Bluff Cards on the Turn- A Strategy Article by AVP Resident Pro Benton Blakeman

The topic that I'd like to discuss in todays Strategy Article is Bluff Cards when Turn Continuation Betting.

Many players understand the concept of being aggressive in late position when playing No Limit Hold Em. Topics about raising light from the cut off and button have been discussed very often over the past few years. LAGGY (Loose Aggressive play) is all the rage. What hasn't been talked about often is how to play these hands past the flop.

When it comes to Continuation betting there is also a ton of information available, including a past Strategy article that I wrote exclusively for AVP. If you haven't read it yet, you can find it here: http://www.allvegaspoker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=15909:

What I'd like to discuss is what to do when our c-bets get called on the flop. How do we continue? What cards should we c-bet the turn with? These are all questions that I hope to clear up for you in this article.

Let's say we raise from the cut off with Q-8ss and get a call from the big blind. The flop comes 9-4-2. Our opponent checks, we bet 2/3 pot, and he calls. Looking at his range of calling hands, most of his range is one pair type hands. Any pocket pair would likely call a bet on this flop, as well as hands like 3-4, 4-5, 7-9, 8-9, 9-T, 9-J, 9-Q, 9-K, and 9-A (assuming they defend their blind with all these hands.) A few other hands that they may call the flop with are hands with a gutshot straight draw like 5-6, A-3, and A-5. Based on this idea, there are many turn cards that would be good to continue bluffing on. These cards would include any card ranked Ten or Higher. I would tend to shy away from betting middling turn cards like a 5 through 8, as these normally don't improve our hand and also do not hurt our opponents hands, so we're likely to get looked up. The exception here is if I'd hit an 8 on the turn giving me second pair, I'd likely bet again both for protection and to extract value from a hand like 6-6. If called I'd likely be looking to check back the river with showdown value.

Let's look at a second example. In this example we make a semi-loose open raise from under the gun with T-9ss. We get a caller from late position as well as a caller in the blinds. The flop comes J-6-4 with one of our suit. The blinds check, we c-bet here for a few reasons. The first is that it's a dry board and we shouldn't be getting called by draw heavy hands. The second, and probably the most important reason, is that we raised from under the gun showing a lot of strength, so we should continue telling that story of holding a premium pair thus garnering respect from our opponents. I envision our bet folding out pocket pairs like 7-7 from the late position caller because he has to be worried that we have a bigger pair as well as worrying about the player in the blinds who may be check calling with a hand like A-J. OK, so now with all that info, we c-bet and get called by the late position player. We can assess his hand as a slowplayed set or a hand containing a Jack, something as weak as J-9 suited, or as strong as A-J. Another small possibility is Q-Q, but a lot of players would re-raise Q-Q preflop, so I wouldn't give that specific hand as much weight. In general, giving up on the turn would likely be the best course of action, unless we pick up a card that warrants betting again. A good turn for us would be an 8 or a Queen giving us an open ender, or a spade giving us a flush draw. Also, I would c-bet the turn if an Ace or a King hit as well, which should fold out hands like J-9, J-T, and J-Q. Because of his Jack heavy range, I would likely check fold the turn if any card other than an 8, Q, K, or A came on the turn, as getting him to fold his Jack would require a 3 barrel bluff, which is harder and harder to execute in todays poker environment. Normally when players call dry flops they make their big decision on the turn. If a player calls the turn, he's likely decided that he'll also be calling most bets on the river. Because of this, its tough to get them to fold for the last bet. Even if we bet the turn card like a 6, and then an Ace or King fall on the river and we fire the third barrel, most thinking players will realize that either their Jack was always beat or it's still good, because in order for us to hit the Ace or King we would have had to bluff both the flop and the turn.

The key to successful turn c-betting is to always know what type of hands we are representing both preflop and on the flop, and continuing to tell that believable story on the turn. We also must make sure our opponent is capable of understanding our most likely hand ranges as well. When turn c-betting, cards that look scary may actually be scare cards for our opponent and can give us great fold equity if we bet them.

The opposite scenario occurs when someone else raises and we call preflop. We then call their flop bet and they c-bet the turn. I will discuss this scenario more in next weeks Hand History review.

Have fun experimenting with turn c-bets, and don't be discouraged when your bluffs are picked off. As long as the story makes sense, you've done all you can do. Just make sure that you are getting max value from your hands when you actually do hit them on the turn!

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