tendencies to do.

Answer 5

You bet in any round in poker to do many things. One of them is to thin the field. When you have a hand like aces you don't want 9 other people seeing the flop, turn and river. This is because with more players the pot the more likely it is they will draw out on you. So by betting pre flop you keep the edge. Another reason people bet is to build the pot, when you flop a great hand you want 2nd best hands to pay you off. If you had made the best hand on the river there would not be enough money in the pot to make it worth  the effort. Also since most times you will mis the flop anyways makes pre flop action so important. Understanding board cards, players and poistion can tell you most times what other players have.

Answer 6

Before the flop: They either have a good hand - or - they have a ok hand and are bluffing...

Before the river: they have a either have a great hand with all cards considered or are again bluffling.

either way watch what the player does and if you notice he bluffs a lot bet bet bet !

Answer 7

You might as well be rolling dice if that is the approach to playing poker.  you raise preflop for a number of reasons, primarily to limit the field.  I guess I could put a 100 page response on why one raises in poker, at any stage, but, much to the pleasure of yahoo, I will not.  I would like to ask you a question, where are you playing cards? and would you mind if I joined your game?

poker is a fight using cards and chips as your weapon, so I ask you, why would a boxer go for a knock out and risk getting knocked out himself, if there are judges who can pick the winner at the end of the match????

I have seen your response now, what are the stakes you are playing for on face book (I have no idea what that is).  I am guessing  you are not playing for real money, if that is the case you answered your own question.....fun play is like getting married but remaining a virgin your whole life (tried to figure a nice way to say it).  If you aren't risking real money, you aren't playing real poker.  And if you aren't playing real poker.......well, i reckon you are gonna stay a virgin.

Answer 8

At the risk of sounding condescending .............

The reasons for betting and/or raising preflop, post-flop & post-turn are many, but I'll break it down to three simple concepts.

1.) You bet to get others to fold, because you have a bad hand.

2) You bet to get others to fold, because you have the best hand now, but you may not have the best hand after 2 more cards are shown.

3) You bet to get others to call (or raise) because you have the best hand now, and you're fairly sure you'll have the best hand later, so you want to get their money in before THEY realize the you have the best hand.