Head Games: Continuation Betting and Identifying Hand Ranges in Tournaments

Craig Tapscott: Many players continuation-bet (c-bet) way too often and others not enough. Can you indentify some leaks regarding c-betting you have consistently seen during tournament play?

Steve Gee: Players today have a much better understanding of aggressive play and the importance of continuation betting. However, I still see too many instances of mistakes made on flops where players don’t truly know when they should or shouldn’t be c-betting. Frequency of c-bets should be dictated by the aggressive or passive nature of your table. I am generally in the 70-80 percent range depending on my table. The general rule is to c-bet on dry boards with three or fewer opponents and to check with wet boards or when there are more than three opponents. Your position will also impact your c-bet frequency, as I bet more often when out of position and will check more often when in position for pot control. A dry board can be defined as flop that contains no flush draws with one Broadway card and two low cards such as Q-6-2 or Q-6-6. Your opponents are unlikely to connect and you can make a c-bet. However, if you get called on a Q-6-6 board, you should exercise caution as your opponent most likely has a Q, six, or mid-pocket pair. A wet board will contain flush draws and or connected middle-to-high cards such as J-9-8. There is a high probability that at least one of your opponents has hit this board. I will check with hands as strong as overpairs on this board for pot control. I don’t want to bet and get raised and put my stack at risk on a wet board.

Tony Dunst: I think the biggest mistake players make with continuation bets is assuming that they’re obligatory. In the early years of online poker, continuation bets were so effective that it was often a mistake not to fire, even with very weak equity. But now players call on the flop with a far wider range of holdings, and many players float the flop with marginal equity anticipating that the preflop raiser will have to shut down on many turns. I think players should c-bet when they have little equity on an uncoordinated flop, when they have a strong hand, and when they have a weak hand that has the potential to turn further equity and allow them to keep firing profitably. I think it’s better to check when you have medium strength showdown value, or when you have very weak equity on a coordinated board that’s likely to hit your opponents’ preflop calling ranges. There are also some situations where you flop a strong hand, but it’s difficult to get multiple streets of value because the board is much more favorable to your range than your opponents range. In these situations, you can actually be losing value by continuation betting, and you should check in hopes that your opponent does the betting for you, or that he improves enough on future streets that he can call your bets then. 

Dan Smith: Some players like to automatically continuation bet any time they have the lead. They will raise first in with A-K, get called in four places, and still continuation bet on an 8-7-6 flush-draw board. It’s okay to give up sometimes when the board doesn’t agree with your hand. Even if you hit an ace or a king on a later street, you may already be drawing dead. Other players go the other route and are way too conservative. They only bet when they have top pair or better, and any time they bet you know you’re in trouble. Knowing a player would have bet if he were strong, when that player does not bet, you now know he is weak. You can take the pot away with some postflop aggression. It is important to have balanced ranges, so your hands aren’t super transparent to your opponent. It is also important to mix it up sometimes, especially with deep stack-to-pot ratios. By telegraphing your hand on the early street, you can be setting yourself up for trouble when the bets get larger on the turn or river. Similarly, sometimes a deceptive check on the flop can set you up for a well-timed check-raise on the river.

Craig Tapscott: What is a situation where it is correct to keep betting after the flop with both the strongest and weakest parts of your range? Perhaps share a detailed example.

Steve Gee: When there are flush or possible straight draws on the turn, you should be betting turn with the strongest and even weakest part of your range to charge your opponents for their draws and/or pricing them out to protect the pot. If you are the preflop raiser and make a c-bet, then check the turn, you are inducing aggressive opponents to take a shot at the river. In that scenario, you will be facing a difficult decision with a weak part of your range. I prefer to bet the turn and check down the river with a weak part of my range. During the money bubble and in late stages of tournaments, you will see some players tighten up their play as they are trying to make the money or move up the pay ladder. When you have identified their risk-aversion tendencies, you should take advantage and bet a wide range of your holdings on turn. On Day 4 of this year’s WSOP main event, there was a player with a relatively short stack who had been playing passively postflop. We were at 6,000-12,000, with a 2,000 ante. He was two to my left, so when I was on button, he was in the big blind. On this particular hand, it was folded around to me and I picked up 2-2 and raised to 25,000. The small blind mucked and he calls with A-7 (pot is now 74,000). The flop was Q 7 3. He checked, as I expected, and I made c-bet of 35,000. He called. At this point, I have his calling range as flush draw, threes, sevens, a weak queen, or a small pocket pair. The K was the turn card, and that was a good card for me as the flush missed. And now there is an overcard to a weak queen. He checked and I bet 57,000. He mucked. If he had called the turn, I would have shut down at the river, unless I hit a set. This hand illustrates how you can take advantage of passive players by aggressive postflop play (c-bets and aggressive turn play). Aggressive postflop play requires that you pay attention at the table and have your opponents’ playing styles identified.

Tony Dunst: It’s usually correct to continuation bet the flop with both the strongest and weakest parts of your range. But once you get to the turn, you often have to stop betting with the weakest parts of your range because you have no way of improving and your opponent is representing showdown value. Yet there are occasions when you need to empty the clip despite having the weakest part of your range. It’s rather obvious in most of these situations that you should keep betting with your strongest holdings, but many players don’t also continue with weak holdings, and that makes them easy to play against. Say you raise 8 7 in late position and just the big blind calls you. The flop comes K 9 4 and you make a continuation bet that gets called. The turn is the 10, and when your opponent checks you naturally fire again. Your opponent calls, leading to a 3 on the river. If your opponent checks here, it is usually correct to bet with your eight-high. It’s true that your opponent can also have the flush, but many players lead when that’s the case. There are many holdings that your opponent can call two barrels with but not three, including a top pair of kings, or hands that had showdown value and draw equity on the turn, such as J-10, J-9, Q-10, and Q-9. But he’ll usually fold those hands by the river, because you can be betting all better hands, including flushes, straights, and two-pair combinations. 

Dan Smith: When betting the flop, sometimes you want to be betting the weakest parts of your range and also the strongest parts of your range. For example, imagine a situation where you raise, your opponent calls, and it comes A A 6. If you are betting half-pot on the flop, you only need your opponent to fold a third of the time to immediately show a profit. So by betting your 5-4 suited, you can get your opponent to fold his 9-8 or J-10, making a “fundamental theorem of poker” mistake. Now, if you had 6-6, you might want to bet hoping that your opponent has one of the two remaining aces, so you can get bets off of him on the flop, turn, and river. Some hands in the middle of your range you could choose to check. With pocket kings, for instance, you probably have your opponent way ahead or way behind. If he has an ace, a check could help you minimize your losses. If he has a hand like J-10, we no longer want him to fold. Now, we can hope he hits one of his six outs to improve to a second-place hand. Remember our lesson from before, sometimes you want to be deceptive. Perhaps a check on the flop with an ace can induce your opponent to spazz out and run a crazy bluff on the river. ♠

Steve Gee is a high-stakes cash-game grinder in Las Vegas and has been playing professionally since 2009. He is a WSOP 2010 bracelet winner, a 2012 October-Niner, and he made back-to-back deep runs in the main event with a 24th place finish in 2013. Gee’s live tournament earnings total more than $1,500,000. Follow him on Twitter @stevewgee.

Tony Dunst is a high-stakes pro and one of the most unique personalities in the poker industry. He was named host of the World Poker Tour’s “Raw Deal” segment during season IX. He has more than $1,400,000 in combined online and live career tournament earnings.

Dan Smith left college to pursue poker fulltime in 2007. Smith’s biggest year to date came in 2012: He made his first $1,000,000 score by taking down the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge. Then Smith took down three preliminary events at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. At the EPT Barcelona he won the €50,000 NL Hold’em Super High Roller event. He has career cashes totaling more than $4,500,000. Smith is a Team Ivey Poker Pro.