Isolation
Isolation is usually a term that is used to name the effect of a raise, rather than the raise itself. By making a raise, a player may force other players to fold and back out of the hand with the intention of making the hand a one-on-one contest with a particular player on the table. For e.g. a re-raise is often a way of scaring away other opponents except the one who raised in the first place, especially when it is believed that the player, who raised, was initially bluffing.
In most games where over-aggressive players are wreaking havoc, isolation plays are a great way of taking them aside and beating them one-on-one. These aggressive players are those who usually try to bluff people with weak or poorer hands or with hands that are always drawing to something stronger.
In tournaments, it is not uncommon to find a player looking for a heads-up with a player who’s playing on a short stack. The eminent danger of getting eliminated normally puts a short stack player into an aggressive mode and that is considered as the ideal opportunity to beat them at their own game with an isolation re-raise.
Isolation is also considered as one of the best moves in a multi-way pot. Despite many players still being in the game, a player with a strong hand may decide to raise the pot by a large margin. This way, all those players who are on loose hands will probably end up folding but if someone believes that the player is bluffing or that s/he has a better hand than the player who raised the pot, then the latter may stay in the game to challenge for the pot, thus creating an isolation situation.
For e.g. in a situation where a player has a small pocket pair, it is considered easier to defeat a single opposition than multiple players. Therefore, an isolation play at that point of time may do wonders by creating a heads-up from which point on, even a small pocket player has a 50% winning chance.
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