The next time you play in your regular game, I want you to keep track of every time you raise. Take a notebook with you with enough space for a separate entry for each reason to raise. For the sake of brevity, you can write EP for eliminate players, FC for free card, GI for gain information, GV for get value from your hand and SB for semi-bluff, all on separate pages.

Whenever you raise, decide what the main reason for your raise is, and record the result on the appropriate page. All you want to know is if the purpose of your raise was successful. For example, if the primary purpose of your raise was to get a free card, and your opponent bet into you on the next round anyway, you would record a “No” or some other negative remark on your “FC” page. Perhaps a “+” or a “-” would work for you. “FCN” (no) or “FCY’ (yes) would also tell you what you want to know.

Compile this list until you have at least thirty entries in each of four different categories (preferably in all five). It’ll probably take more than one or two games to get that many entries on your list. Whenever you’re collecting statistical data like these, the general rule of thumb is: the more the better. If you choose to collect more than thirty samples in each category for this exercise, you’ll have even more reliable results when you analyze the data.

Once you’ve completed your data collection and you have at least the minimum number of entries, compute the percentage of “yes,” or positive marks, you have in each category. Next, arrange the categories by percentage score, with the lowest score at the top and the highest score at the bottom of your list.

If you’re going to work on improving your game, this exercise will tell you where you have the best time and effort to result ratio. The reason for raising that’s working the least for you (the one at the top of your list) is the area in which you have the most room to improve with the least effort. 

After you’ve done this exercise and you’ve worked on this aspect of your game for a while, put it away temporarily and don’t worry about it. If you’ve done the exercise and the work, the subject of raising will be on your mind anyway. After you’ve read the rest of this book and another six months to a year have passed, do this exercise again. I think you’ll be very pleased with your results.

Answer to Test Your Knowledge Question #4 The best type of poker player is what I would call “The Chameleon.” A Chameleon is a player whose superior understanding of the game allows him to assume the identity and playing style of any one of the four types of players when he decides it’s in his best interests. The best way to become a Chameleon is to start out by being a Tight/Aggressive player.

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Freerolling is simply being in the enviable position of having the nuts with a draw to an even better hand. The most common freerolling situation is when you have the nut flush draw but first make a straight with more cards to come. For example, you might have AVQT when the board is K4JV4V104. You have the nut straight, and you'd have to split the pot with anyone else holding AQ. Any V on the river, however, will give you the nut flush, and the other player with AQ would get none of the pot instead of half of it.

This example illustrates the benefit of being suited: it gives you an additional out. For example, if you have 10*9* and the flop is J*847i, you have the nut straight. If the turn card is another *, then you have a draw to a backdoor flush, which will beat anyone else also holding a 109, or anyone who made a straight on the turn.

How do you play your hand when you are freerolling? There are three things you must always do: raise, raise and raise. It doesn't matter if you don't make the draw; you still have the nuts. You'll get in extra bets with a winning hand, and that's the essence of winning poker. There is one situation that you should watch out for: when you're freerolling and it's four bets to go on the turn. With that many bets, if your freeroll draw isn't to the nuts, one of the other raisers probably has it.

Freerolling is simply being in the enviable position of having the nuts with a draw to an even better hand. The most common freerolling situation is when you have the nut flush draw but first make a straight with more cards to come. For example, you might have AVQT when the board is K4JV4V104. You have the nut straight, and you'd have to split the pot with anyone else holding AQ. Any V on the river, however, will give you the nut flush, and the other player with AQ would get none of the pot instead of half of it.

This example illustrates the benefit of being suited: it gives you an additional out. For example, if you have 10*9* and the flop is J*847i, you have the nut straight. If the turn card is another *, then you have a draw to a backdoor flush, which will beat anyone else also holding a 109, or anyone who made a straight on the turn.

How do you play your hand when you are freerolling? There are three things you must always do: raise, raise and raise. It doesn't matter if you don't make the draw; you still have the nuts. You'll get in extra bets with a winning hand, and that's the essence of winning poker. There is one situation that you should watch out for: when you're freerolling and it's four bets to go on the turn. With that many bets, if your freeroll draw isn't to the nuts, one of the other raisers probably has it.

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Poker theory says that all betting starts out as a contest for the antes or, in the case of flop games, the blinds. When a player has no money invested in the hand, and the size of the pot is very small, he has little incentive to enter the pot unless his hand is very good. If he does call, he knows that other players behind him might also call, so he will often raise to discourage competitors from entering the pot. This play is called raising to eliminate players. It's only one of the five major reasons to raise, especially before the flop.

The five major reasons to raise are:
1. To eliminate players.
2. To get a free card.
3. To gain information.
4. To get value from your hand.
5. To bluff or semi-bluff.

Raising to eliminate players works best before the flop, when a player doesn't have any money invested in the pot. It also works well on the flop and on the turn,when a player may have only one bet in the pot, and he doesn't have the right odds to continue with the hand. Raising to eliminate players on the river is less effective, because at that point all the cards are out. Your opponent will call based on his pot odds and his estimation of your hand.

Raising to get a free card sometimes works before the flop, because it may induce players to check to you when they see the flop, but you can't always count on it. If the flop makes a great hand for one of your opponents, the fact that you raised before it won't stop him from betting into you. Raising to get a free card works best on the flop, when the other players flop what they consider to be weak or drawing hands. Because the bet doubles on the turn and the river, raising to get a free card doesn't work then. It costs just as much to raise as it does to call the next bet.

Raising to gain information works best if you are reraising a before the flop raiser, or if you raise a player who has bet on the flop. Your opponent's reaction to your raise is loaded with information, if you know how to interpret what you see. You usually won't raise to gain information on the turn or on the river, because a raise there will have quite a different effect on your opponents.

Raising to get value from your hand works well before the flop, on the flop, on the turn, and on the river. A raise for value often has the undesired effect of making inferior hands fold when you would rather they call, but you can't always know in advance whether that will happen.

Raising to bluff is an unusual tactic in the lower limit games, and you won't see it done very often. Raising to semi-bluff, however, is very common, especially on the flop, and you'll use this tactic very frequently in your games.

Let's look at some examples of how to use each of these tactics in a real game.

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Structure Your Learning
Assignment #7

Next time you play in your regular game, make sure you check out the different tables and try to pick the best one for you. If the floorman has you seated at a table you don't want, tell him to put you on the table change list. Once you get in the right game, start looking for the best seat, using the criteria you learned in this chapter.

When a seat comes available, the first player in the game to inform the dealer that he wants that empty seat gets it. If possible, try to avoid making it obvious why you're changing seats. You certainly don't want to actually say out loud during the game why you're moving.
When you get home, and you're completing your notes about the game, mention the seat change, the reason you changed, and what you think the results of your move were. Make this process a regular part of your note-taking.

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This helps you build the pot for those hands you expect to win. This one tactic alone has a huge positive effect on your hourly rate, which is really what it's all about.

3. Bluffers. The third type of player you want on your left is the player who bluffs too much. Frequently, your proper play is to check your good hands to him to give him a chance to bluff at you, especially on the river. Assuming you're going to win the hand, your goal is to get paid off on the river. If you bet first, your frequent bluffer has to have a hand to call you with, and he'll have to fold a majority of the time. If you check to him, however, he will bluff at you more often than he'll call if you've bet first. Bluffing too often is a mistake. Give him a chance to make that mistake.

Having trouble choosing your seat? Don't worry, there's also a back-up plan for seat selection. If you genuinely do not know which is the best seat in the game, or if you can't identify which players you'd rather have on your left or right, then I recommend you sit in the third or eighth seat at the hold 'em table. If you can't get the third or eighth seat, the seat on either side of those seats will work as well.

From these seats, the other players will be in your field of vision all at once. All you have to do is look up to take it all in. This is important, because it's how you spot the other players' tells, which are worth a lot of money to you if you know how to interpret what you see. We'll discuss tells further in a later chapter.

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I can think of two good examples that illustrate why it's beneficial to sit behind the money in a hold 'em game. The first is from the 1995 movie Sabrina, starring Harrison Ford. He plays a multimillionaire businessman, and it's revealed near the end of the movie that, unknown to him, his chauffeur is also a millionaire. "How did he get to be a millionaire?" you ask. Easy. All he did was listen in on the boss's conversations while working. Then he bought and sold stock based on that information.

The other example of the benefit of playing after the money comes from the blackjack table. Sometimes you will be at the same table as a known card counter. You don't have to know anything about counting cards, and you don't have to keep track of the cards that are still in the deck. You can enjoy the game, and still win, because all you have to do is watch the card counter. When he increases his bet, you increase yours. When he lowers his bet, you lower yours. He does all the mental calculations for you. His bet reflects the result of those calculations. You get the same benefit in a hold em game, if you play after the big winner who plays well.

Most of the information that's valuable to you comes from the players on your right. It usually doesn't help you to have to act on your hand before you know what the player on your left is going to do. In other words, how do you play against a player when you have to act before he does? This isn't a problem if he is the right type of player for you. There are three types of players you shouldn't mind having on your left:
1. Passive Players. You can always count on these players to play only good cards, not to raise too much before the flop unless they have premium hands, and to call too often. Additionally, these players will rarely raise when you're in the blinds, which will allow you see a lot more flops.

2. Maniacs. These are players who play, raise, and reraise every hand. They like to try to win with what they know are weak hands, they overbet their draws, and they almost never just call. Although you might prefer to have this player on your right, there's an advantage to having him on your left.

Since you know he'll play and bet every hand and every round, if he's on your left, you can make extensive use of check-raising when you have good hands.

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Knowledge is power. Everybody knows that. At the hold 'em table, look at the actions of your opponents as their way of giving you knowledge that you can use as a weapon against them. For that reason, you'd like certain types of players to act on their hands before you do. Those players are:

1. Loose players. People who play too many hands cannot possibly have a premium hand every time. When you call against these players, you'll usually have the better hand, so you'll show a profit over a period of time. When you raise, the loose player will already have one bet in the pot, and he will almost always call the raise from you. If you've got a loose player on your right, you've got him trapped.

2. Very aggressive players. These are not the same as loose players. While a loose player plays too many hands, a very aggressive player bets, raises and reraises too much with the fewer hands that he does play. Against such a player, you'll often be in the position of having to call two or more bets cold. This is good for you for two reasons:
1. At least you're not in the position of having called one bet and being trapped into calling another bet when someone behind you raises. You can fold without having called any bets.

2. If your hand is very good, you can leverage the aggressive player's raise, using it to drive out other players behind you by raising yourself. You can't do this if the aggressive player is on your left.

3. The money. By this I mean the player who has the the biggest winner in the game. True, he could have bought all of those chips, or he could just have been lucky enough to win the biggest pot of the day. In the absence of any other information, though, you can assume he's a good player. If you spent a few minutes watching the game before you got in, you'll know what kind of player he is, and you'll be able to tell if his winnings come from luck or skill. If he's really good, you want him on your right, where he'll act on his hand before you most of the time.

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