Raising

According to the Fundamental Theorem of Poker, you gain when your opponents play a hand differently from the way they would if they knew what you had. Any time you raise, for whatever specific tactical reason, you are doing so to avoid making a mistake yourself, according to the Fundamental Theorem, and to cause your opponents to make mistakes. There are numerous reasons for raising. Many have been discussed in various contexts in earlier chapters. In this chapter we will review all these reasons and explain several of them in more detail. We will also explain how raising is an extension of the Fundamental Theorem of Poker.
We reduce the principal reasons for raising to seven:
1. To get more money in the pot when you have the best hand.
2. To drive out opponents when you have the best hand.
3. To bluff or semi-bluff.
4. To get a free card.
5. To gain information.
6. To drive out worse hands when your own hand may be second best.
7. To drive out better hands when a come hand bets.
Now let's look at each of these reasons individually.
Raising to Get More Money in the Pot
Getting more money in the pot is the primary reason to raise when you think you have the best hand. Clearly you would raise a single opponent on the end with what you think is the best hand, but on earlier rounds you must always decide whether it's worth giving your hand away to get another bet or two in the pot. (See Chapter Eight, "The Value of Deception," and Chapter Fifteen, "Slowplaying.") Essentially, the decision to raise on an early round depends upon the size of the pot and how big a favorite you think your hand is.
Ironically, the better your hand, the more reason you would have for not raising on an early round If you think opponents will call another player's bet but fold if you raise, and if at the same time you figure they aren't getting sufficient pot odds to call a bet if they knew what you had, then you should not raise. You should give them the opportunity to make the mistake of calling. However, if they are getting correct pot odds to call a single bet, which is most often the case, you should raise even if they are still getting sufficient pot odds to call both the bet and the raise. In this instance, you're rooting for them to fold, but when they do call, you're at least getting more money in a pot you expect to win most of the time. Then again, by all means raise if you expect an opponent who shouldn't even call a single bet to call a raise. You might as well get as much money from a hopeless chaser as you possibly can. Similarly, when you get heads-up with one opponent in a limit game, it is generally correct to raise if you think you have the best hand to make your opponent fold hands with which he might outdraw you.
As the pot gets larger and larger, it becomes less and less important to disguise your big hands and more and more important to get even more money in the pot. Often with a large pot, you're rooting for opponents to fold when you raise, for they're probably getting sufficient pot odds to call. However, whether you hope they fold or hope they call, the size of the pot is likely to keep them around to see another card. Therefore, it is usually correct to raise with what you think is the best hand and get more money into a large pot even if it tends to give your hand away.