Isolate
also called isolation raise
To isolate is to raise with the aim of making everyone else fold, so you end up heads up against one particular player who has already put money in.
The target is usually a limper, and the point is not the raise itself but who is left afterwards. Playing one weak opponent in position is worth more than playing three unknown ones, even with the same cards.
It only works if the players behind you actually fold. Raising to isolate from an early seat with four players still to act tends to build a big multiway pot instead, which is the opposite of what the raise was for.
an example
your cards
A loose player limps in for one big blind and folds to you on the button. Raising to four big blinds asks the two blinds to fold and leaves you in position against the one opponent whose range is wide and weak.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find isolate in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
Limp
To limp is to enter the pot before the flop by calling the big blind rather than raising.
Three-bet
A three-bet is the second raise in a betting round, counted by treating the big blind as the first bet, the opening rais ...
Range
A range is the whole set of hands a player could hold in a given situation, rather than a guess at the one hand they act ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
Forty hands against a bot, no account, and your own hand history at the end.