Poker News

Lou Krieger

Last issue was the first part in this two-part series on continuation bets. We talked about raising before the flop with a big pocket pair and betting into a board that doesn’t look like it helped anyone. What about a flop like A-7-3? A bet into that flop represents an ace. But if you don’t have an ace in your hand it’s very difficult to call an opponent’s raise, when his raise, in essence, is telling you this: “You don’t have an ace, buddy; but I do. So take your continuation bet and stuff it!”

On the other hand, if you make a continuation bet when an ace hits the flop, it’s almost impossible for your opponent to call without an ace in his own hand. When he has no ace in his hand and you raised before the flop and came out betting into a flop with an ace in it, he’d got to figure you for a better hand than his.

So how do you know whether to bet or not? There’s no hard and fast rule, but the answers to the following questions can help you decide the best course of action. How many players do you expect to call your raise before the flop? If you figure to get a lot of callers, you might not even want to raise before the flop, thus saving the cost of that raise and the cost of a continuation bet too.

What is your position in the betting order? Obviously, the later you act in the betting order, the better off you are. How many chips are likely to be at risk if you raise and then follow up with a continuation bet?

If you’re only up against one player you can make your decision by studying the texture of the board and your position in the betting order. If there’s a logical reason to bet, go ahead and do so. If you’re last to act and your opponent bets into you, or if you make your continuation bet and are raised, it’s probably time to fold.

If your opponent has a propensity for calling most bets, you’re better off waiting until you have a hand you can bet for value. If you know he won’t fold, then your wager loses much of its equity. You can still gain equity by value betting and checkraising, but when your opponent calls too often, continuation betting and bluffing won’t work.

The message that’s written between the lines reads like this: If you think your continuation bet was a mistake, step back and examine your raise before the flop. Maybe it was ill-advised too. Sometimes a bad continuation bet isn’t the problem at all; it’s merely the second stage in a compound error. If that’s the case, it’s not the continuation bet that’s hurting you, it’s the earlier raise that mistakenly caused you to carry on with a continuation bet.

Continuation bets are usually a good idea when the flop doesn’t look particularly threatening. They also look good when the flop contains one big card and two small ones. When that’s the case, you can fire out a continuation bet and represent top pair. Under those circumstances, it’s tough for anyone to call without holding top pair and a big kicker.

But your opponent can raise instead of calling. And if he has the right mixture of larceny and guts, he will figure your bet for what it is, a continuation bet that’s nothing more than a bluff, and he’ll try to steal the pot right out from under your nose by raising. Then the pressure is on you. You’ve either got to try to steal it back or just save your money and try that good old continuation bet some other time.

Nothing works all the time in poker except a big bet or raise with the stone cold nuts on the river. In any other situation there’s always another tactic that can counter it some of the time.

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