New players trying desperately to step up their game tend to overuse the check-raise to the point of costing themselves profit. In this article I explore the most common instances in which players try to check-raise.

Check-Raising the Best Hand

In a No-Limit game, check-raising the best hand is rarely the most profitable line you can take. A check-raise tells your opponent that you have a very strong hand. The move is intended to put as much money into the pot as possible, a tactic typically wielded by a player with the most equity.

When you truly have the best hand, you don't want the other player to be scared of you. You want them to have a false sense of security in the hand.

When you truly have the best hand, you don't want the other player afraid of you.

There are three situations you can run into while check-raising the best hand. In all three of these scenarios we'll use the same flop, with you flopping the nuts first to act heads-up:

The Flop:

Situation 1: versus

Your opponent is drawing dead. This opponent has no way to win this pot other than by bluffing; therefore, you have no way to make any money in this pot unless you can convince your opponent to bluff. If you check and your opponent does choose to bluff here, check-raising will win you, with almost 100% certainty, no more than one bet.

Check-calling will rarely win you any more here, but will at least give your opponent the option to fire another barrel on the turn. If the other player puts you on a draw or one pair, they might think they can blow you off the hand with another bet.

Situation 1: Check-raising loses you money.

Situation 2: versus

Your opponent has an open-ended draw with one pair. The chance of your opponent winning this pot is just over 7%, with less than a 1% chance of chopping the pot. You have them absolutely crushed, but they might believe they have a strong hand. When you check, there is a good chance they will be there.

Check-raising gives them a chance to lay down their hand here. If they call your check-raise, they're going to check down the hand or just call unless they hit. The best thing you can do for this player is to let them bluff at you, or hit their lower straight.

By not check-raising you are allowing them to play at you, throwing away a few bets on a bluff or even more if they hit something. Check-raising will shut down their betting on a bluff, and can even slow down bets from a made hand. Often when they do hit, players will still try to keep the pot as cheap as they can after your display of strength.

Situation 2: Check-raising loses you money.

Situation 3: versus

Your opponent has a big hand here. They have top set and are 35% to win the hand. You, with close to double the equity, want to get as much money into this pot as possible. Your opponent here will be more worried about losing to a draw than to flopped nuts.

Chances are no matter how you play the hand here, you're going to get into a big pot. Check-raising is the biggest display of strength you can make; thus it has the most chances of killing your action on the hand. You want to bet, call and raise this player rather than check-raising.

Situation 3: Check-raising might lose you money, depending on your opponent's ability to fold a big hand.

As there are simply no other hands you can possibly run into than rags, drawing hands or made hands, these are the only situations you can be up against when you have the best hand.

Almost never the correct play to check-raise the best hand.

As you can see, check-raising loses you money over any other option you can go with. It is almost never the correct play to check-raise the best hand.

In fact, the only times you should ever check-raise the nuts is when you're playing exclusively on a read of someone else's image. There are players who will feel that you're just trying to bully them with your check-raise, making them come back at you with a three-bet of pure aggression.

Given that players of this style will make up less than 1% of all the players you will ever play (unless you're playing nosebleed six-max stakes), check-raising shouldn't be your first choice. In fact, when you have the absolute nuts, as a beginner check-raising should be the last option you choose.

In the second half of this article I'm going to go over check-raising as a bluff or semi-bluff, check-raising in Limit Hold'em and the impact of check-raising on your table image.

For now, stop check-raising the nuts, unless you never want to win more than one bet.

More beginner strategy articles:

• Check-Raising Part 2
• The Bad Bluff
• Observing Opponents
• Hold'em Mindset Hurts Omaha Profit