Poker Online Free Games Guide To Why You Should Not Use The Minimum Raise

A common error I see made by beginners when they first learn poker on free online poker games sites (hopefully they are playing free poker!) is to put in the minimum raise. There are mathematical and psychological reasons why raising for the minimum is a bad idea.

Giving the other players good odds

A minimum raise does little to defend your hand before the flop. If you’re holding pocket aces before the flop and you raise the smallest amount possible, it’s likely that many people will call your bet. The result of this will be that more players see the flop.

When more players live to see the flop cheap, there is a bigger chance that your premium hand will weaken and get beaten. The percentages prove this. In order to defend your pocket aces or kings, you should bet a decent large amount so that your opponents have to pay big to beat you.

A minimum raise does very little to defend your hand after the flop too. If you’ve flopped a set with your pocket aces and bet the minimum on a dangerous board, you’re giving the other players the opportunity to beat you.

Suppose that you hold Ad-Ah and the flop comes As-6s-Jc. If your opponents are on flush draws or straight draws, you won’t scare them away with a tiny bet. They’ll want to see whether they can make their flush or straight on the turn. So you need to put down a good sized bet in order to defend your hand and force them to pay to beat you.

Losing out on value

Part of the reason why no-limit hold’em is such a profitable game is because good players bet the right amount to extract the most value they can from their strong hands.

Whenever you make a minimum bet, you’re not building much of a pot. You aren’t maximizing value from the hand in any way. You’ve got to be betting a competitive amount prior to the flop, on the flop, on the turn, and on the river.

Another reason why reason why no-limit hold’em is such a profitable game is because good players can let go of a hand that isn’t worth fighting for.

You want the other players to commit themselves to the pot by forcing them to put a fair number of their chips in a pot. It’s much easier to fold when you’re not pot committed. Minimum betting leads to small pots that some players simply think won’t be worth fighting for.

A typical tell

The minimum raise may be a sign of a powerful hand. In poker, strong means poor and poor means strong.

Some beginning players think they’re kidding players by betting the minimum, but they’re not. Seasoned players are aware that a minimum bet can often be a sign of a good hand.

You will encounter times when a minimum bet is a true sign of weakness, but a lot the time that basically isn’t the case. This is true both prior to the flop and after the flop.

This is specially true if a player three bets or re-raises for the minimum. Why would somebody want to keep you in the hand? It’s probably since they know their hand is clearly the top and want you to give them more chips.

If you are setting out to learn how to play poker or after reading this realize that your betting and raise practices need brushing up then your fastest way to improve fast is to play poker online for free. When you play risk free you can try things out minus the anxiety of possible cash loss and that makes a massive difference! And if you need learn to play poker for beginners courses then the free poker sites have great intro training too.