After 2 callers limp in from early position, you limp in from middle position with AK offsuit. Everyone else folds to the button, who also limps in. The Small Blind also calls, and the Big Blind checks. The flop comes down a beautiful 2 K 7 rainbow; the perfect flop for AK. Everyone checks to you, and because there are no draws out there to worry about, you bet out only half the pot. The button folds without a second thought, but to your surprise, the Small Blind calls.

Then all hell breaks loose when the Big Blind raises 4 times your bet. Now you're facing a potentially troublesome situation. The Big Blind could be bluffing (though not likely with a check-raise maneuver, it is possible that someone may use this technique as a bluff), he could be getting over-excited with his K4 in the hole, or he could even have the worst starting hand in Texas Hold 'em: 2 7 offsuit. If the last option is the case, then he just flopped a lucky two pair against your one pair, and you're in pretty bad shape in this hand.

And that's just one big problem. The Small Blind may also be a problem. He checked and only called. He did not bet out or raise. The check-and-call is often the sign of a player on a draw, but there are no possible draws on this board, so it's more likely that this player may be trapping you. Perhaps he hit a set if he's got pocket deuces. Since he was getting 11 to 1 pot odds to call preflop, he could realistically have any given two cards: 22, 77, K7, K2, 72.

Of course this is a hypothetical situation, but similar to many situations that poker players have faced or will face at some point in their poker career. But don't worry too much; this situation can be avoided. The trick to avoiding these types of scary and sometimes expensive scenarios is a simple technique known as the preflop raise.

A preflop raise, simply defined, is a raise that a poker player makes after being dealt their hole cards and before the flop is dealt. The preflop raise is a way of alerting other players that you have a strong hand, like Aces or Kings. Not that you always will necessarily have these starting hands when you raise preflop, but it will make other players stop and think that you might before they decide to put a large portion of their own money into the pot. Often, this is enough to scare most players out of the hand, and you'll likely only be called by one or sometimes maybe two other opponents with decent strength hands of their own. This will usually eliminate the worry in the above mentioned scenario because the blinds would not have been likely to call your preflop raise with a hand like 27, K4, or K2.

The Advantages to the Preflop Raise

Advantages to preflop raising are many. One advantage is that you narrow the field. Playing against one other player in the hand is always simpler than playing in a multiway pot. You only have to figure out what one player is holding versus trying to figure out many hands. The more players there are in a hand, the higher the odds of being outdrawn by an opponent become.

Another advantage is that when you let off a preflop raise, you give your opponent or opponents the impression that you have Pocket Aces. So in a situation where you raise with AK and miss the flop, you can follow through with a... Read the full article on preflop strategy and view starting hand charts at cardsinner.com

Multi-way Action