The check-raise can be a very powerful move in Texas Holdem slow playing. Good poker players usually employ it after the flop, or in some cases, after the turn. You make a big poker hand, but instead of betting you just check, indicating that you’ve missed the flop. Your opponent bets. Now you raise, revealing the strength of your poker hand. If your Texas Holdem opponent throws his poker hand away, you’ve made one more bet than presumably you would have had you bet out straightaway. If he calls, you’ve gotten significantly more money in the pot.
While the check-raise can make you some extra money with a good poker hand, it does come with associated risks.

Here are a few things to consider when contemplating a check-raise in Texas holdem:
1. Is your opponent aggressive? If he’s not aggressive, then checking with the idea of check-raising may just be a tactical error. A tight or weak-tight poker player may just check behind you and take a free card, and you haven’t succeeded in getting any more money in the pot.
2. Can you stand to give a free card? If there are draws on board that can beat your strong poker hand, you may well be better off taking the pot right there, or at least giving your holdem opponent the wrong odds for drawing.
3. Do you have the table persona of a straightforward value bettor or a tricky trappy guy? If you’ve been playing straightforward Texas Holdem poker, your check-raise is more likely to work. If you’ve been shucking and jiving through the session, your poker opponents have probably started to assume that your plays mean the opposite of what they appear to mean, and will give you a wide berth.

Here’s an example showing a good check-raise situation in Texas Holdem:

Eight players remain at your poker table. Blinds are $400/800 with $50 antes. $1,600 in the pot to start. You are the big blind with A♠Q♠. The first five players fold, and the button, a very aggressive poker player who routinely bets at pots no one has opened, and who makes continuation bets after the flop, raises to $3,000. The small blind folds. Both you and the button have large stacks at this point. You have played solidly throughout the tournament. What do you do?

Answer: The normal play is to reraise with poker hand this good, but you need to call occasionally for variety. The button may be stealing, but you don’t know that and he will have position on you in subsequent rounds. We would use a mix of 70% raises and 30% calls in this situation.

You actually call and the pot is $6,800. The flop comes A♥9♠2♦. You act first. What do you do?

Answer: All conditions are right for a check-raise. Your opponent is aggressive and has moved at pots in the past, you seem solid and straightforward, and the board isn’t offering any dangerous straight or flush draws. Your pair of aces with a queen kicker is very likely to be good at this point.

You check. He bets $3,500.
A good amount for a raise is something between double and triple his bet, but closer to triple than double. Drawing out on you should be a very expensive proposition.

You raise to $9,000, and he folds.
Check-calling is a riskier but potentially more profitable play than check-raising in Texas Holdem. Here you are going to voluntarily give your poker opponent a free card, with the idea of winning more money later in the hand. The next example shows some of the issues involved.

Final poker table of a major tournament. Six players remain. The blinds are $1,000 and $2,000, with $200 antes. The starting pot is $4,200. You are second to act before the flop. The players and their chip counts are as follows:

Sm Blind $80,000
Big Blind $210,000
Player 1 $240,000
You $250,000
Player 3 $110,000
Player 4 $90,000

You are known to be a very smart, experienced Texas Holdem player, capable of making moves at any time. Player 3 is also smart and very experienced, with a reputation for aggressive play. Player 1 folds. You pick up

and raise $7,000, slightly more than three times the big blind. It’s been the standard opening raise during this round of blinds. Player 3 calls. The button and the blinds fold. The pot is now $18,200. The flop comes

You’re first to act. What should you do?

Answer: You’ve flopped a monster, trip nines, and your poker hand is obviously strong enough to slow-play. You should mostly elect to check here. I say "mostly," because you will occasionally have to put out a bet in these situations, so your holdem opponents can’t simply peg you as someone who checks when he’s strong and only bets when he’s weak. Good Texas Holdem players have a tendency to fall into that pattern, especially in short-handed situations at the end of poker tournaments. But let’s assume you’ve been mixing up your play well recently, so now you are free to check and set a trap.

Here’s the really interesting question. Suppose you check and your poker opponent makes a good-sized bet, say $10,000. Do you then raise, or just call?

Deciding between slow-playing with a check-raise and slow-playing with a check-call is one of the toughest decisions in Texas Holdem poker. Often there will not be a clear-cut answer.

You have two goals:
1. Extract as many extra bets as possible from your poker opponent, and
2. Avoid losing the hand. Here are some of the issues that bear on the decision:

Is your opponent weak and/or tight? Will he put in extra bets down the road, or not? A weak-tight poker player might make one stab at the pot, but if he meets resistance, he’s done with poker hand unless he catches something big down the road. Check-calling an opponent with this profile is wrong since he won’t put any more money in the pot unless the free card you gave him actually improves his poker hand, in a way that may beat you. Here you check-raise, and expect to win the hand immediately.

Is your opponent known to be aggressive? An aggressive poker player presents different problems. He’ll certainly interpret your check-call as representing some sort of hand, but if he puts you on a drawing poker hand (in this case a flush draw), he may be inclined to test you with another bet on fourth or fifth street. If he’s holding a medium or low pair (say eights or fours) he may simply believe that he still has the best poker hand and bet on that basis. A check and a call makes the most sense against this player. That play represents two high cards, and if a small card comes on fourth street and you check again, he may bet again.

Do you need to establish some defense? There’s yet another reason for check-calling against an aggressive poker player – defensive reason. You’ll find yourself in plenty of situations where you check after the flop and don’t want anyone to bet at you. To get some respect and free cards, you need to demonstrate occasionally that you’re capable of checking a very strong poker hand all the way down to the river while waiting for your poker opponent to bet at you. Once your opponents realize you can do this, they’ll be a little more reluctant to toss out routine bets after you miss the flop and check. If your poker opponents have been betting at you relentlessly, this hand could be useful for that purpose.

How likely are you to lose the hand if you give free cards? For each poker hand, you need to ask "What’s the chance that a free card will beat me?" In this hand, that chance is clearly very small. The 9♥9♠3♠ flop can’t fit very many poker hands, especially when you hold the third nine. The two spades are a small threat, but the spade flush draw is sufficiently unlikely that you’re going to have to pay off to it for now, given how strong your poker hand is.

Conclusion: Given your opponent’s known aggressive nature and the relatively safe flop, your plan is to check and call.

You check and your poker opponent checks as well. Fourth street is the 54.

You didn’t induce a bet, and a third spade appeared on the board. Both are bad signs for continuing to trap. It doesn’t look like your Texas Holdem opponent had anything, and you could lose the hand to a spade on the river. (It’s highly unlikely he has a flush now. If he had four spades after the flop, he was in a good semi-bluff situation after your check, and probably would have bet.) Time to make a bet and take the hand down.

You bet $10,000, and your opponent folds.

His actual holding was J♦T♠, and he made a fairly loose call preflop. Afterwards, the situation was just too dangerous for him to make a move.

Also recommended:

1. The Check-Raise Bluff in Texas Holdem
2. Deep Stack Raise Sizing in Texas Holdem
3. Make Smaller Raises Against Players Who Call Too Much Postflop
4. When you SHOULD NOT raise in Texas Holdem poker?
5. Short Stack Raise Sizing in Texas Holdem