You usually raise in the following situations:

• When you have a very strong combination and you want to increase the pot;
• When you want to make your opponent to check during the next betting i.e. to scare him;
• When you believe that in this way you will change the pot odds;
• When you have a strong hand and you are sure that other players won’t fold;
• When you are convinced your opponent is bluffing;
• When you decide to bluff with not that strong hand;
• When you intend to improve your hand during the next betting round and you want to make your opponents fold ( the players with higher combinations but not high enough to answer your raise) i.e. when you use semi-bluffing strategy;
• When you already managed to form a very strong hand such as straight, flush or full house;
• When you want to convince other players that you are a loose and aggressive player and you raise having not a very strong hand;
• When you need to understand what are the hands of your opponents i.e. to “read” their hands.