According to the Fundamental Theorem of Online Poker Games, 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 pages. In this page we will review all these reasons and explain several of them in more detail. We will also explain how raising an extension of the Fundamental Theorem of Online Poker Games.

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 by Not Raising

Raising to Drive Out Opponents

Raising as a Means of Cutting Down Opponents' Odds

Raising to Get a Free Card

Raising to Gain Information

Raising to Bluff or Semi-Bluff

Raising to Drive Out Hands

Raising Versus Folding or Calling

Check-Raising

• Theory of Bluffing
• Pot Size and Number of Opponents
• Checking in Poker
• Reading Hands
• The Pace of Play and Position