We all know that a re-raise looks stronger than a simple raise, but some re-raises are stronger than others.
Example:
You have J♥-J♠, it's the middle stage of the tournament. You have 9000, and the blinds are 200-400. You are in middle position and raise to 1400. You wouldn't mind winning the pot immediately without resistance, as there is a high chance that a card higher than a jack will appear on the flop. The next player starts counting their chips as if considering how much to re-raise you.
Which scenario do you think your opponent has a stronger hand?
In the first scenario, they go all-in with 9000. To call, you have to risk all your chips.
In the second scenario, they re-raise your bet from 1400 to 4200, and to call, you would have to risk about half of your chips.
The correct answer is that, most often, in the second scenario, your opponent has a stronger hand. Their re-raise signals a very strong starting hand, possibly even aces. By keeping half of their chips, your opponent is still committed to pushing all their remaining chips on any flop.
In the first case, the hand they most often have is A-K, as they would like to see all the community cards. Also, they would certainly not mind if you folded your hand and let them win an already substantial pot. The all-in bet puts you in a tough spot because if you lose, you will be eliminated from the tournament.
There is a very interesting psychology when you re-raise an opponent and keep even one chip for yourself. Your opponent's first reaction will always be “Why?” and the second will often be “Does this guy even know what he's doing here?”. However, most often, your opponent will believe that you have a strong hand and will simply fold.
Example:
You have A♣-9♣. It's the late stage of the tournament. You are in the Big Blind and have 60,000, the blinds are 1500-3000. The player in the cut-off position raises to 10,000, having 70,000 chips. Everyone folds to you, what should you do?
You have one of these options:
- Fold: why get involved in this pot? Fold and continue playing.
- Call: add another 7000 and hope to catch at least one pair.
- Re-raise: Re-raise an amount that would show the opponent that you have a really strong hand.
- All-in: Push all your chips to the middle of the table.
If you know that your opponent plays too aggressively and often tries to steal the blinds, any re-raise will make them fold. However, if they have a strong hand like AJ, KQ, or 10's, is there an amount that would make them fold before the flop?
If you go all-in, it will be the most pressure you can put on your opponent. They will have to risk almost all their chips. They might think that you are just trying to push them out of the pot and will call.
If you just re-raise, say to 40,000, keeping only 20,000 for yourself, it will look like a very strange bet. Common sense usually says if you have invested more than half of your chips, you might as well risk all of them. However, re-raising like this makes it look like you have a very strong hand and want your opponent to stay in the hand.
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