Poker News
Playing Fifth Street In Seven-card Stud By Keith Sexton
Fifth Street is the big decision point in Seven-Card Stud because that’s the critical juncture in the hand when you have to put in your first big bet. While it’s nice to have a made hand at this point, you don’t always need one to put in a raise on Fifth Street. If you have a big draw, that can be enough to warrant raising your opponent. Some players don’t think like this, and I believe that’s a costly mistake.
Here’s an example of a situation where I believe raising with a draw is the correct play. Let’s say your opponent is showing an Ace, and you have a 7 of diamonds up and a 6 and 7 of spades in the hole, giving you a pair of 7s. You and your opponent are the only players involved in the hand, and he opens with a raise. You call.
On the turn your opponent catches an offsuit Jack and bets. You catch the 9 of spades. You have a pretty nice hand at this point. Not only do you have a pair of 7s, but you also have three cards to a flush and three cards to a straight so there are a lot of cards you can catch that will give you a big draw. You definitely want to call in this spot.
On Fifth Street your opponent catches a 6 so now he has an Ace, Jack, and 6 showing. You catch the deuce of spades, which is a very interesting card. You now have a pair of 7s and four spades to a flush, but your opponent is unaware of how strong you are because one of your 7s and two of your spades are hidden.
Your opponent leads out with a bet once again. Now here’s the question. Should you simply call or should you raise? Even if your opponent has two Aces, I would prefer to have two 7s and four spades in this situation so you should be aggressive and put in a raise. You should do this for a couple of reasons. First, even if he does have a pair of Aces, you’re still the favorite. You are about a 58 percent favorite to win the hand so you’re getting the best of it right now.
The other reason you should raise is that it will get you a free card if you fail to hit your draw. Let’s say you go ahead and raise on Fifth Street, and your opponent calls. Since he called your raise, you can be pretty certain he has a pair that can beat your 7s. Then on Sixth Street he catches a 4 and you catch the 3 of diamonds, a card that doesn’t help your hand at all.
If your opponent is a weak player, he is probably going to check it to you because he’s going to be scared of that raise you put in on Fifth Street. If he does in fact check, then you succeeded in accomplishing exactly what you set out to do. You got extra money into the pot on Fifth Street when you had the best of it, and now that you missed your draw and don’t have the best of it anymore you’re happy to get a free card. Now you have one more shot at drawing out on him.
This is a clear example of why it pays to be aggressive on Fifth Street in Seven-Card Stud. Some players would just call in this situation, but I think that’s a big mistake. Being aggressive and sticking in a raise has two clear advantages over simply calling. It will get more money into the pot those times you do make your hand, and it will get you a free card those times you don’t. The bottom line is that you need to be aggressive when playing Seven-Card Stud because it’s the aggressive player who usually wins.
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Semi-bluffing By Andy Bloch And Full Tilt Poker
The semi-bluff is one of the most powerful weapons in any poker player’s arsenal. If there’s a decent chance you can steal a pot by semi-bluffing, you should usually take it. But, as with any play you make at the table, the semi-bluff is always most effective when you use it at the correct time in the correct situation. Semi-bluff too much and your opponents will know when you’re on the draw; semi-bluff too little and your opponents will know to fold whenever you bet. The key to semi-bluffing is to always mix things up and never become too predictable with your betting patterns.
Let’s say that you’ve flopped the nut flush draw and are pretty certain your opponent has connected with the flop in some way, be it top pair or maybe even a set. A lot of players like to check-raise as a semi-bluff in this spot. There are a couple of problems with this play: first, if you always check-raise in this spot then your opponent will be able to put you on a draw very easily. Second, if your opponent really does have a hand, there’s no need to check-raise here because there’s no way he’s folding and there’s a good chance he’ll pay you off anyway if you hit your hand.
A better move in this spot might be not semi-bluffing and just calling instead. This way, if you hit your flush on the turn, your options are wide open – checking, calling or raising are all viable plays − and your opponent won’t be able to put you on a hand quite as easily. By not semi-bluffing, you increase your chances of winning a bigger pot when your opponent actually has a strong hand. There are players out there who’ll assume you’re not on the draw if you don’t semi-bluff, so use that to your advantage.
Now, if you don’t think that your opponent has a strong hand or your draw isn’t that strong (say a low flush draw), this is the perfect time for a semi-bluff. The semi-bluff should be used as a tool to steal pots when the opportunity arises, not as a means of building big pots.
Another good way to mix up your semi-bluffing game plan is to wait until the turn to semi-bluff rather than always doing it on the flop. This can be a dangerous play because you’ve only got one card to come on the turn and you’re not getting the same odds. But it also means that your opponent is less likely to think that you’re semi-bluffing and put you on the draw. It looks pretty strong if you call on the flop and then raise on the turn; your opponent might think you’ve flopped the nuts and throw away a pretty strong hand.
Another advantage to semi-bluffing on the turn rather than the flop is that you could pick up additional outs on the turn. Say you have a gut-shot straight draw on the flop and then pick up a flush draw on the turn. You’ve just gone from four outs to about 12, which might be worth a shot at taking down the pot right then and there. A lot of players will also have trouble putting you on the flush draw in this spot; it’s just harder to see that flush draw on the turn than it is on the flop.
Once again, the key to a good semi-bluff is picking the right spot to pull it off. Choose poorly and you could stand to lose a good portion of your stack; choose well and you could throw your opponents off balance and hit them where it hurts when you make your hand.
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The Pros And Cons Of Being Active Early By Aaron Bartley
Deciding how active you want to be at the beginning of a tournament depends heavily on what type of tournament you’re playing in. If it’s a standard Sit & Go, I always recommend playing tight and conserving chips early. If it’s a Multi-Table Tournament or a Shootout Tournament then you should consider a more active style in the early phase.
Part of the goal in doing this is to accumulate chips. But another part of the goal is to establish an image that will help get you chips later. It can be a rewarding way to play, but you need to understand that there’s also a downside to the image this type of play will create.
When you put constant pressure on other players, it’s eventually going to make them fight back. You don’t have to raise large amounts and you don’t have to get involved in huge pots, but by raising with a lot of hands, your opponents are going to play back at you with a wider and wider range of hands. They’re going to start calling and three-betting with more marginal hands, and that’s going to open them up and make them susceptible to giving you their chips more often.
If you’re looking to accumulate chips, you don’t want your table locked down in super-tight mode. You don’t want to have to grind out a few chips every orbit – you want to get into your opponents’ heads and provoke them into spewing chips. You’ll find that once one player at the table does it, it tends to have a domino effect and lead other people to start making mistakes.
The downside, however, is that your bluffs won’t work very often, and that’s something you have to be aware of. For example, let’s say I’ve been playing a lot of pots and developed a loose image in a six-handed table, and I’m dealt A-Q suited under the gun. That’s a good hand at a full table, and it’s even better six-handed. So I make a pot-sized raise, and the big blind calls. The flop is J-10-6, which isn’t exactly a hit for me, but it isn’t a total miss; I have a straight draw and two over cards. I’m going to make a normal continuation bet and I figure my opponent can’t call me without a decent hand. In this case, I bet, he calls and the turn is a three, so I decide to give it one more shot and raise my bet a little bit because I want him to fold. Instead, he calls.
A four now falls on the river. I didn’t hit anything and he’s clearly shown that he’s ready to call anything; I can’t expect to bet him off the hand. In my mind, I’m putting him on a hand possibly as weak as 10-2, but I don’t think I can get him to lay that down, so I check, give up the pot and he wins with 6-7.
Of course I’m going to be a little frustrated to learn that he called twice with third pair. He had to have put me on A-K or A-Q or thought I was raising under the gun with rags and, the truth is, people will begin to think that way because I’ve raised a lot of pots. Because of this, people are going to start calling me extremely light.
In the short-term, that can be a bad thing; but in the long-term, it should be good. If the same hand happens later but I have A-J or Aces or Kings, or even some trash hand that connects, I’m going to get paid off.
This is why the positives of playing an active style early ultimately outweigh the negatives. Even if you lose a pot because your image keeps people hanging around, it can set you up to win an even bigger pot later on.
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The Rebuy Tournament Game Plan, A Full Tilt Poker Article By Michael Gracz
Going into any rebuy tournament, you should know before the first cards are dealt how much money you’re willing to invest. Whether you’re playing with a single bullet (not planning to rebuy at all), enough money to rebuy 50 times, or somewhere in between, you should have a number in your mind. You need to know from the start how many risks you can afford to take, and play accordingly.
For me personally, I don’t believe in playing with a single bullet or with unlimited ammo. If you’re only planning on making one buy-in, then why not play a regular No-Limit Hold ’em tournament? Playing a rebuy tournament with only one bullet, you have no safety net and you’re giving the other players a significant edge over you because they’re able to exploit your reluctance to gamble.
If you’re pushing your stack in over and over, looking to accumulate chips and willing to go broke repeatedly, there’s a certain amount of upside to that, but I don’t believe it’s the best expected value play. Yes, that maniacal approach can sometimes get you into the post-rebuy period with a large chip stack, which of course provides an edge for the rest of the tournament. The problem is that if you’ve spent something like $25,000 in a $1,000 buy-in tournament, you have to finish that much higher in the money to come out ahead. A lot of times when you’re rebuying that many times, just making the money doesn’t cover how much you’ve invested into the tournament.
My personal rule of thumb is that I like to be willing to invest in the tournament in accordance to the payout amounts. I don’t ever want to get to the point where I’m investing significantly more money than the lowest money place pays. So in a $1,000 rebuy tournament, I’m willing to put about $8,000 into it. Some days, it’s just not your day, the cards aren’t falling your way and you have to leave and come back and play another day. It’s foolish to sit there and keep putting your stack in the middle when you have no edge and often times you’re up against a better hand.
When you’re playing this middle-of-the-road strategy, it’s important to identify the maniacal players from the outset because they’re going to be very dangerous, but they’re also going to provide you with your best opportunities to chip up. These players are actually the prime reason to play in a rebuy tournament, because you can feast on them. They’re going to open with all types of hands from all different positions, so you can call with marginal hands in position such as 10-9 suited, 8-7 suited, 3-4 suited, even one-gappers such as 6-8 suited. I also want to put a lot of pressure on this type of player before the flop if I have a big hand like Aces, Kings, or Queens, simply because this is the type of player who’s really willing to gamble and might just go ahead and ship the rest of his stack in right there.
In the last 10 to 15 minutes of the rebuy period, if you’ve been able to acquire a stack, this is a critical time in the tournament to play smart. If the hyper-aggressive players don’t have a lot of chips, they’re going to be pushing it all in almost every hand to give themselves a shot at a big stack heading into the post-rebuy period. If you have an edge in a given hand against these guys, use it, but you don’t want to gamble too much. Remember that you’ve acquired a stack now and it’s your goal to maintain that stack in and after the rebuy period.
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How To Play The Early Stages Of Turbo Mtts By Michael Craig
When playing a turbo Multi-Table Tournament online, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is overcompensating for the fact that it’s a turbo by playing too fast and loose during the first several rounds. Because the levels are shorter and the starting stacks smaller, you’ll see players rushing to get all their chips into the pot with a hand like A-9 or pocket 5s. Since these tournaments actually play like normal tournaments during the first few levels, it’s important to remain patient and wait for big hands.
In the first 15 or 20 minutes of a turbo tournament you should play the same way you would in the first hour or hour and a half of a regular tournament. You should be looking to play quality hands aggressively from late position, but if you meet any resistance you need to pull back. At this point in the tournament it’s not worth losing all your chips with A-J offsuit or pocket 5s if an opponent comes over the top of your raise.
There’s also very little point in trying to steal the blinds in the early stages because they’re so small relative to the size of the starting chip stacks. Stealing the blinds becomes much more important in the later rounds after the antes have kicked in. The other argument against trying to steal the blinds early on is that you’re more likely than usual to get called because players tend to play faster in turbos. The big blind will be looking for a reason to call your raise from late position, and he might even make a move, pushing all in with a marginal hand. As a result, trying to steal the blinds becomes much less profitable than usual.
What you should be looking for in the early stages are opportunities to play small hands that could become big hands. When you’re in good position, you should be looking to see as many flops as possible with small pocket pairs and suited connectors because these are the types of hands that can win big pots. If I have a hand like pocket 6s, I’ll rarely fold to a raise before the flop because I know that one time in eight I’ll catch a 6 on the flop and double up off a player who can’t let go of his big pair.
If you do choose to call a raise before the flop with a small pocket pair, it’s important that you make sure your opponent has a large enough chip stack to justify the eight-to-one odds of you hitting a set. Ideally, you should be looking to make this call against a player who has at least twenty times the size of the preflop raise. If your opponent only has five times the size of the raise in his chip stack, you can’t win enough to make the call mathematically correct.
Another important difference between turbo and regular tournaments is that in a regular tournament I’ll be a little more aggressive in the early stages, trying to project a certain image. I’ll often raise with hands like J-9 suited or Q-8 suited in late position, but that tactic doesn’t work as well in turbo tournaments. In turbos I’ll often pass up opportunities to make an opening raise with these sorts of hands because I don’t want to put myself in the difficult position of having to play a big pot with such a weak hand.
Let your opponents be the ones to overplay their weak hands early on because they almost certainly will. They’ll raise or call raises before the flop with hands like pocket fours, and even if the flop comes Q-J-7 they’ll keep on pushing. Such players also tend to overplay strong hands like A-K. After raising before the flop with that hand, many players will refuse to let it go after getting check-raised on a flop like J-7-4. Even though they’re obviously behind, they’ll call a big bet, hoping to catch an Ace or King on the turn.
Some players will even push all their chips into the middle in this situation. All they have are two overcards, but I guess they figure that after raising before the flop and betting on the flop they’ve already invested a healthy chunk of their chip stack and they might as well go all the way with the hand. They’re impatient because of the nature of turbo tournaments − starting with smaller chip stacks and playing quicker levels − but this is obviously a huge mistake.
The most important thing to remember in the early stages of an online turbo tournament is stay patient and wait for big hands. Too many players overcompensate for the fact that it’s a turbo and make foolish moves that cost them half their stacks. Don’t be one of those players.
This article was cirulated by Full Tilt Poker - Play Today.
Three-bets In Poker, How To Interpret
We all know that a three-bet is supposed to mean strength. When a player three-bets before the flop, he’s saying that he believes he has the best hand. One of the keys to making money at the poker table, however, is being able to interpret when the three-bet means what it’s supposed to mean, and when a player is only representing a big hand and making a move.
The fact of the matter is that you’re not getting the right odds in most situations to call a three-bet with a small pocket pair. When there’s been a raise and a re-raise in front of you and you look down at a hand like pocket 6s, you normally want to fold it and move on. You can sometimes get away with making the call with a very deep stack, but you really have to have a strong read that you’re going to get paid if you make your hand. I might call with pocket 9s or 10s in the right spot against the right opponent, but hands like 8s or 7s just don’t play well enough, especially out of position.
One exception, of course, is if a particular player three-bets repeatedly. This suggests he isn’t always doing it with strong hands and it might be worth playing back at him. However, when I say “repeatedly,” I don’t just mean a couple of times early in a session. If a guy three-bets you twice early on, you might be inclined to think that he’s picking on you and doesn’t have a hand. But it could also be that the guy got dealt big hands twice. Until he has three-bet you relentlessly or shown down a weak holding after three-betting, you don’t want to try to make a play at him. Once he has done it several times, then it’s worth making a play at the pot if he puts in another three-bet, because he’s not going to have the premium hand that he’s representing that often.
Another thing to watch out for is the tiny three-bet. Say it’s a $1/$2 game, I raise to $6, and another player raises to $10 or $12 instead of something more standard like $15 or $18. When people make a tiny three-bet, I’ll usually call that. I don’t give a lot of respect to those plays. Sometimes they will be huge hands, but more often they’ll be very weak hands that you can take the pot from out of position.
A very small three-bet is not a tactic that I’ll use very often – there isn’t much reason for it. If you’re trying to steal a pot, you want to make it more difficult for your opponent to call. If you actually have a big hand, you want to get value for it when your opponent calls, so a bigger three-bet is a better idea.
Facing a three-bet can be a daunting prospect at times – be certain you have a good read on your opponent before making your next move.
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The Script, A Full Tilt Poker Article By Phil Gordon
In an effort to simplify my decisions, every single time it's my turn to act, I try to run through the same script in my head:
Are my opponents playing conservatively? Aggressively? Tentatively?
What are some of the hands my opponents are likely to hold?
What do my opponents think I have?
Once I have the answer to the first question, and feel confident about my range of answers for the second and third questions, I move on to the most important question:
Should I bet or raise?
If I think I have the best hand, I nearly always answer "Yes" and I bet or raise.
If I think I can force weak opponents out of the pot with this bet or with future bets, I nearly always answer "Yes" and I bet or raise.
If I don't think betting or raising is the right decision, I move on to the last question:
Should I check (or fold)?
If I think I have the worst hand, I nearly always answer "Yes" and I check or fold. If I think my opponents are strong, I nearly always answer "Yes" and check or fold. After a careful analysis, if I'm not sure if I should raise and I'm not sure I should fold, I feel confident that calling a bet (or checking) is correct.
I find that even in straight-forward and obvious situations, by running through the script I often find opportunities that other players might miss. And by asking the "raise" question before the "fold" and "call" question, I ensure that I am playing aggressive, winning poker.
Try using this script next time you sit down at the table, and see if simplifying your inner dialog forces your opponents into making more complicated decisions.
Recharging For Better Results, A Full Tilt Poker Article By Matt Vengrin
One of the great things about poker, especially online poker, is that the game is always there when you're ready to play. It's not like being a baseball player, where you're at the mercy of your team's schedule, or like being a doctor, where you have to respond to emergency calls. With poker, you can walk away from the game for a little while, and it will be there when you get back. That's why I strongly advocate taking breaks occasionally, especially if you pick up on signs that your play isn't as sharp as it should be.
The main sign to look for is that your desire to play is waning. You should play poker when you want to play. It sounds obvious, but too many of us inexplicably keep playing even when we don't want to.
I also find that when I'm experiencing a lot of negative feelings, that's a good time for a break. If I'm feeling negative, not just from poker, but maybe from something else going on in my life, that's going to affect my play, usually for the worse.
The other thing I keep an eye out for is when I'm gambling more than usual. If I'm playing tournaments and I'm finding that I'm too willing to get all my chips in on a coin flip, that's a sign that I'm not playing my best and I need to walk away rather than let myself burn out.
Whatever your particular signs may be, the fact is that if you're consistently losing, chances are there's a reason for it. A lot of players will say, “Oh, I'm just running bad,” but it's rare that that's all there is to it.
And when I take a break, I really take a break − I totally distance myself from the game. I don't play at all for a few days. That allows me to take a step back, get a different perspective, and come back hungry to play well.
At the 2008 World Series of Poker, a situation arose where I called upon my discipline to take a break even though a part of me really didn't want to. My favorite event was coming up − Half Omaha/Half Hold 'Em - but I could feel myself getting burned out. I hadn't cashed yet and I'd finished on the bubble three times, so I was really demoralized.
Half Omaha/Half Hold 'Em is my favorite tournament and even though I was really looking forward to it, I knew if I played, I wasn't likely to do well and I would make myself tired for other upcoming events. So instead of playing, I headed to Malibu for a couple of days and visited a friend; I went to the beach and totally distanced myself from poker. And the first event I played when I got back was Event #29, $3,000 No-Limit Hold 'Em, and I placed third for a payday of more than $165,000, my biggest live tournament cash to date.
Basically, I liken a poker player's mental processing to a battery: when a battery's life runs low, you need to recharge it. And the best way to recharge is to take a little break from the game. You'll find that some of your best results come when your mind is fresh and when you're playing because you truly want to be playing.
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Bubble Play In Nine-handed Sit & Gos, A Full Tilt Poker Article By Howard Lederer
In a typical nine-handed, one-table Sit & Go that pays out three places, the most critical juncture of the tournament comes when four players remain. Three of those players will turn a profit, and one of them will go home empty-handed. It goes without saying that there's no more disappointing place to finish in a nine-handed Sit & Go than fourth.
It's a volatile time when your stack is getting short, the blinds are getting high and everyone's looking to cash. To get the most out of Sit & Gos, you're going to have to learn how to master the bubble.
On Full Tilt Poker, first place gets 50% of the prize pool, second place gets 30% and third place pockets 20%. But don't let that 20% fool you. It's not really 20% for third, because once you get down to three players, 60% of the prize money has been locked up and actually already paid out. Essentially, the last three players are only fighting over 40% of the prize pool as the other 60% has already been paid out. That's why it's so important to make sure you get into the money. You're going to have to make some tough decisions and tight lay-downs to make sure that you get a piece of that 60%.
Here's an example of a hand you would play very differently on the money bubble in a Sit & Go than in most other instances. You're second in chips with 3,000, the blinds are 100/200, and you're dealt Ad-7d in the big blind. The chip leader is on the button and raises to 600; the small blind folds and you call the extra 400. The flop comes Q-8-3 with two diamonds, which is a pretty attractive flop for your hand. You check, and your opponent does exactly what you didn't want him to do: put you all in for about double the size of the pot. You're getting slightly better than 3-to-2 pot odds on a call for your tournament life.
This is a situation in most tournaments where, if it was early in the Sit & Go or if the money bubble had already burst, you would call. But this is a special situation. You are on the bubble and 60% of the prize pool is about to be awarded. If you call here, you're probably about 50/50 to be the player that finishes on the bubble and gets none of that 60%. This is one situation where you need to really let the structure of the Sit & Go influence your decision.
Once the bubble bursts, your approach should change dramatically. Look again at the payout structure: the last three players are fighting over the remaining 40% of the prize pool. If you move up from third to second, you get another 10%, but if you move up from third to first, that gets you an extra 30%. That's three times more reward for winning than for just moving up a spot. So your goal now becomes to do what's necessary to finish in first place and not be too concerned about going broke and finishing in third.
You should be willing to put your chips at risk to give yourself a stack that can lead to a win. If you pick up a hand like J-9 or Ace-rag and it looks like someone might be pushing you around, take a stand. Put your chips in the middle. You don't want to be anteing off your chips, limping up into second and then not winning.
In these structures, the initial goal is always to cash. Once you've cashed, the goal is to go for the win.
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Playing Ak Out Of Position, A Full Tilt Poker Article By Jon 'pearljammed' Turner
Ace-King may be one of the strongest starting hands in poker, but you’ve got to play it right in each position to make it pay – especially in the early stages of a tournament. Being in early position adds another challenge to the situation. But if you’re betting consistently and keeping an eye on your opponents, you should be able to take more than a few pots when you’re holding Big Slick.
To start, let’s look at the early stages of tournament play. Suppose I have 3,000 chips, the blinds are 20/40, and I’m under the gun with AK. I’ll raise to 120 and assume that there are a couple of callers. Regardless of my position, this is a good situation. With just two callers, I’ve likely got the best hand.
Let’s say the flop comes A- or K-x-x. I’ve got to be careful not to overplay my hand. If I start out check-raising here it will be obvious that I’ve connected with the flop and I’ll likely drive out some of the weaker hands that I can probably get action from if I just check-call. A better move here, however, is to avoid slow playing this hand at all and to lead out at the pot with a continuation bet like I would at any other time. This not only helps to build the pot, but it also prevents my opponents from catching a free card that could somehow cost me more later on.
If I do get action from an opponent after I lead out, I’ll probably check on the turn. By doing this, I can control the pot size and induce my opponent to bluff into me with a weaker hand. If my opponent checks behind me, I can value bet on the river and try to induce a call if he’s holding a pocket pair like Js or Ts and he thinks his two-pair may be ahead. If my opponent is holding a weaker Ace, checking the turn and value betting the river is also a good way to keep them in the hand and to extract an extra call at the end of the hand.
If my opponent leads out and bets after I check the turn with my AK, I’ll usually just call his bet and head to the river. Again, check-raising here isn’t a good play because it’s likely to drive a weaker hand out of the pot or cost me more chips if I’m facing a stronger hand.
If I lead out after the flop and get raised by my opponent, I’ll usually just flat call and see the turn. I’ll seldom re-raise here because all that will do is drive weaker hands than mine that still might put money in the pot. One situation where I will re-raise, however, is when I’ve got an opponent who’s consistently overplayed his hands – especially when he’s holding an Ace. If I’m facing an opponent like this, I may re-raise all-in to induce a call when he’s way behind.
Assuming I’ve just flat-called a re-raise on the flop, I’ll check the turn just like I did in the earlier example. If my opponent checks behind me, I’ll value bet my AK on the river and hope for a call. If my opponent bets out after I check the turn, then I’ve got a tough decision. If he’s firing a second bet, I can be pretty sure he’s holding a strong hand like a set and that he has a good idea about what I’m holding. This is especially true if I’m up against an experienced opponent. I may lay down my AK here in order to save my chips for a better spot or I may call depending on the size of the bet and any history I have with this opponent. If I call and he bets strong again on the river, I’ll almost always fold as I have to assume that he’d very rarely bet here with a worse kicker or as a third bluff.
One situation where I won’t check the turn is if the flop comes K-x-x with two suited cards on the board. In this spot, I’m going to lead out if the flush card doesn’t hit on the turn in order to protect my hand from the potential flush coming on the river. If my opponent has a set or a hand that already has me beat, he’s probably going to re-raise to protect his hand as well. This complicates things even more, and I’m going to have to rely on my read of him at that point to determine what I should do. If I really think he has a hand or he’s proven to be a solid player, I’ll probably fold and look for a better spot.
AK is a very powerful hand, but it can also be dangerous – especially when you’re playing it from early position. By continuation betting after the flop, you can get a pretty good idea of how strong or weak your opponents may be, and plot your next moves accordingly. Depending on whether your opponent calls or raises, checking the turn can either set you up to pick up some extra chips by value betting the river, or save you some precious chips if you’re forced to lay down to a bigger a hand. Either way, you’re retaining control of the hand and giving yourself the best chance to make it to the money.
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