Imagine if you had a simultaneously extremely strong and profitable Texas Hold’em NL game, that you could raise three times the big blind with only air, and your opponents would know you had that hand for all the marbles. They would be totally amazed, since you would certainly have been at the opposite end of aces, kings, queens, and tens, and you still win.
This is the essence of the continuation bet. You are making a bet with the purpose of misleading your opponents. When you make a raise, you want to look at opponents in a different perspective. You want them to second guess themselves, and to have a difficult time deciding whether or not they should call.
The careful use of the continuation bet will win you pots without a fight, and more importantly, without having to show your hands.
Effective continuation betting is simple concept. When you make a raise, you want your opponents to have a difficult time deciding whether or not to call. When you make a bluff, you want your opponents to call easily.
For instance, you bet pre-flop with pocket sevens. The flop deals down Q-7-4. You make a half-pot bet on the flop. Your opponent makes a pot sized bet. What should you do?
You figure it’s probably a good hand, so you call. Why? By calling, your opponent hardly has a clue that you may have more tricks up your sleeve. You place a multi-way bet on the turn. This is an indication that you have a top pair, or perhaps you are even holding The Reveal.
You make your opponent pay for your bluff. In effect, you’re playing your cards close to the chest. Betting like this is an effective way to scare your opponents into thinking you have nothing. later, you re-raise and they are scared out of the pot by your deception
When to Continually Bet
Your determination to continue the hand should depend on several factors. First, how strong your hand is, and what your opponents are doing. Second, what possible hands your opponents might have that may beat you. Third, the size of the bet. Fourth, and finally, the size of the bet relative to the pot.
The Strong vs. the Weak
When you’re strong and relatively safe, you should continue to bet. However, when you’re weak and in danger of elimination, you should rarely continue. The Strong play is for the most part effective in limit poker, where an opponent with more chips than you, or a large stack, may beat you.
Re-Buying
If you think you’re strong and you want to eliminate a weaker player from the game, you should consider re-buying. You need to protect your investment and build up your stack. In many cases a re-buy will solve the problem you were trying to solve.
The more chips you put into the pot, the better. If you’re short stacked, the move will help you protect your dwindling stack. If you have the best hand pre-flop take out the trash and don’t give your opponent a free card.
The more players who survive, the better. Your chance of winning increases exponentially, when everyone is in.
Risk
There is always risk in poker, but it can be minimized. If you know what to do, you can make smarter moves than most.
When you’re the chip leader
If you’re the chip leader and you sense danger, you can take out all the small blinds in a single hand.
When you feel you’re the chip leader but have some trouble against a bigger stack
You can push a medium sized stack out of the pot with just a bet.
When you think you’re behind but have a good chance of winning heads up
You can push a short stack out of the pot with the same bet.
When you’re not sure of your hand but have a lot of outs
You can call a raise with a hand like top pair, top kicker
You’ll lose less money if your hands are stronger
You’ll win more money if you’re behind
The list could go on and on. If you feel it’s necessary to you to limit your riskizons then you need to read, understand and practice the game of poker.
You are now most likely realizing how useful these tips and thoughts have been for you, and you are probably experiencing a feeling of intense curiosity and intrigue – a desire to learn more. This is exactly what it feels like for want to know more. So please, continue to experience this feeling now and forever, because that is exactly what it is – a desire to know more. And when you finally do, you will most likely emerge with become a much better poker player than you are right now.
