In this video, top cash pro Dani Stern uses a replayer to break down several hands that involve hero calls in cash games, and uses the hands to illustrate some critical concepts regarding hand reading. Dani reviews multiple river situations and walks viewers through how the information gained on previous streets can be used to identify optimal spots for light river calls. The video runs about a half hour.

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The reprinted section below deals with playing limped pots in 6 max games. Learn more about Vosti’s book at SkilledOnlinePoker.com

Chapter 15: Limped Pots
Limped pots (when there are no raises preflop but at least one call) are always difficult for a TAG. We’re just not used to limping and dealing with hands like top pair no kicker in a small pot. I believe the solution is very simple: just don’t worry about them very much.

There’s not much value to be made from winning limped pots. You’ll usually be in the SB or BB in these pots and you should only really get involved if you flop a very big hand.

Certainly don’t bluff in these pots, especially if they’re multi-way. A semibluff is ok if you have an 8-out or more draw. Be wary of small flush draws though; a hand like 5♠2♠ on a T♠9♠8♣ board is pretty worthless and should be check/folded. It’s a classic example of reverse implied odds.

A very good player once told me that if you’re getting all-in on the flop in a limped pot without the nuts, you’re probably doing something wrong. And he’s right. While that’s not a rule set in stone, getting all in with bottom two-pair for 100 BBs when you flopped two pair with 64o in the BB is going to be a losing play.

My general guidelines for limped pots are:

•When you flop top pair, no kicker, it’s only worth one bet at most. K3 on a KQ8 flop is a very bad hand. If there are 2 or more players, I often won’t even put a dime in the pot.

• When the SB open completes and you check the BB and he checks to you on the flop, it’s OK to fire out a small bet to take the pot. Otherwise, never bet into a limped pot with nothing.

• If you bet an 8-out draw and get raised, never 3-bet as a semibluff. Just call and try to hit. Only with a huge combo draw like an open-ended straight flush draw would I 3-bet on the flop as a semibluff in a limped pot.

•Be very careful with two pair. If you have two pair and there are possible straights or flushes on board, getting all-in is usually very bad. If you have top two pair on a dry board, then it’s ok to bomb away with bets.

• Be careful with trips, no kicker. A hand like T3 on a TT2 board isn’t going to be very good when you are getting a lot of action. Proceed with caution.

Learn more about Vosti’s book at SkilledOnlinePoker.com

The basic context for this article is no limit cash games online, lower to mid stakes (.50/1 – 3/6 range). Additionally, this article is written from a 6-max perspective, although most of the ideas in it should be fairly transferable to full ring play.

What does the weak lead mean?

A weak lead is an opening bet that you make when you’re out of position on the flop to a preflop raiser. The size of the bet is roughly in the range of a minimum bet to a third of the pot. I think minimum bets are something different altogether, so for the purposes of this article, let’s call a weak lead a fifth to a third-pot bet, although the bottom threshold of that range can get a little smaller as the pot gets bigger relative to effective stacks.

That’s what a weak lead is, but what does it mean? That’s the real question we’re concerned with here – when you lead weak, what does that likely signify to your opponents about the nature and quality of your hand? I’d argue that opponents typically default to one of three interpretations of this bet:

1) They assume you’re making a blocking bet with a draw.
This is a very common use of the weak lead, and you’ll see it frequently employed by newer players who have advanced beyond basic strategy. The logic for this use of the weak lead is pretty compelling, on face – if you have a draw and can get your opponent to just call your bet when they would have bet more if you had checked, you in theory get a better ‘price’ for your draw. There’s also the potential for the weak lead to turn into a successful semi-bluff and win the pot, plus your hand will be (again, in theory) disguised if you get called and make your draw. The obvious problem with using the weak lead for this purpose is that it’s pretty transparent to most competent opponents because it’s such a common play.

2) They assume you’re on a marginal made hand and you’re betting for information / value.
The logic here is a bit more confused than the rationalization for the weak lead with a draw. Basically, players are caught between two worlds, often with a hand like middle pair or top pair weak kicker. There’s one world where they’re ahead of your hand and one where they’re behind, and the weak lead attempts to serve both – it keeps their investment low if they’re behind and charges you to keep playing if they’re ahead. This use is primarily where the weak lead gets its bad reputation – as with most bets that try to accomplish two different purposes, it rarely ends up doing either very well.

3) They assume you’re on a strong hand and attempting to induce a raise.
This use grew out an aggressive school of no limit, largely repopularized by online poker, that places a heavy emphasis on taking the lead with your strong hands. It’s certainly a more sophisticated use of the weak lead, as it plays on the expectations created in the average player’s mind by the more common uses of the weak lead. Also, it turns the post-flop aggression of LAGier players back on itself. Still, like any quality play, it’s become a lot more recognizable as more and more players employ it.

There are certainly more ways your opponents could interpret the weak lead. Additionally, it’s worth noting that your savvier opponents will probably not just choose one interpretation and stick with it throughout the hand, but rather will leave some combination of all possibilities open and refine their assessment as they get more information. That said, the stock responses above are still a useful jumping-off point for discussing ways that the weak lead can be used profitably.

Positive scenarios for the weak lead line

Basic poker strategy can be boiled down to a simple concept: take your opponent’s expectations and subvert them. We surveyed the common expectations your opponents are likely to have when you make a weak lead above, so the natural question now is: How can we use the weak lead to subvert their expectations for profit?

1) To get to a three-bet with a combo draw in a heads up pot.
Field: heads up
Your hand: combo draw (10 outs or more)
Preferred opponent: Aggressive

This line takes the typical semi-bluff of the weak lead one step further. Here, the weak lead is used to induce a raise from an opponent looking to protect their hand against your perceived draw. When they raise, you re-raise. The nice thing about this line is that since you have a combo draw you’re likely to be taking it on pretty coordinated flops. Coordinated flops increase the chance that your opponent will raise to protect a vulnerable made hand like top pair or an over pair. When you re-raise, the coordinated board makes it very difficult for those hands to continue, as there’s a chance that you’ve already made your hand and you’re not that far behind if you haven’t. Also, the coordinated board makes your three bet more credible, as you’d likely play a set or two pair the same way to protect against your opponent from drawing out. Finally, it’s a nice set up play, as you can use a similar line against the same opponent with a made hand on slightly less coordinated boards and expect them to beat you into the pot drawing thin or dead.

2) To get a marginal player to commit with a medium-strength made hand on a multi-way flop.
Field: multi-way
Your hand: 2 pair or better
Preferred opponent: Nit

This line is a great way to get a tighter opponent to stack off with an overpair or even top pair when you flop a set or two pair. It works especially well if the board is a little coordinated and if you are to the immediate right of the preflop raiser, leaving players still to act behind them. Here, your lead forces your opponent to defend not only against your perceived draw, but also against all of the potential draws that the players still to act could be holding. You’ll often see nittish and less experienced players go into panic-betting mode in this spot, wildly over-betting the pot. By the time it gets back to you, they’re often either committed or under a pot-sized bet from being so.

3) To stone bluff an aggressive, thinking opponent heads up on a coordinated board.
Field: heads up
Your hand: complete miss or very weak draw
Preferred opponent: Hyper-aggressive

This line relies on playing against an opponent who is smart enough to be paying attention and smart enough to know that you’re paying attention as well. If they’re opening preflop with a wide range of hands, they actually miss a ton of coordinated flops. Consider a flop like 10s 7s 6d – it’s a pretty wet board, but it cold misses pairs 5 and down, a lot of suited aces, and a ton of broadway combinations. When you lead into a board like this weak, your strong opponent will be faced with a difficult decision. You could be representing extreme strength, medium strength or a draw. Peeling with a complete miss doesn’t do them much good against any of the three, and raising can get them into a lot of trouble against two of the three. Faced with a lack of clear, attractive options, aggressive players will often just opt to fold and wait for a better spot. This is obviously the most speculative use of the line, but even though it’s a little out there, remember – it doesn’t have to win the pot often to be a profitable bet, and it’s a good way to keep an aggressive opponent who has position on you off balance to boot.

Beggar bets are generally used by the average player for value betting or for attempting to lure an opponent into calling against a very strong hand. Because of this common use, beggar bets should also be able to be used effectively as bluffs in many games. While it’s certainly not a play you want to trot out a dozen times each session, if you use it judiciously it can be an excellent addition to your cash game arsenal.

This article will provide some quick guidelines for using the beggar bet to bluff. As with any no limit cash strategy, the actual application is really context-reliant, so be sure to consider the specific nature of your style, opponents, and so on when attempting any theoretical move in actual game play. For reference, I tend to play 1-2 to 4-8 NL online, more often 6 max or shorthanded than full ring.

ADVANTAGES
The core advance of the beggar bluff is that it’s very cheap. If you’re only risking a quarter of the pot on your bluff, then you just don’t have to be successful very often to show a profit. A second major advantage is the fact that, in several types of games and against several types of opponents, it’s a very effective bluff, simply because it’s a bet that’s generally made when a person is fairly strong. That combination of low risk and frequent success makes the beggar bluff a strong move when smartly executed.

Beyond those core advantages, the beggar bluff also can be used to negate positional advantages and can also be used effectively as a set up play, especially in shorthanded situations. If an opponent folds to your small bluff once or twice, they’re likely to assume you always bet small when strong, which is a great image to work from if you can put together a small run of cards.

DISADVATAGES
Obviously the move can’t be all awesomeness and absolute profit, or you’d see people using it far more often than you currently do. Small bets and raises have their upside, but they also open you up to serious risks. The first is that the beggar bluff is often too affordable for your opponent, and may motivate them to call down or draw with hands that they’d fold to a more normal-sized bet. That leads us to the second major issue – if you don’t end the hand with the beggar bluff, it’s very hard to know where you stand on the next street. Larger bets tend to define your opponent’s hand, but you have to dramatically expand their possible range if they we calling at the typical odds a beggar bluff offers (somewhere from 3-6 to 1, typically).

Other things to consider: when you make a beggar bluff bet in position or raise your opponent with a beggar bluff, you’re reopening the betting, which is something you might regret if you’re semi-bluffing. You can also quickly build a decent sized pot with such bets – and when you combine that with the fact that your opponent can be calling you with a wide range, future streets can end up playing very awkwardly. You’ll probably be put in a lot of spots where you’ve built a pot with your bluff and you can find a few good reasons to fire another bluff on the next street.

PREFERRED OPPONENTS
As with any play, this one works better against some types of opponents than others. It’s also worth noting that different types of opponents respond in different ways depending on how you’re playing, so it’s always a good idea to consider your opponent’s style relative to your own, and not just how they’re generally playing.

With that said, the first criteria for your preferred opponent is that they have to be smart enough to fold. Past that, you’d prefer to be making these types of moves against players who are firing off a decent amount of bets, and therefore are more likely to be betting with nothing when you decide to bluff. Against an aggressive opponent, you’d probably prefer someone who’s about midway between TAG and LAG, as the loose-aggressive types will call your bet a lot more liberally, hurting your success rate. Bluffs on the turn are generally successful against such types.

A second preferred opponent type would be a tight-weak player, especially one who’s put together a bit of a win already that session. A good amount of tight-weak players are willing to make continuation bets on the flop or semi-bluff in position. Flop raises or turn leads are generally good options against this type

PREFERRED SITUATIONS
I’m hesitant to recommend hyper-specific situations for the beggar bluff, as we all know that heavily prescriptive advice is a dangerous thing, so I’ll offer up some general guidelines and spots to hopefully get you thinking about where the beggar bluff might fit best in your game.

Generally speaking, I think these bets have the best chance of success when the pot is medium-sized (think 5-25 BBs) and on your brickier, or drier, boards. Large pots tend to motivate people to call looser, and small pots don’t allow you to pose a significant enough of a thread with your bet. As for the board, bluffing on a draw-filled board is always tough, since your opponent might be calling on a draw or be willing to call with weaker holding if they believe that you’re on a draw.

Some generic spots where you might find success with the beggar bluff:

1. As a turn checkraise on a bricky board against an aggressive opponent capable of firing two continuation bets
2. On a paired board heads up against a scared opponent
3. As a checkraise on the river when a lot of draws miss
4. As a raise on the river against a blocking bet when a lot of draws get there
5. As a lead on the river when you’ve called a bet or two and a draw gets there

POSTSCRIPT
Hopefully this was a useful discussion of a bet that you might want to integrate into your game. Once you think about the bet a little more, you’ll probably quickly come to recognize multi-street combinations that you can use this bet in, but that’s a discussion best saved for another article.

No-limit Texas hold’em differs from draw and stud games in the presence of a board of community cards. The three-card flop and one-card turn and river combine with the two cards in your hand to make your best poker holding. Once the flop comes, at least sixty percent of your hand is known, and that is why many players consider the play of the flop to be the most important portion of a no-limit Texas hold’em hand.

Flop Structure
If you’re new to the game of Texas hold’em and only played stud or draw before, or just video poker, you may not have heard much about the structure or texture of a flop, but it is a concept that is crucial to understand. Analyzing the structure of the flop means determining what holdings are possible or likely for your opponents based on the three cards on the board. Certain flops will mean different things for you depending on what you hold and what the action has been to this point. Playing only your own cards and not considering how the flop might have helped your opponents is a big mistake in no limit Texas hold’em.

Analyzing the Flop Structure
For example, let’s say you look down at two black aces in a $3/$6 blinds internet poker game . You bet out $50 and get called in two places. The flop comes 8d 3c 4h. This is a very non-threatening board for you. The flop structure is in your favor. There are no flush draws out there and the only real straight draw is for a player holding 5 6, a hand which only a complete maniac would call $50 pre-flop with. It is possible that someone has flopped a set but if they are you are probably going to go broke and there’s nothing you can do about it so you should discount this possibility in most cases. Your goal in this instance is to make sure your opponents stay in the hand. You should bet an amount that is big enough to build the pot, but small enough that they can call. On the other hand, let’s say the flop comes Th Jh Qh. This is a suited, well-connected board and it is a disastrous board for you. Anyone with any two hearts, AK, K9, 89, TJ, QT or QJ now has you completely crushed. You should check fold or make a small probing bet and be prepared to fold at the first sign of resistance. Making a large or worse yet all-in bet on this board would be a grievous error. A third possibility is a board like 9c Tc 6s. This is a reasonably well connected board and you should consider making a bet here that will push out drawing opponents. You are ahead of likely hands like QJ or suited hearts, but a turn card could spell big trouble, so you want to make an opponent pay to stick around and see it. A board like Jc Qc Qs presents real problems for you, as it is well connected and requires protection, but you may be way behind to someone with a queen. This structure is one that requires you tread carefully and be prepared to release.

The first two parts of this article discussed some of the benefits of floating with outs. The primary benefit being that you will get paid huge then you make your hand. The side effect to this is that when you go to showdown it will massively change your image. Not only were you drawing without odds, but the equity you have will be so incredibly well hidden from your opponents that it is unlikely anyone will understand why you called. Most players will access your play based off these extreme situations, and they are likely to change the range of hands they will put you on when calling, as well as their ability to bluff you. This can be very good for you if used properly.

1- Players that routinely continuation bets the flop, may pass on their continuation bet against you when they miss.

2- Players that raise draws may reconsider raising their draw against you.

3- Players that “bet to find out where they are” may feel that their bets do not buy information against you.

This all leads to one extremely beneficial conclusion, players will be more likely to play less deceptively against you. The power of your position is far greater when your opponents play predictably.

I do not suggest trying to obtain the donkey image to setup a better game for yourself later, just as i don’t recommend stealing when you don’t expect it to work just to get action later. Pick your spots carefully, do your best to not get caught stealing (or semi floating) but when you do, kick in a little extra effort to figure out exactly who noticed, and how their play has changed vs. you.

Finally spots to watch out for after getting caught:

1- against an aggressive maniac, a donkey image is likely to not work. They are maniacs because they don’t chose their opponents or spots carefully. They are used to people making bad calls against them, and they are far more likely to fire an extra barrel or two in later streets. Your image will likely shutdown only the marginally creative/aggressive players, not the nuts.

2- True donkeys don’t know their own kind. They aren’t likely to change their play against you at all. They are there to gamble, so your play looks natural to them.

3- Some players will overvalue top pair against you because they may believe you are calling with trash, and will fire a second barrel when they otherwise would not, so just calling on the flop will not be scary to the observant player. Define more hands with flop raises than normal (draws included) after you get caught semi floating.

4- After a particularly nasty suck out, some players tilt. Some seek vengeance sickouts. Proceed against your victim with caution.

5- Some players will get the “fear any two” syndrome against you. These players will often make themselves apparent with body language, chat, or play. “God he sucked out again.” Is a good indicator. When drawing with a legitimate hand such as a flush-draw, you will have a lot more spots to represent straights or two pair against these players. They will pride themselves on making “good lay downs”. Abuse them.

Read Part 1 of this article
Read Part 2 of this article

While answering a post on the Parttimepoker forums about floating I described calling a bet that I wouldn’t normally call because it allowed me to use my position to steal later in the hand. My fellow posters didn’t consider it floating because I had a somewhat reasonable number of possible outs. I argued that it was floating because I would have folded this hand if I believed he was strong, thus drawing to a gut-shot was an unprofitable prospect if I was looking to get paid proper odds on this long shot. I ended up calling the play a “semi-float”, as bluffing with a draw would be a “semi bluff”.

The general rule is: don’t draw to a long-shot if you don’t feel you will get paid enough to warrant the call when you get there… But to me this rule has always seemed flawed. If you don’t feel you are likely to get paid off when you hit a disguised hand, then that must mean your opponent is likely to fold his hand on many occasions later in the hand when you don’t improve as well. Maybe you believe he is just continuation betting, and if you hit you won’t get paid because he has only ace high. Part one of this
article discussed spots where you might call on the flop with nothing at all because you believe you can steal the pot later in the hand, but why call with nothing when you can call with something unlikely.

A scenario:

My opponent raised 3x BB pre-flop in late position and I called on the button with TJs. Both blinds fold.
My opponent will always continuation bet against one opponent.
My opponent will almost always bet the turn if he believes he has the best hand.
My opponent will usually check the turn if he suspects he is beat.
My opponent knows where the fold button is.

Flop Ks 9c4h

My opponent leads for 5BB.

Holding a 3 flush and a gut shot there are a lot of good turns for me, but not many that make me a winner on the turn. Drawing to the gut shot here is an unprofitable play if you believe your opponent is unlikely to pay 11-1 when you hit, and will go to showdown when you miss. So to make calling here you must either believe your opponent will pay you handsomely when you hit, or will abandon his bluff on the turn and you and pick up the pot a substantial portion of the time without improving. (I will avoid
the complicated option of raising on the turn when you pickup additional outs and believe a bluff is best).

Compare this scenario (changing only the flop) to the common spot players float:

Kd8c4h flop instead of our flop.

When my opponent decides to bet the turn after our flop call in the first scenario there are a bunch of spots where we will have a strong hand on the turn by either picking up the nut straight, or a flush draw in addition to the gut shot. As an added bonus if the flush makes on the river, we have called a flop bet, making that flush very unlikely. If we were wrong, and our opponent actually had a strong holding we may end up getting our 11-1 or better after all. In the second scenario this can never happen.

When attempting a semi float remember that any obvious draw cannot be present (or you must know your opponent so well as to know he won’t put you on a draw). If you
try and “semi float” when there are more obvious draws present, your opponents are likely to be suspicious of you just calling on a draw. An opponent that believes
you to be on a draw will be more compelled to protect a much more marginal hand than if you could only have called with something that beats him or virtually nothing at all. In both of the above examples this is not a possibility due to the nature of the board.

The final thought on this section is focused your image again. By floating this horrible draw in the first part, when you hit and get paid your opponents aren’t likely to realize that you intended to steal the pot on a later street. Your image will change. People will continuation bet against you less, because you might call them with nothing. So even while the stars must align for a float to be profitable in the first place, once you think the right spot has come but you are wrong and your opponents have seen that you will call the flop with nothing at all, then you shouldn’t try again for quite some time. Most opponents are scared to fire the second bet on the turn because they believe you have to have something to call the flop, and since they did it on an uncoordinated board, then you must have a pair, likely with the intention of going to showdown with it. When
they see that this is not the case, most reasonable opponents will play much less predictably by either betting the flop less, or betting the turn more.

Read Part 1 of this article
Read Part 3 of this article

Floating is calling a bet on the flop without odds to make a perceived winning hand. This article will discuss the float, but before we get started, I feel a few words on fold equity are necessary:

The most dangerous term in poker for a new player is “fold equity”. Fold equity is the improved equity you gain by being the aggressor in a pot. Since you don’t have to have the best hand when your opponent folds, your equity goes to 100% when you can win without showdown. Estimating this equity is FAR more difficult than estimating your odds to win on showdown, and trying to add this into an already very complicated equation to determine if a bet is correct can lead players down a path to maniacal play.

Without any kind of odds, including perceived implied odds, calling bets seems wrong to most profitable players. Why on earth would you call a bet without even perceived implied odds? Surely folding or raising would be better since you want to win the pot without going to showdown. After all, those donkey calls your opponents make are why you’re profitable… You make this call to take the pot away on a later street. Why wait till a later street?

1) Turn raises, or bets are scarier to most opponents than flop bets.

2) Pot control: if your opponent has a draw, they might be willing to make a 3 bet on the flop as a re-steal, but once you advance to the turn their odds of improving on showdown (when they miss the turn) go down dramatically.

Floating is an excellent way to maximize “fold equity”, therefore it is also a very dangerous tool. Use it with caution. Before planning to execute a float go through this check list:

1) Am I heads up? Floating is a play to be used only when you can go to the turn heads up. It is not necessary that you are heads up on the flop, but rather that every other opponent besides you and the bettor are out before you call.

2) Am I in position? 99% of the time floating out of position is a mistake. If you can’t identify the 1% right now, don’t try. Floating is a dangerous enough tool that position is a must.

3) Is my opponent predictable? Know your opponent well! Will I know better where he is at on the turn? If your opponent routinely continuation bets the flop and gives up on the turn when he doesn’t like his hand, then this could be a good spot.

4) If you don’t have any form of draw, does he? If you hold complete trash, the board must be very uncoordinated. If he even believes you are on a draw
then it might be harder for you to take the pot away from him if he’s not stone cold bluffing.

5) Do you believe your opponent is likely to be bluffing at this flop? It is important both that your opponent is likely to have missed the flop, and that he is wiling to fold his hand on the turn for the play to work. Don’t float a donkey.

Some other thoughts:

Sometimes an ace or king on the board are good for floating, sometimes they aren’t. That ace might scare your opponent into playing predictably on later streets, or it might make it more likely he hit his hand.

Once you get caught floating, your image will change dramatically. Many beginner players don’t know this play even exists, so executing it will likely confuse them. When many beginner players get confused at your play they label you as a certain type of fish, use this to your advantage.

The next article will deal with “semi floating”, or “floating with outs”, this is an even more dangerous tool, but I believe it is far superior in the right spots.

Read Part 2 of this article

This play works well against a thinking player that is a bit over aggressive. It involves a cute little play with the flop checkraise when out of position and the feeler raise in position. Lets break down each situation individually. We are going to assume for these exercises that you have a tight , solid image and your opponent has an image of being solid, but aggressive and makes the obligatory continuation bet a bit too often.

Lets take the play in position first as it’s a bit easier to play. I like to play most hands with position on my opponent. I can control the action a bit better and control the pot size to a manageable level. Lets say for example were in a 2-4 blinds NL game and we have a stack of $400. Our opponents have the same stack sizes as us.

Opponent open raises in MP to $14.00 and you decide to float the opponent with a tight image with the 7s 5s. Everyone else folds and you are heads up with your opponent in position.

The flop comes As 9c 6h leaving you nothing but a gutshot straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. Now your opponent bets $20.00 into the pot of $34.00. This should be identified as a standard continuation bet. Now, your opponent being a solid player can make this continuation bet with anything from top set to air in this situation.

Now, the things that set this hand up for this play are that the board is uncoordinated, and you do have some outs. However, its not a draw where you can call this bet. If you do indeed have a tight, solid image the play is to raise here on occasion to $50-$55.00. This looks like a value raise to a solid player and it represents at least a strong ace. More than likely if your opponent doesn’t have at least a strong ace, he isn’t going to stick around. He is going to fold.

Obviously , you don’t want to make this play against a calling station as the fold equity must be relatively high. Also, if you get called, you do have some outs and are in position to take a free card on the turn should you choose to. I would recommend taking the free card as your second barrel (should you choose to fire it) is a big favorite to be called. However, the success rate of this play when used in moderation against thinking opponents is very good.

Lets examine the play when it happens and you are out of position. This will usually occur when someone in late position raises on a steal, and you call from the big blind with a suspect hand.

Same setup of 2-4 NL, stacks of 400 each. Folded to your opponent who makes it $14.00 to go from the cutoff seat, button and small blind fold, and you call from the big blind with 6c 8c.

The flop comes Ac 9s 5d. This situation is similar as before but you check to the raiser and he bets $20.00. You then stall and pull the check raise to $65.00 total. The reason that the check raise needs to be bigger is the fact that it needs to have some leverage to drive the opponent out. A checkraise to $50-55 is a bit easier to call.

Now this play must not be used very often from the big blind in this situation. A very special set of circumstances must be met. The opponent must be a aggressive player that is capable of laying down a hand. You must also have a tight, solid image bordering on nut peddler status and the board must be a very dry one. There shouldn’t be any real draws out there. The reason why this play should not be performed too often is that the flop checkraise out of position is overused and less likely to be believed. If you were to break it down as far as usage, I would use this play only one time for every four times I use the other play in position. Another reason you shouldn’t use this play nearly as much is that it is highly volatile being out of position. The check raise can get expensive when you are wrong. Also, if your checkraise on the flop gets called, you are not likely to get a free card on the turn. You will in fact then have to fire a large second barrel when you miss, or give up on the hand.

This play is only a change up type of play that can add to your hourly earn but if you use it more than you should you can actually hurt your bottom line. it’s a nice play to feel good about yourself once in a while when you win a pot you shouldn’t. It actually has a high success rate when used properly. Good luck at the tables.

What is a Value Bet?

A value bet is a bet that you make when you believe you have the best hand and would like to be called. Although occasionally players like to overbet with a strong hand in order that their play be perceived as a bluff, there are many cases where the best way to extract chips is to make a bet small enough that the opponent feels compelled to call, due to the size of the pot relative to the amount of the bet and the likelihood that the bet is a bluff or representing a weaker hand.

Value Betting in No Limit Holdem vs. Limit Holdem

In many types of poker betting, the no limit Texas Holdem player has an advantage in that they have complete control over the size of the bet. Value betting is an exception. Value bets in limit holdem are very hard for opponents not to pay off. The size of the bet is fixed, so it could represent anything, and opponents are almost always getting the correct odds to call on the off chance you may be bluffing. In no limit holdem, part of your skill will be deciding how much you can get away with betting for value. If you bet too much, you may lose your opponent, which will cost you money. Similarly, if you don’t bet enough, you are costing yourself chips that you should have won, which is just as bad as losing chips that you should not lose.

When Should You Value Bet?

You should value bet in situations where you are likely to have the best hand and you are unlikely to get action from opponents in any other way. Value betting is an advanced strategy that is most often done on the river, when you have all the information you can about the likelihood that your hand is the best. Before the river, there are other considerations such as how to bet against drawing hands or how likely your hand is to remain best by the river which may make value betting less of a priority.

Example

In a $2/$3 blinds no limit Texas Hold em game, you have 8s 9h in the big blind. A middle position player raises to $15 and you call. The flop comes As 9d 2c. You check and your opponent bets $20. You decide to call and the turn is the 4c. You check and your opponent checks. The river is the 9s. This is usually a good time to value bet. While it will be tempting to check and try to trap your opponent, you must consider the situation:

Opponent Missed the Flop

If your opponent missed the flop entirely and was trying to represent an ace on the flop, he will probably not attempt another bluff on the river since he stopped betting on the turn, although of course this will depend on the individual opponent. In this case, he will probably check if you check, but may read a bet here as a bluff after he showed weakness on the turn, and if the bet is small enough, may pay you off with any pair.

Opponent Has an Ace

You have showed resistance with your calls throughout the hand. If you check the river, he will probably check behind you and be content to win the hand if you do not have a stronger ace or a nine, rather than bet and risk your raising and putting him to the test. If you bet however, his hand is too strong to release without a fight, especially since he showed weakness by checking the turn. Here he will have to pay off any reasonable bet. The trick here is to find the right bet size. If you move all in, he may make a crying fold. If you bet less than half the pot, your opponent is now getting better than 3 to 1 on his call. This means if he thinks you will bet in this situation with a weaker ace, a bluff, an underpair 25 percent of the time or one time out of four, it is correct for him to call. This call will usually be too tempting to pass up.

Opponent Has a Nine

If your opponent has a nine with a better kicker, this is obviously a disastrous situation for you no matter what happens. However, if you check and your opponent moves all-in, you will often feel compelled to call, since after you show weakness your opponent may do this with any number of hands. If you value bet and your opponent moves all-in, you may still feel compelled to call due to the pot odds. However, depending on how large your opponent’s raise is, it may be possible for you to get away from the hand since you have showed great strength and have been raised. In most cases you will still be busted, since you have to consider the possibility that your opponent put you on an ace and is bluffing all-in to represent a nine he does not hold. If you already have a good read on this opponent, this additional information may save you.

Value betting is an important skill to possess when you play Texas holdem, as it can contribute greatly to your overall win rate. Remember to consider a value bet when you feel strongly that you have the best hand but the board is threatening enough that it will be difficult to trap an opponent who holds a marginal hand.