Continuation Betting and the Importance of Position at the Table

Continuation Betting and the Importance of Position at the Table

When deciding whether or not to make a continuation bet on the flop, one truly critical factor in that situation is your position at the table.  You're playing a hand,  you raise before the flop from under the gun and get called by the player sitting in the big blind position. You should strongly consider making a continuation bet most of the time, whether the flop helped you or not, this portrays that your preflop raise from the worst position at the table holds a very big hand. In the same situation, your opponent's call before the flop doesn't signify nearly as much strength because he was getting a huge discounted price to call from the big blind. If he checks to you on the flop, you should make a continuation bet at least 90-95 percent of the time, mixing in a check here and there when you have a hand like A-J or A-Q and hit the flop with your ace or queen.
Now let's say you make a preflop raise on the button and get called by the big blind. You still have position on your opponent, but he's probably not going to give you any credit for having a strong hand because stealing blinds from the button is so common on the button. There's a chance he might check-raise you with absolutely nothing, so you should be much more inclined to check after your opponent checks, especially if you actually have a decent hand like pocket eights on a 9-5-2 flop or A-K on a T-Q-5 flop. In the second situation, you would be better off checking and taking a free card with A-K because you're likely drawing to ten outs and, even if you don't improve, your hand is still strong enough to have showdown value on the river. If you do decide to make a continuation bet and get called, you can almost always have a good idea your opponent has a better hand than the one you hold at the time. You should then take a free card on the turn, which will give you another shot at hitting one of your outs on the river.  
Continuation bets have become common also, so preparation is a must due to the fact the your opponent has seen this dance before.  Your opponent looks at this as a steal attempt in this situation, you should be prepared to go all the way with your hand whenever you're short-stacked and connect with the flop. For example, if you only have 50 big blinds in your stack, you raise from the button with J-10 suited and the flop comes 9-J-5, you need to be willing to get all your chips into the middle of the table. You should make a continuation bet most of the time, but occasionally you're going to want to check behind in this spot in order to disguise the strength of your hand. Now if you had 70 big blinds in your stack in the same situation, you might want to check behind because you're a little too deep to entice an opponent who has a J to want to put you all in. If you check, most of the cards that fall on the turn won't hurt you. Only an A, K, or J would give you much concern. Having disguised the strength of your hand, you can then bet for value on the turn and the river. Your turn bet will most likely get called by many hands worse than yours, including those holding small pocket pairs. If your opponent checks to you again on the river, you should continue to bet for value, but if he leads out with a bet you should just call. If you raise, you're only going to get called by a better hand than yours.
Now let's turn it around and say you're out of position. You raise before the flop from middle position and get called by the player holding the button. Now you're in much more of a sticky situation if you decide to come out and make a continuation bet because, if your opponent calls, you're going to have to act first on the turn and if you check the turn your opponent will often dive in on your shown weakness, and make a large bet.  

However, there's a great way to take advantage of this situation. Wait until you actually have a strong hand on the flop, top pair or better, and make a continuation bet and get called, this is a great spot for you to check the turn. By doing this it will appear to your opponent that you're conceding the pot, and more often than not, it will fool him into believing he has the better hand. If the flop is J-4-2 and you have Q-J and check on the turn, your opponent could try to put you all in with a hand like pocket nines, whereas if you bet the turn he would probably fold that hand.  
 If you want to succeed in tournaments, you should always be very aware of your position at the table when deciding whether or not you should make a continuation bet on the flop.  What types of horror stories have you experienced, did a continuation bet fall apart at the seams for you, or was there success I want to know!

The Texas Holdem Attention Span

 

 Texas Hold'em Patience and Feeling Out the Situation Based on the Board.   

Your Ability To Read The Board

Your ability to read the board will help make you a winning, money earning player, and it is not hard to get comfortable with. As you play Texas Holdem, the community cards are the most significant group of cards in the game based on the fact that they are simply face up. You can easily determine the best possible hand that can be made from the community cards and two cards that may or may not be out there. It is extremely important that you learn determine how your hand stacks up against the other possible hands that your opponents may hold. Two common situations should peak your radar when you see them.
If there are three suited cards on the board someone has the opportunity to build a flush. If a player raises when the third suited card is turned over you should be aware of that player first,but second feel it out to where you make a judgement on whether or not a bluff is in the air. If there is a pair on the board a player can make four of a kind or a full house.

 

Pay Attention to all Possible Detail
When you are not involved in a hand you should still pay attention to the game. You can gain valuable information about your opponents simply by observing what hands they play, not to mentio you can give all your attention to the situation around the table rather than yourself. It’s easy to determine the players who play suited cards, or single aces by watching the hands they turn over at the end. That brings me to one controversial tip.
Think about the situation where it is appropriate to show your hand. if you don’t have to. If you win the pot because everyone else folded you are under no obligation to show your cards. You don’t want to give away any information about yourself if you don’t have to and players who turn over their cards when they don’t have to are doing just that.You can of course perform a premeditated show, as to later set someone up to take down a big pot or throw down a big bluff.

Starting Hand Selections

Starting Hand Selection

When trying to achieve a goal, I have an issue with research. I like hit upon Amazon or some other book store and buy the top of the line books of that niche. When I started playing poker, I did the same thing and bought a few books by the famous authors (Doyle Brunson in particular). Although they are the greats poker is a game played on personality I think, so some of the books I dove into were a little dis-serving. It took me years and money (haha) before I realized that the games that I was taking part in were not even close to the games that the authors played in and also that it does not always take the nuts to win a pot, it just takes a better hand then every one else (or the appearance that your hand is better). If you spend your time memorizing tables on playing certain hands in certain positions, you'll never really make a consistent living playing poker. The goal is to win and I find the most success comes from the type of poker player that can switch gears and vary his play on the drop of a dime based on the players your sitting with, hand and opponent. Here we will just simply go over certain hands and potential situation where it may make sense to play them.

Position - one thing you'll find in no limit holdem is that position is much more of a factor. With that said, I am not constantly acting on the basis of my position. I'm just as likely to play a hand like 9T suited under-the-gun (first position/worst position) as I am on the dealer button (last position/best position). The reason is because I don't get trapped and call unless I want. If someone raises me preflop a large amount, I can very easily fold. If lots of other people are in, I can call. I think position in limit holdem and no limit are exactly reversed. In limit holdem position is very important preflop, but after the flop it is of less importance. In no limit holdem position is less important preflop and very important post flop. What's the worst thing that can happen if I limp in with 56s in early position in no limit? A person could raise, and then I just fold and lose my few bucks. A few bucks is nothing in no limit. In no limit you can win a huge pot with any hand so calling a few dollars and then olding if it gets too expensive isn't as much of a concern. Moderation is the key, don't take this too far. You will lose if you play any two cards in any position and call any bet.

Trash Hands -  What are some Trash hands? T2s, 95, T6, 23, A2, etc. The ones that do particularly well are the T and J rag hands: J2, J3, J4, etc and T4, T5, T2. The reason these do well is because if there was no raise preflop then the opposition most likely has hands like QJ, KJ, JT, etc. When you flop two pair you can really make them pay. What you want to avoid though is catching one pair and thinking it is good (dont get greedy). If you have a crappy hand like J4 and the flop is J92, I would not put a bet out there in early position. The pot will be smaller anyway from a lack of raise anyway since no one raised preflop, so if you check and give it away even if you had the best hand, at least you got out cheap!


AA, KK And AK -  As said before these hands pretty much play out themselves, but do NOT fall in love. You can have fun with them if the situation calls for it. I'll mix up my play based on who I'm against (especially with Aces). When I get dealt Aces or Kings though, I'm always thinking in the back of my mind that I don't want to lose my whole stack with these. This is a huge weakness for new players. They get dealt AA or KK and then think they are guaranteed to win. That's not even close, after a while of playing you even start to contimplate folding those hands based on past stompings (not really but for a second you do). The best case scenario if you are dealt Aces is someone else has a hand they are raising with preflop. If that isn't the case I don't mess around with these hands. I'll play them straight forward and take my little pot. I'll raise preflop, then put a decent bet in on the flop and bigger on the turn. The goal here is if no one else has a big starting handto just win the pot and not lose a huge one. Remember one pair isn't that great and if you get tons of action after the flop then there is a chance your in trouble. I don't make the majority of my money with big hands like this. Don't be discouraged if you finally get Aces and then win only a little with them. One tactic that sometimes will win a big pot is to feign weakness on the flop with your Aces. For example, if the flop comes back Jack high and you have Aces, waiting for a while and then only betting half the pot sometimes gets people to check raise or raise a large amount because they put you on AK. Then you just call and then put them all-in on the turn card.

Middle Pairs (QQ, JJ, TT) - I think out of all the hands in no limit, these are the toughest to play well. The best advice I can give is don't lose all your chips calling all-in with Queens or Jacks preflop. You'd be surprised how often you'll have AK, KK or AA against QQ or JJ. Staying away from losing a bunch in that situation is a sign you're doing alright as a player. The tell tale sign of AA or KK is if you raise a good amount and then get re-raised or re-raised all-in by another opponent. If I'm looking at a re-raise a call will be more likely. If the person has a bunch of chips and goes all-in then I'm going to have to look hard at the situation, my opponent and try to look back at the action that player has been involved in. If they have been quite it could show a lack of patience after a while, or it could show complete control and the fact that that opponent has hit it, and is going to try to capitalize on their big hand.  How much it is going to cost me is another thing I look at in this situation. If I'm playing at a $100 game and it will just cost me $50 total then we will try it. Or if the person is a wild player that raises a lot of hands and you don't know if they have anything, let alone a good hand then go ahead and play poker. Also understand that calling the re-raise and seeing the flop is only the start. Most likely all the money will go in by way of the showdown.

Face Cards (AJ, KQ, KJ, QJ, QT etc) - My advice with these cards is to play them but with a little bit of caution. I play these cards with a mission. If I flop something big for example top two pair then of course I'll play more aggressively and try to win more but with just top pair I'm careful. I will bet but I'm not going to get married to the pot. What you want to try to stay away from is calling larger preflop raises with these, flopping top pair and paying off the better hand, or the opponent doing the raising. That's how you lose fast in no limit poker. I will limp in with these hands from early position but if someone raises a good amount, I'm out unless lots of other people are in. I'll need a really strong flop to continue. There is no way I'll limp in with KJs, call a preflop raise, and then call all the way down with top pair hoping I'm good. If you don't have the initiative in the hand (doing the betting), there is a reason.

Small Pocket Pairs - Of all the hands in no limit holdem, these are my favorites. They play themselves and when they hit, you are "set". My ideal situation is when I limp in with a small pocket pair in early position, get raised a decent amount from someone with a big pair or AK and then I call and flop trips. You'll hit your set/trips with an approx. odds of 1 in 8 times. I'll call preflop with these hands as long as the raise isn't too much and the person has enough chips in front of them (or there is not a re-raise).  You won't continue on the flop unless you hit (or you see a bluffing opportunity in which case your actual hand does not matter).

Suited Cards - In no limit holdem I don't make a big distinction between a suited connector (67s) and two suited cards (T6s). In either case you are going to need a big flop to make much with the hand. With these cards I'lltry to see a cheap flop in late position, sometimes in the front if they are decent cards. I particularly like the smaller suited cards like 35s or 46s. The reason is because if no one raised preflop it usually means someone is out there with a "weak ace" (A5, A6, A2, A3, etc). Sometimes you'll flop the straight and they will have two pair, in which case you can potentially take down a nice pot.

Staying Out Of Trouble - . To play no limit well you need to adjust your thinking. In no limit you want either a great hand or a great bluffing hand. You don't want a lot of junk in the middle due to the fact that a wrong move, false hope or over eager move can leave you with your pockets out.

Next we will look at small strategies and scenarios, along with different sites their offers and where you should go to make big money. Go get millions!!!

The Basics to No Limit Hold"em

No Limit Texas Hold'Em

One of the most popular forms of poker today is Texas Hold'em. In This great game called Texas Hold'em each player receives two hole-cards and five subsequent cards are dealt face-up in the middle of the table, these cards are simply known as the "flop", "turn", and the "river". The object of the game is to make the best five-card poker hand possible using your two hole-cards and the five community cards.
To indicate which person is the dealer from round to round, a disc or other such marker, called the button, is placed in front of them. To start the action, the person to the left of the dealer posts the "small blind", a forced bet usually half of the minimum bet. The next person to the left posts the "big blind", a forced bet equal to the minimum bet. These two bets are called "blinds" because they are posted before the two players look at their cards.

Players are then dealt the two pocket cards, face down, and the person on the left of the player who posted the big blind will begin the first round of betting. In the first round, a player can call, raise or you could also fold . In order to call, the player must place a bet that is equal to the previous bet. After the first player, each subsequent player is given the option to call the current bet, to raise up the bet, or to fold. Players who fold are out of that round until the hand ends and the next deal is out.


After the first round of betting is finished, the dealer takes the top card and sets it aside (called "the burn card"), and then lays the three community cards face up on the table. This is called the flop. At this point all other betting rounds now start with the first player to the left of the dealer. Players now have the option to check (the term used to pass on betting without folding), or to put out a bet. After the betting is opened by a player, players can no longer check when it is their turn to act, but can instead call or raise the action occurring at that point. The round concludes when all bets have been called, or in a limit game, when the maximum number of bets possible (the "cap", usually 1 bet and 3 raises) has been reached.
After betting is finished another card is burned and the fourth card, called the "turn card" or "4th Street," is added to the community cards. Players bet again just as they did on the flop betting round. In a fixed limit game, the bet is now double the previous bet and remains double for the final betting round as well. After the third betting round, another card is burned and the fifth and final card, known as the "river" or "5th Street," is dealt. There is one last round of betting, after which the remaining players turn up their pocket cards. The highest five card poker hand that can be made using any combination of the available seven cards (a player’s two hole cards and the five community cards) wins the pot. If there is a tie, then every player who is tied divides the pot evenly between them.
After the hand is finished, the Button moves clockwise to the next player, who becomes the dealer and play begins again after a new deal, and the blinds are right.
Heres the Basics, look for future posts on strategy and the best online sites to dive into, with the best chance to get your share of the Millions being made online in the poker rooms