Raising to Thin the Field
There is a popular misconception that a primary purpose of raising before the flop is to drive other players out of the pot-no limi the field.
It’s an idea that just keeps getting repeated over and over again in poker books-a mantra to soothe the soul.
It’s an idea that’s just wrong.
So far I haven’t found a single Holdem book that doesn’t suggest someplace in the book that you should raise with a hand like A 
A 
if your raise will cause others to fold.
The idea they all express is that if you can reduce the number of opponents, you’ll increase your chances of winning the pot.
Well, that idea is right. Fewer opponents do mean you have a greater chance of winning the pot.
That’s true whether your hand is A A or 7 
2 
.
Poker isn’t about winning pots –it’s about winning money.
With a very strong hand such as A A , you’ll win the most money when you have as many callers as you can get.
Semi-bluffs
In most cases, aggressive play is winning play. You should constantly be applying pressure to the other players to give them tough decisions to make.
You may reraise when you think you’re either beaten badly or your opponent is bluffing.
Bluffing and semi-bluffing are important to keep yourself unpredictable, and because you’re keeping track of the ranges of plausible hands, it’s quite likely you’ll often know where your opponent stands.
Cold bluffing is usually restricted to the river, where you might bet into one or two opponents(who might fold) if you have no chance of winning the pot at a showdown.
Semi-bluffing is betting with a hand that is not likely best but has some big outs.
Your opponent may seriously misread you. There is an important balance here.
You must have sufficiently tight hand selection criteria such that when you do bet your opponent is positively terrified that you may have a big hand like an overpair.
Semi-bluffing is very powerful, because you’ve been so careful in choosing your starting hands that even if you aren’t there yet, you are likely to get there.
Pick the Right Table / Picking a Seat / Theories of Poker / Betting Theory: The Odds
A Theory of Starting Hand Value
A Theory of Flop Play: Counting Outs and Evaluating Draws
The Dynamics of Game Conditions / Table Image / Player Stereotypes
Women and Poker / Spread-Limit Games / Double Bet on the End Games / Kill Games
Short-handed Games / Tournaments / No-limit and Pot-Limit Poker
