Choosing Your Option
In poker, players have five basic choices: to check, bet, call, raise or fold. All are valid options to choose under the right circumstances.
Some pundits deride checking and calling as weak play, but there times when checking is the best action to take. For instance, if you are big blind, with no raise coming in behind you, it is fine to check pre-flop. You get to see the flop, and there’s always the possibility it could connect with your hand. If the flop misses you, checking is the right thing to do, and then folding to any bet.
Calling a bet may appear weak when you play poker online, but that is not always the case. A player holding the nuts will often slow play their cards with a call just to keep other players in the hand. If you have lots of outs to a draw, calling a bet is fine since you have good odds on a drawing hand, but are not actually holding the winner yet.
When up against aggressive betting with weak cards, calling is always a weak play. This is a classic way for aggressive bettors to exploit weak players who call a lot.
A raise can serve several purposes when you play poker online. First, it will scare off other player and narrow the field. You may even win the pot with just a raise when everyone folds to it. When you are holding a strong hand, a raise can build a bigger pot for you win. You must appraise your opponents’ limits for how much of raise they will call so you can keep their chips coming into the pot.
