Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (29 page)

When you consider making a continuation bet, realize you should have some balance in your game. While you should bet dry boards, like Q-7-4 and K-9-4, almost every time, as your opponent will give up often in those spots, you should bet wet boards, such as 8
-7
-6
and J
-9
-7
, around half the time, adjusting this frequency depending on your opponent. Since you will hit the flop around 33 percent of the time, you will only be bluffing 17 percent of the time. If you are going to check behind when you miss, you will have to check from time to time when you make a strong hand on the flop. You must let your opponents know you don’t have a weak hand every time you check. I balance this by checking behind with my weak made hands with the intention of calling down. Even then, you need to play a strong hand, like the nuts, from time to time in this manner.

Position is important when determining whether to continuation-bet. I tend to bet more flops out of position, as I lack the benefit of knowing what my opponent is going to do. But you still need to check from time to time. I tend to check when I have a decent made hand that is not susceptible to too many scare cards, like K-Q on Q-7-3 or on flops that are terrible for my range. In position, you should be a little more prone to check weak made hands and to check on boards that are bad for your range, because you will be sure to see a turn card. If you are out of position and you check, most good opponents will bet their entire range, forcing you off the best hand quite often. Against these aggressive opponents, check and call down more often with decent made hands because they will assume that checking indicates a poor hand.

One powerful play most players rarely use is the delayed continuation bet. Suppose you raise Q-J from middle position and the big blind calls. The flop comes 9-7-5. Your opponent checks and you check behind. If your opponent checks to you on the turn, regardless of the card, you can be pretty certain he has a weak hand. You should bet every time in this spot. When an opponent checks twice, you can be fairly sure he has a weak hand and will fold to a little aggression. This play also works fairly well out of position. If you raise the same Q-J and your opponent calls on the button, you can check 9-7-5 from time to time, although I would usually go ahead and bet this flop out of position. If you both check, you should tend to bet any turn card because if your opponent had something, he probably would have bet the flop. If you’re called in either situation, use your reads to decide if your opponent is calling with a weak hand or has enough of a hand to call another barrel. If you sense weakness, you should tend to bet again. There will be more on tells and developing reads in Volume 2.

Speaking of tells, if you know your opponent hit the flop and you totally missed, you should almost always check-fold. You have to have a strong read on a player, but when you do, you will save a ton of chips. Also, when you know he’s missed, you can bet and pick up the pot every time. Finally, when you have a monster and he has a strong hand, you can value bet him to death and win a huge pot. An opponent I played against in the WSOP would start breathing heavily whenever he connected with the flop. Against this player, I would wait about five seconds before I made my continuation bet to figure out if he had a hand. Sure enough, every time he was breathing heavily, I would check, he would bet and I would fold. He was even kind enough to show me a set twice. It’s always nice when opponents tell me I am playing great.

If you know you are playing an aggressive continuation bettor, you have to realize that his bet means very little about the strength of his hand. Some players assume a bet always means a player has top pair or better. This simply isn’t true. Against some players, I assume the hand doesn’t even start until they continuation-bet the flop. You have to relentlessly attack these players’ continuation bets. Ideally you will have developed a strong read on your opponent and can determine when he hits the flop and when he misses.

I played against someone in a WPT event who had had a decent amount of success. I quickly learned that he continuation-bet often and very few players were willing to do anything about it. I decided to play a few pots in position with him to see if I could get any reads on him. It turned out that every time he made a continuation bet, which was 100 percent of the time, he would look at me when he had a weak hand and look at the flop when he had a strong hand. For the rest of the day, I played perfectly against him and eventually busted him when he raised and I called with 7-7. The flop came 7-3-2. He checked and I was sure he missed the flop, so I checked behind. The turn was an ace and he instantly stopped looking at me. I was confident he had the ace. He bet and I raised. He instantly went all-in and I busted him and his A-K. If you can develop strong reads on players, especially ones you play a lot of pots with, you will find the chips flowing your way.

Some of the best players decide to play back at me when I continuation-bet frequently. This is never fun because they usually have position on me and get to see if I continuation-bet before they act. When these players decide to float, you should fire two barrels with your weak hands, hopefully tricking them into thinking you have a strong hand, and check your strong hands, inducing them to bluff the turn. Some players will raise the flop. You should continuation-bet less against these players, as calling down is the only way to deal with these raises. So, bet less and don’t be scared to call down with top pair, as their range for raising the flop is fairly wide. You must be sure they are trying to outplay you. If you are fairly tight, most players won’t go out of their way to put a play on you. Keep your eyes open and always try to figure out a player’s range. From there, you should be able to determine the optimal line against each player.

Some opponents play very honestly after you continuation-bet. They raise every time they hit the flop and fold every time they miss. Against these players, be more willing to continuation-bet for a smaller amount of chips, as you want to get the information as cheaply as possible. You can make this adjustment because you have little fear of your opponent adjusting and playing back at you. Again, you must be confident in your read because if you think a player will never try to outplay you, yet he somehow seems to raise every time you continuation-bet, you will find yourself spewing a lot of chips.

To sum this all up, when you think your opponent has a weak hand, unless you have a hand that is very strong and not susceptible to bad turn cards, you should bet and just pick up the pot. Any time you have a weak hand on a flop that could have easily hit your range or missed your opponent’s range, you should bet. Check only when the board is very bad for you or you plan to check-call down with a hand like top pair, bad kicker. Even then, you should bet from time to time. Continuation-bet often and you will see your stack constantly rising. Most players will wonder how you always have chips. It is because they let you steal from them with no showdown throughout the tournament.

Raising and Check-raising the Flop

Occasionally you will have a very strong hand and want to build a big pot quickly. Raising or check-raising the flop is a great option in these spots. Since I do not like check-raising as a bluff, that greatly reduces the number of times I can check-raise for value because I should always try to remain at least semi-balanced. Hence, I check-raise for value with a fairly small range.

You generally want your opponent to have a strong hand when raising or check-raising for value. Suppose a tight opponent, who is known for never folding top pair, raises from middle position and you just call with 9-9 from the button. The flop comes A-K-9.