Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (28 page)

It is well known that when you see a flop, you will miss it around 65 percent of the time. The same holds true for your opponent. Suppose you raise 9
-6
from middle position and your opponent calls in the big blind with K
-10
. The flop comes J
-7
-3
. Your opponent checks to you. In this spot, you should continuation-bet every time, as you have no showdown value. Actually, on this J-7-3 board, I would continuation-bet every hand I raised before the flop. Bet any time the board comes with one high card and two low cards. These flops include A-7-4, K-5-2, Q-8-4,
etc.
Most players will only continue if they have top pair or maybe an underpair between the highest and the middle card. Hopefully you are starting to see how picking up 2/3 of the pots post-flop can quickly add up. Remember that your bet doesn’t mean you have no showdown value. You should also bet every time you connect well with the flop. This is another way to add chips to your stack.

Now you have to figure out how much to bet. In general, on dry boards, where there are few draws, you should bet around 1/2 pot and when the board is wet, with lots of draws, you should bet around 3/4 pot. You do this because your opponents will be more likely to fold on dry boards because there is less to connect with. They will connect more often on wet boards, so you want to bet a bit more to discourage them from continuing with a weak made hand. You continuation-bet between 1/2 and 3/4 pot because this will build the pot when you connect with the flop while not risking too much when you miss.

Some players habitually make a “probe bet” of around 1/3 pot to find out where they are at when they’ve missed the board or flopped a weak made hand. Bets for information have little place in no-limit holdem, especially at a high level because opponents rarely give you accurate information. I size all my post-flop bets similarly to conceal information about my hand. As stacks get shorter, you can continuation-bet slightly fewer chips, between 2/5 and 2/3 pot because you can get your whole stack in easily with these small bets while risking less with your bluffs.

There are a few spots where you should not continuation-bet. In general, when you have a weak made hand, such as top pair with a bad kicker, a strong underpair or middle pair, you should tend to check more than bet because if you bet and get raised, you will be in a tough spot. Suppose you raise A-3 from middle position and your opponent calls in the big blind. The flop comes A-K-8.

Your opponent checks to you. In this spot, you are either way ahead or way behind. If you bet and get raised, you will usually face a large turn bet and be forced to put a lot of money in the pot or fold a hand that could be best. Also, your opponent could check-call with a better ace, allowing you to value-bet with the worst hand. All in all, not much good that can come in this spot. So, just check behind. If your opponent bets the turn, you can call, and also call a river bet, as your hand is underrepresented and he may be betting a king for value. There will be more on this later in the chapter on Pot Control.

You should tend to check behind the flop on boards that have a hard time connecting with your perceived range of hands and probably connect well with your opponent’s calling range. Suppose you raise from middle position and your opponent thinks you only raise high cards and pairs from this position. The big blind calls and it comes 8
-7
-6
. Unless you have a big pair, you are unhappy with this flop. Even then, you can’t stand a lot of pressure. If your opponent checks to you, you should strongly consider checking back. You still need to bet with your weak hands sometimes, as you should show up with 10-9 sometimes and want to be paid off when you do. That being said, expect to be raised or at least called quite often by good, aggressive players, simply because this flop is very bad for your range. I suggest you check this flop much more than you bet it.