Poker Strategy: As the Play Develops - Betting on the Turn

You call a raise from the big blind against a mid-position player with , and see a flop. Your opponent makes a decent flop bet, but you cannot be sure that he has you beaten. You probably have eights and sevens as outs if you are behind, have a runner-runner flush draw, and so you decide to make a speculative call. The turn comes a brilliant , to give you three of a kind. With 2,000 in the pot, your stack of 6,000 is covered by your opponent. What do you do, to try to get all the money into the pot?

This kind of hand is typical as one where you will see players make most mistakes. Many players have a decent betting style on the more standard hands, but have big leaks in their style when the turn changes the action like this.

On this hand, we are going to assume that the turn has definitely given us the lead. There are not enough chips in play for us to consider passing, and so we are going to play the hand purely for value.

Different types of opponent

The right action on the turn of course changes with different types of player:

If our opponent is both very aggressive, and loose enough to overvalue his hands, it is probably right to check. His looseness may mean that he overvalues a hand like KQ or even JJ, and hangs himself with a bet. His aggression means that he may well bet his drawing hands again, at which point we can pounce, and put him all-in. He may even be aggressive enough to bet on a complete bluff- this value we would never get by betting out on the turn.

However, you will find that most opponents prove to be somewhere near the good, standard opponent. The good standard opponent makes continuation bets on many flops, but rarely dares to continue on the turn. He bets his draws on the flops for sure, but will understand that when the turn pairs the middle card on the board, his opportunity is gone. He knows that the board is now looking good for us with either a queen or an eight, so instead will sneak a free card with a check. The good, standard opponent may also make the right play with a hand like KQ or jacks- the check to slow down the action, and avert the danger of us holding a big hand.

In short, the good standard opponent gives us little joy if we check. When you turn three of a kind with the middle card on the board, your hand is not well enough disguised to check.

There is an option which is far more enticing, however, and that is to make a big bet. A big bet looks really suspicious here. Do not make the mistake of making a small half-pot bet- your opponent may well be able to decipher the fact that your are trying to draw him in. Let's know consider the different hands our opponent could have, to see how the action favours a bet of as much as 2,000 (the size of the pot):

We have just outdrawn our opponent's AQ or KQ, AA or KK

This is the situation we are praying for. Consider the hand from our opponent's point of view- the big bet on the turn makes a pass very difficult to find. It looks far more like we are using the second eight as a scare card to bluff with a drawing hand, and our opponent will surely deduce that his hand is good. Having done so, he may well move all-in to "protect" his hand, and we have achieved the ultimate aim.

We have just outdrawn our opponent's JJ,1010 or 99

This is a situation in which our opponent probably should be able to find a pass, but the situation is not so easy for him. Some opponents will be brave enough to decide that we are bluffing, and will try to play us off the hand by moving all-in. This would be a true success- there definitely is no other way to get all the money in against a pair of nines!

Our opponent had a straight or flush draw on the flop

This is the scenario in which a check is a bad mistake, as it invites our opponent to take a free card. A big bet will not win us a big pot against this type of hand, but is the best we can do against the danger hands. Our opponent will not have the odds to call, and so we benefit in both scenarios- whether he passes or calls.

Turning the tables

What does this hand teach us about what we should do in the opposite situation? Let's consider the same board of , and ask what we should do if our is a drawing hand- like or ?

The logic is reversed, and so of course to worst thing we can do is to make a big bet. We have established that our opponent will disbelieve this, and so we need to find a betting pattern that he will believe:

The best start is probably to check. Ideally, our opponent will bet, and we can come in with a check raise. This is exactly the kind of play most opponents would expect if the turn had improved our hand, our indeed if we had flopped a big hand like a set. It is a play that stands to win the maximum if we are successful in getting a bet and then a pass from our opponent, but it is a very high risk play.

You must make sure with this high risk play that you have the right type of opponent. He needs to be 'good' enough to be able to retrace the action, and (wrongly) deduce that you are very strong. It is sometimes not even enough to convince your opponent that he is beat- too many opponents know that their hand is beaten, but feel that they are in too deep and cannot bear to pass. However, if you do have the right type of opponent, this check-raise can be a super strong play.

Another clever play can be to lead out for a smallish bet. Bet maybe about half the pot, as if begging for a call. It is true in general that most opponents call once, but not twice. Therefore, you will have to be ready to bluff again on the river. Some players freeze a little after they get called once, and fail to follow through the bluff properly. Be careful to judge the river bet very carefully- big enough to perturb your opponent, but not too big to make him suspicious that it is a bluff.

Ed note: Stuart Rutter plays online at 32 Red Poker pick up a MASSIVE bonus by joining today

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