The effective mass of strained graphene is investigated by tight-binding and density-functional theory calculations. For graphene strained in the zigzag direction, we find a strong anisotropy in the effective mass near the gap opening, with an abrupt increase of the effective mass at the critical strain in one direction and a smooth variation perpendicular to it. There is no band-gap opening for isotropic strain, but at an expansive strain of about 28%, the lower edge of the s-band reaches the Fermi level and makes the graphene metallic. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.