There is a lot of material available in books, articles, and videos on how to properly play post-flop. A lot of it goes into detail on what to do on the flop, flop texture, and how to value-bet or bluff on the river. One area that often seems neglected, though, is a very important decision-making street - the turn.
On the turn, we often make decisions that, whether we realize it or not, can keep our losses to a minimum and really maximize our wins. It's also important because with only one card to come, draws are getting much less favorable odds to continue on with the hand than they are on the flop, so controlling the pot in such a way that draws are getting a bad price is much easier.
So, with that in mind, let's discuss some common turn situations and how we might want to play them to either maximize our value or keep the pot under control. We'll discuss both in-position and out-of-position examples, and they will illustrate the power that position has, especially on the later streets, such as the turn.
Here's a classic situation: We have a strong made hand when out of position on the turn on a draw-heavy board. Here, it is imperative that we make a strong bet. With one card to come, all but the biggest draws are getting in the 20 percent-25 percent range to hit their hand, so you have to make sure that the pot odds they are getting to call your bet are worse than 3-to-1, so that they are making a mistake by calling. In this situation, I usually like to bet around 75 percent-100 percent of the pot. This bet is big enough that drawing hands are getting the incorrect price to call, but still small enough that worse hands may easily call. The tough thing about being out of position here, though, is that if the draw hits on the turn, you have to act first on the river, and may have to put additional chips into the pot so that you don't give your opponent an opportunity to make a big river bluff if you check to him all the time. For this reason, when out of position, I will tend to err on the side of caution and make a larger bet; whereas, when in position, I will make a bit smaller bet, knowing that position will make my river decision much easier.
An example of this type of situation would be this: You raise with A-K to $600 from early position with $100-$200 blinds and get one caller, who's on the button. The flop is A
K
2
, bringing both a flush and a Broadway-straight draw. You bet $1,000 into the $1,500 pot, and your opponent flat-calls. The turn is the seemingly harmless 4
. You now must make a large bet into the $3,500 pot to prevent your opponent from getting the proper price with his draws. I would likely make around a $3,000 bet here; that way, anyone calling with a draw would be getting a bad price from the pot to continue with the hand. Even if he had a hand like the Q
J
, you would welcome the action, because with 12 outs, he would be making a mistake most of the time by calling your bet (if the stacks are deep enough, he may be getting the proper price with implied odds, but we won't consider that much here).
To illustrate the power of position, let's flip this hand so that we have the same A-K with the same blinds, but instead, we raise from middle position and get a caller in the big blind. The flop is still A
K
2
, and we still bet $1,000 when it's checked to us, and we get called. It is checked to us again when the 4
comes on the turn. This time, we can bet less than before. If we bet $2,500, we still give our opponent the wrong price to call us. However, since our opponent has to act first on the river, his opportunity to bluff us on a scare card is much less, since he has to respect our hand and we can't show weakness by checking first. As an alternative line, when in position, we could even check the turn to induce a bluff on the river when our opponent misses his hand, and keep the pot more under control. This line may be more preferable in a tournament, especially since busting out means that you can't reach back into your pockets for more cash.
Controlling the size of the pot is one of the best weapons you have on the turn, especially when in position. Since bet sizes on future streets are usually determined at least in some part by the pot size, being in position usually lets us dictate how big or small the pot is for future bets. Let's say in the previous example that we have A-10 instead of A-K, and the flop is A
K
2
this time, eliminating the flush draw. In this case, we oftentimes would still make the $1,000 bet on the flop, but it is often prudent to check the turn, especially when in position. This enables you to keep the pot size under control without a monster hand, and also gives you the opportunity to induce a bluff on a later street from a hand that might not otherwise put another chip in the pot. I don't know how many times I've seen a player with A-10 here, in a deep-stack situation, go broke or nearly broke because he ran into a bigger hand and didn't know how to keep the pot under control. When the board is such that your hand is likely either way ahead or way behind, as it would be with A-10 on a A
K
2
4
board after being called on the flop, it makes much more sense on the turn to play the hand in such a way that you continue to get action from the hands you are ahead of, and not just the ones you are behind, and you also want to control the pot in such a way that you don't find yourself on the rail because you overplayed top pair-weak kicker.
Obviously, if we are very weak or very strong, the turn often plays itself. In all of the situations in between, though, how we handle the turn can often be the difference between winning and losing a decent-sized pot, or finding ourselves on the rail. We must balance the idea of protecting our hand versus controlling the size of the pot, based on how threatening the board is, as well as our ability to induce bluffs and extract value out of inferior hands on future streets. All of this is based largely around our play on the turn, and this underappreciated street doesn't get near enough attention. The next time you're faced with a marginal turn decision, think very hard about what you're trying to accomplish in the hand, and what type of player you're against, and act accordingly.
Eric "Rizen" Lynch is a professional poker player who is well-known for his impressive online results. Read Eric's analysis on his blog (rizenpoker.blogspot.com), and check out his instructional videos, available at PokerXFactor.com.
