Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (34 page)

There are some spots where aggressive opponents will attempt to take you off your hand when a scare card comes. Most scare cards aren’t actually scare cards against these aggressive opponents. If you raise A-Q and someone calls on the button, you should bet every time the flop comes Q-6-4. Check if the turn is a king, not because you are scared of the king, but because you want to induce your opponent to bluff. He may show up with a king from time to time, but he will most likely see this scary looking card as an opportunity to bluff. If you check-call the turn, you have to check-call the river, as the board cannot change anymore and you still have a really strong hand. Do not fear the king, but neither should you check-raise the turn for value, in which case you are basically turning your hand into a weird bluff.

Notice that you should not continue betting the turn with marginal hands such as top pair because if you are raised on the turn, you will have a hard time figuring out if your hand is good. As in the A-Q example above, even if the turn is a blank, you should check the turn against most opponents because if you bet, you will have no idea what to do if your opponent raises. Checking in these spots is a form of pot control that will keep you from playing giant pots with hands that lose value as the pot gets huge.

Check-raising the Turn

I personally only like check-raising the turn when I think my opponent has a strong hand while I have a stronger hand. From time to time though, I will find a spot to check-push the turn with a strong draw. When you check-raise the turn, be sure not to set yourself up to get pushed off the winning hand.

When you have a strong hand out of position, you usually want to take the lead in the hand so your opponent will not be able to set his price throughout the hand, and you also want to avoid scaring him out of the pot. You can do this by leading into him on the flop or check-raising the flop or turn. When you think your opponent has a really weak hand, usually the only option is to just check-call every street and hope he bluffs. Lean toward check-raising if you think he has a strong hand, like K
-J
on a K
-J
-7
-3
board while you have 6
-5
, as he will rarely fold and any spade could cost you a lot of money on the river.

Another great spot to check-raise the turn is when you have a strong draw. If everyone is around 80BBs deep and someone raises from middle position, you should usually call with K
-Q
in the big blind. If the flop comes J
-10
-3
, you can lead, check-raise or check-call. Say you decide to check-call and your opponent bets 4BBs into the 7BB pot. The turn is the 2
, giving you a flush draw, open-ended straight draw and overcards. You check and your opponent bets 13BBs into the 15BB pot.