jjd323's blog

We have been having some good discussions on our Secret HQ group. One of the recurring topics is about c-betting strategy/raising large preflop to steal the blinds more frequently. I play a lot on the FT deep tables, and on some other sites too. One common leak of my opponents is that they will stack off 200bb deep with top pair+ on certain board textures. Another leak is that they will call huge river bets because they don’t believe people “have it” after they check the flop. However, by far the most common problem they have is that they play horribly against non-standard lines.

Hero (CO): $120.05
BTN: $72.90
SB: $45.10
BB: $81.00

Pre Flop: ($1.15) Hero is CO with 9 9
Hero raises to $2, 2 folds, BB calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.65) A 9 A (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($4.65) J (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $4, BB calls $4

River: ($12.65) T (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $25, BB calls $25

Final Pot: $62.65
Hero shows 9 9 (a full house, Nines full of Aces)
BB mucks K J
Hero wins $60.65
(Rake: $2.00)

In the hand above I expect mostly check-calls on the flop from any Ax hand, especially as his kicker will usually be a weaker one. However, I also expect him to lead the turn with trips and air after I check the flop, and I can raise to get the same number of bets in by the river (and pick up extra dead money from his bluffs). The benefit of the flop check is that I can widen his bluff-catching range immensely.

There are some people in our group that think you should grab the first +EV opportunity to make a bet and take down dead money possible, regardless of your hand.

SB: $48.90
BB: $699.25
UTG: $93.45
CO: $381.05
Hero (BTN): $105.80

Pre Flop: ($2.50) Hero is BTN with 6 6
2 folds, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, BB calls $2

Flop: ($7.50) 8 3 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

In this hand I elect to not make a c-bet, and the reason is central to my overall strategy. It is likely that villain will check-raise this board with a wide range, and check-call somewhat less often. It is also important to me that my bet/folding range is not very large, relative to my bet/raise and bet/call ranges. Even if you are playing a bad opponent, if he sees you c-betting with a very high frequency this is the type of board he will probably decide to fight back on and at some point he is going to bluff-raise you. In fact, if he were to bluff-raise at all then your c-bet, designed to pick up dead money, will actually turn into the dead money itself.

We can easily formulate a strong turn strategy for the board above; by checking back this flop you are not conceding the pot. By selecting a wide checking back range that includes paired hands, overcards and hands with backdoor draws you will be able to continue with a high frequency against a lead bet on almost any turn card. In fact, with a carefully selected range and a good image, your opponent will often have less information about the strength of your hand on the turn than on the flop and a delayed c-bet should make him fold some marginal hands he might have called the flop with.

So, to recap, I am strong proponent of the idea that we can often pick up the same dead money on a later street, especially when IP, whilst increasing the chance that we can make a monster hand and get paid off by a wider range. Yes, sometimes we will lose a pot we could have won on the flop; I argue that the sum of the extra pots that we lose will be smaller than the sum of the extra pots we win, and so overall missing the flop c-bet is a superior strategy.