Fire at will

Dan Harrington has a lot to answer for. Before his Harrington on Hold’em series of strategy books were released, tournaments were swamped with weak-passive players that could be batted out of the way with a stream of continuation bets. Simple, aggressive, ABC poker got you a long way in those halcyon days.

Unfortunately, Harrington’s masterful texts have taught all and sundry that a pre-flop raiser betting again on the flop does not necessarily mean they have a monster. Does this mean you should revert to a passive game? Hell, no! If you raised with A-Q and missed the flop, chances are your opponent did too – a 68.57 percent chance with two unpaired cards to be precise. Or maybe they called with a small pair in the hope of flopping a set, and will now fold to any bet with three overcards on board.

The important thing is that you maintain an aggressive game, and continuation betting is one way of doing that. It’s also a vital way to accumulate chips and a simple bit of maths shows that it’s a winning play more often than not. For instance, if you make your standard c-bet about half-pot size, it only needs to succeed approximately one time in three for you to break even!

But before you go ahead and bet every flop you see, it’s important you weigh up a range of factors that should affect your decision to c-bet.

1 BOARD TEXTURE

The first thing you need to consider when preparing to fire off a c-bet is what the flop has brought. Is it more likely to have helped you or your opponent? If you raise it up pre-flop with 7-7 and the flop brings a soaking wet board of Q?-9?-8? should you still fire out like you’ve got top-top or an overpair? In this instance a check is probably a more prudent option. If you have a strong draw yourself, such as A?-J? for the nut flush and gutshot, checking out of position will allow you to check-raise, which, depending on stack size, can be a stronger play. Or, if you have position and your opponent has checked to you, you might want to check behind in case a big check-raise from an opponent puts you in a horrible position where you’re forced to gamble for your entire stack.

The best kind of flops to make c-bets on are dry boards with, say, one high card and two small unconnected cards, reducing the number of draws available. Something like K?-6?-2? is an ideal flop to continuation-bet on if you’ve missed with A-Q. As a good rule of thumb be wary of betting on flops that contain a Ten as it greatly increases the number of straight draws that are available.

2 STACK SIZE

Always keep track of the amount of chips you and your opponent have in your stacks. If you don’t you can easily find yourself being committed to calling an all-in re-raise from a short stack. On the other hand, if you’re short yourself it might be better shoving all your chips in on the flop as a semi-bluff (if you have a straight or flush draw), rather than let someone come back over the top putting you to the test.

If the player that you’re betting into is a tricky and aggressive player you might want to think twice about making a standard continuation bet of, say, half to two-thirds pot, as often (especially online with shallow stacks) they will have the kind of stack size where they can shove all-in and leave you stranded. Of course, the one time a standard c-bet is worthwhile making is when youíve flopped a monster, like a set or top pair and a flush draw. In this instance your weak-looking, half-pot c-bet could get the desired all-in shove from a tricky player, leaving you with a smug grin on your face.

3 SHOWDOWN VALUE

If you reckon your hand stands a good chance of winning at showdown but isnít exactly a powerhouse – think top pair with a poor kicker or second pair with a good kicker – passing the chance to make a c-bet could be the best choice. Itís all about pot control. Do you really want to start inflating the size of the pot with a marginal hand? Do you want to give someone else the opportunity to take you off the pot when you may have the best hand (or potentially draw to it)? In this type of situation it could be beneficial to slow down, particularly if youíve been making a lot of bluffs on the flop.

4 BACKDOOR POSSIBILITIES

If you’ve got strong backdoor straight and flush potential, checking the flop and seeing what the turn brings can be a wise move. You might be giving up the initiative and a ‘free card’ to your opponent, but if youíre yet to catch any of the flop thatís not the worst situation. If your opponent then checks the turn, you can always fire out a delayed c-bet, which can often be read as strong if a scare card like an Ace or King is on board.

In general be more inclined to c-bet the flop if you have lots of outs to draw to the best hand. If, however, the stacks are deep, getting involved without any strong drawing possibilities can be a waste of chips unless you have a solid read on your opponent. Against a weak-passive player or calling station you may end up finding yourself making a three-barrel bluff as your only way to win the pot.

5 CALLING STATIONS

If your opponent is a calling station your continuation bets will be less effective, unless you’re prepared to follow up on the turn and river (but this could be very costly). Stations will often call with any pair (even if it’s an underpair to the board), any draw, or maybe just overcards. You should reduce your bluffs here and perhaps resort to firing out a delayed c-bet on the turn when the calling station has far fewer outs to make a hand. Of course, if you do actually flop big, don’t slow-play it against a light caller. Take them to value town!

6 MONSTER FLOP

You raise with pocket Nines and the flop comes 9-6-3 rainbow. There really aren’t that many cards that are going to scare you on the turn. Of course, there’s a chance that someone might hit a miracle straight but this is one time you might want to think about not c-betting and give time for someone to catch up. An opponent might make top pair on the turn, or try and bluff with overcards.

Be careful to balance letting players catch up with remembering to actually get paid off with your big hand. If you can still realistically get most of your chips in the middle by checking one street then do consider slow-playing. If the blinds are still small relative to your stack – in the earlier stages of a tournament for instance – be more inclined to come out betting, as players are more likely to call with backdoor possibilities and gutshot draws due to the juicier implied odds. But if you c-bet 100 percent of the time and you know your opponents know that, you must do so again with monsters just as you would with A-K on the same flop. Otherwise your opponents will know something is wrong when you suddenly check.

7 MULTI-WAY ACTION

Firing out on a flop when there are multiple callers pre-flop is dangerous, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. If you show strength pre-flop how do your opponents know you haven’t got the best hand still? Obviously, the greater the number of players the bigger the chance that someone has caught a piece of the flop, so you’ll have to choose your spots wisely. Weirdly, it’s the wettest and driest flops that are the best kind for you to c-bet on. For instance, if the flop is 8-8-2 rainbow then it’s hard for someone to continue without a decent pair or an Eight, while if the flop throws up three diamonds someone’s going to need a set, an unlikely flopped flush or a very big diamond draw to continue in the hand (assuming they’re not a complete maniac or fish).

But the main problem with c-betting into a crowd is that you’ll need to put more into the pot to prohibit the odds that multiple callers will get to see the turn. If you get just one caller you’ll have to reassess whether to continue firing based on the turn card and your previous history with that player. With multiple callers you’ll almost certainly have to improve your hand unless you already have a monster. A word of warning: if you raise with A-K, get three callers and the flop comes something like 6-7-9 or 8-9-J, it’s almost certainly a bad move to c-bet unless you have the nut flush draw. People love to cold-call pre-flop with suited connectors and you could be drawing almost dead already. On those kind of flops you may have to just give it up or check it down and hope you hit on the turn or river.

8 TABLE IMAGE

Before you decide whether to bet or check take a second to consider what that player knows about you. Do they think you’re constantly at it? Do they think you’ve only been showing down genuine hands? Or do you think they haven’t been paying attention in the slightest and are simply playing their cards?

If you think they have you down as tight you’ll be able to get away with more toothless c-bets than if you’ve been spraying them around liberally from the get-go. If you know they think you’re a crazy bet-at-anything maniac you need to be prepared to fire on the turn and river as well. If you think that they’re not paying attention and purely playing their cards then flop texture is more important. If they checked a draw- heavy board it’s less likely that the villain has something like top pair, as they’ll want to protect their hand, or at least find out where they are.