Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 19 May 2009 / Leave a comment

One of the first signs of a new player's ability when you first start playing with them is if they have the tendency to raise and then fold to a re-raise.

....but when they get played back at holding junk they fall for the oldest illusion of hold'em - the desire to see a flop."

All good players raise fold a great deal, as they have a decent grasp of both the gap concept (that of needing a much stronger hand to call with than raise with), as well of effective stacks and their effect on what hands they should be calling with pre flop.

Bad players will happily raise with both good and bad hands, much like good players, but when facing re-raises their behavior changes drastically. Bad players who get played back at call or re-raise with their good hands, just like strong players; but when they get played back at holding junk they fall for the oldest illusion of hold'em - the desire to see a flop.

Instead of considering the actual odds of their hand hitting, and comparing that to the effective stacks and likely implied odds on offer, they just call regardless, and as a result get killed in all the situations where the relevant factors to consider do not add up. Good players do not do this, and as a result will regularly raise fold in many of the situations where they get played back at.

Players who raise fold frequently are usually going to be quite dangerous players, as they are balancing their opening ranges well, and as a result you will never quite know what hand they are opening with - always a tricky situation to find yourself in against any poker player.

This is a great early stages tell about a player's ability - and one that is particularly valuable in sit and goes or multi table tournaments where you do not have long to build up a player profile - and you should look for it as soon as possible.

It is key to identify good players, particularly at low stakes, as a radical different skill set is needed to beat them, and this tell is a great insight into a player's ability, one which could well be the difference between winning and losing for you on a given day.

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