No-Limit Betting Patterns To Monitor -- Part 2

In my previous article, we were talking about monitoring your betting patterns so you do not become set in your ways, which would make you too predictable. If you are playing mostly with regulars in the game that have learned how you play poker, playing too much by rote is going to cost you a lot of money. Here are some other areas where you may need to vary your game a bit.

Are you too predictable in whether you will make a continuation bet? (A continuation bet (c-bet) means betting the flop when you were the preflop raiser.) There is a huge difference in how to play against an opponent who automatically bets the flop when he is the preflop raiser and an opponent who bets the flop only when he hits. So you have to keep your opponents off balance by varying whether you make a c-bet.

The most important factor for the preflop raiser in the decision to make a c-bet is how many opponents stayed in for the flop. For me, a critical number of opponents is three. With more than three opponents, when I make a c-bet, I will normally have something reasonable, which I arbitrarily define as top pair with a good kicker or better if I have a made hand and an open-end straight draw or a flush draw if I have drawing hand. With one or two opponents, I will bet fairly often without a real hand. But I avoid doing anything mechanical. You cannot depend on my making a c-bet even when heads-up, even though I do it most of the time. If I check, I may either have no hand and intend to fold or have a big hand that is being slow played. The point is the words “always” or “never” should not be used to describe whether you make a c-bet (or use any other type of poker betting pattern).

How often do you “defend your blind?” There is a macho element in no-limit hold’em poker. One place it manifests itself is in the idea that because certain chips in the pot used to belong to you, the way you are supposed to behave is something like they are your children, so you still have an obligation toward them. When you are in one of the blind positions, if a player who has position on you raises in an attempt to gobble up the blind money you posted, you at least have to show that person you will at least call, and are not an easy target. No matter if you had even intended to fold if the raise had not occurred. I have even heard standing for repeated raises from the button or cutoff seats against a player’s blind called being “bitch-whipped.” Doesn’t sound like something a man with some testosterone is going to put up with, does it?

Personally, I not only fail to defend my blind most of the time, but when the shoe is on the other foot and I have the button when no one has yet opened, I do not mechanically raise the pot. Of course, I am going to raise the blinds on a “big hand” like 2-2 or a 10-9 offsuit, but raising with a 10-2 or a 9-2 looks to me like going to a knife fight with a feather for a weapon.

I have had a fellow pro compliment me by saying that he thought that I had as high a ratio of winning pots per hands played as anyone he had ever seen. (Maybe so, maybe not.) I like to bring a pistol to knife fights. It is more important to win the war than to win every skirmish.

Another poker area where there is a macho element is with the big oversize raise we sometimes see when a lot of players have limped. This is most often seen when made by the big or small blind, who are in the worst positions at the table on the last three betting rounds. Their idea is that no one will have a hand big enough to call a large preflop raise because everyone has acted on their hand.

If you act as the game’s policeman, calling big raises to let the big bettor know he will not be able to raise and take it, be prepared for the possibility of a bad result. I am assuming that you do not have much of a hand, evidenced by the fact that you did not raise the pot yourself. If you actually limped in holding aces, kings, or A-K, it is clear that you are well qualified to go ahead and punish the thief/bully. But if not, perhaps you should leave the job to others. You do not have a quality hand, whereas the thief/bully might have picked one up. It is not a good policy to call one of these characters with a modest hand that cannot take a lot of heat; they almost always try to run you out of the pot after the flop arrives. So don’t let a guy who does a lot of preflop raising take you out of playing your own game.

How do you like to play after you have hit a complete hand (straight, flush, full house) on the turn? There are a lot of players who make an automatic check if they think you probably cannot catch them on the river card. In fact, some of the habitual hit-and-check players are so eager to check that they even check out of turn when they hit. My friends, a check out of turn by an opponent can easily mean you are in trouble. Even though such a player is required by poker rules to take that same action in turn that was taken out of turn, you should be wary of paying off a river bet just because the player checked when the fourth card came.

I often make a small bet when a flush card arrives or the board pairs. Sometimes such a card will cause the opponent to lose all interest in the pot. You bet, they quickly fold. Victory comes without a fight. I don’t take any betting action automatically, but when choosing whether to check or bet when a scare card arrives, I often bet, whether or not I have just hit a big hand. You can use a probe-sized bet, because an opponent will lose interest in trying to complete a draw when you have told him that the hand will not be good even if he hits it.

How do you play when you flop the nuts? It is essential in poker that you vary your play when you flop the nuts. Holding the nuts, some players like to bet right out; others prefer to check. An opponent is not supposed to know that you do not hold the nuts when you bet in a certain way. This seems obvious, so it is amazing how many players have adopted a set betting pattern for their big hands.

You need to vary how you play certain situations, so do a self-examination. ♠

Bob Ciaffone’s new poker book, No-limit Holdem Poker, is now available. This is Bob’s fifth book on poker strategy. It can be ordered from Bob for $25 by emailing him at [email protected]. Free shipping in the lower 48 states to Card Player readers. All books autographed. Bob Ciaffone is available for poker lessons.