The Power of the Raise

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could reach into your bag of tricks and come up with a weapon that was so powerful it could devastate your opponents, regardless of the game?

Superman had Kryptonite. Batman and Robin had masks and the Batmobile. America had a super-bomb that flattened two cities in Japan to end World War 2.

And poker players have the power of the raise.

There are few weapons more powerful than the raise -- if it is properly applied.

If you are new to poker, you probably have no idea how strong the raise is whether you are playing for cash or in a poker tournament. I have even known many veteran poker players who have won a lot of money who don't understand how to use the raise to increase their earnings.

One of my favorite hobbies is deep sea fishing To me, there are few things more thrilling than taking a boat out into the mysteries of the deep and throwing a baited hook into the sea and waiting for that strike.

A champion fisherman knows the biggest fish don't pull hard at the bait. They nibble. They just test the waters.

When a novice fisherman feels that slight tug on his line, he often makes a mistake that costs him the prize. He pulls sharply pulls the line -- and misses the fish.

A good poker player who understands the power of the raise and the way to apply it can be compared to a deep sea fisherman who brings home that 1,000-pound blue fin tuna that makes headlines in his hometown newspaper.

I learned the power of the raise in a small poker game at the Elks Club in Brownsville, Pa. more than 20 years ago. I was editor of a daily newspaper and liked nothing better than heading to the Elks Club after work and matching my wits against the other players.

The regulars included Sam Nicola, the town's police chief; his wife, Fannie; Mugsy Belvis who baked wedding cakes and who was married to a civil engineer named John; Dave, a coal miner in his 30s; Andy, a retired coal miner who had been born in Russia and who was in his 90s; and a widow named Betty whose favorite expression was 'Shut up and deal.'

Our group met at the club to play poker on Tuesdays and Fridays, starting around 7 p..m. and playing until the wee hours of the morning. We would meet at Mugsy's house on Thursday and Saturday where Mugsy would serve us fried chicken or a piece of wedding cake while her husband, John, would watch a Pirate or Pittsburgh Steelers football game on the television set upstairs. Those were fun days.

I was just learning to be play poker. I had picked up a couple of good instructional books on poker, including one by Irwin Steig called 'Poker For Fun and Profit.'

Steig had a chapter on raising that fascinated me. He wrote that most poker players did not understand the psychological impact that a raise has on the other players and how it can be used to win a pot even if you fail to improve your hand after the draw or flop.

A raise tells the other players you have a better hand than they have, even if this is not the case. Unless they happen to be a player with superior skills or improve their hand, they will usually surrender the pot to you when you come out betting -- even if you fail to make your hand. That basically lets the raiser get away with thievery.

I worked for the Brownsville Daily Telegraph for about a year before pulling up stakes and accepting a writing job on a newspaper in West Palm Beach, FL. I hated to leave Brownsville because I had made a lot of friends there. My parents along with my two brothers and sister lived less than 20 miles away.

When I announced to our small group that I was leaving, Mugsy insisted on throwing a going-away party for me at her home. That Saturday, we met at noon and had a backyard steak fry. She had also baked a big cake to commemorate the occasion. The poker game followed.

Dave came up to me before the game started. He said, 'I didn't understand raising before you came here. You taught e more about the power of the raise than anyone I ever met. Where did you pick up that information?'

I went to my car and brought back my well-worn copy of 'Poker For Fun and Profit' and gave it to him.

'Good luck,' I said.. 'If we ever meet again, just don't use what you've learned against me. Promise?'

'Promise,' said Dave, grinning 'I'll try to keep my word. And you know poker players never lie.'

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter. If you have a unique gambling story to share with him, you may qualify for a cash award. Send your story with all the details to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).