As I began our strategy series yesterday by talking about a tactic that existed to exploit continuation betting, I’ve decide that it’s only right that I talk about continuation betting in some detail today.
Continuation betting is a quite simple tactic that players of almost any ability can put into practice today to help them get extra value form stronger starting holdings. In the simplest of terms, a continuation bet is a bet made by the initial raiser of a hand on the flop, irrespective of whether his hand has improved. As a paradigm example if I hold AhQs and the flop comes something like 4hKc6s, I can bet out on the flop even though I haven’t hit and give myself another chance of picking up the pot. The strategy takes advantage of the fact that around two thirds of the time, your opponent will not pair one of his hole cards on the flop, meaning that we can bet rather than check and often pick up the pot through our aggression because our opponent is unlikely to have improved.
As always seems to be the case in poker, things aren’t always that simple. There are a few factors that you need to weigh in when making your decision about whether to continuation bet (or c-bet as it is well known).
1. Board Texture
Continuation betting is best employed on boards with few if any possible boards or those with only one high card. In our example above, this is clearly the case; no draws are present so if our opponent wants to continue he really needs to have a King in his hand to continue. However, if the flop had in fact been JhTh8s, although we know have more outs to make the best hand, there is now a huge potential for our opponents to have live draws in addition to the times where he does flop a pair, meaning he is more likely to call should we bet out. The ideal situation for continuation therefore is a dry board where quite clearly our opponent will need to have a strong, made hand to justify remaining in the pot.
2. Bet Sizing
A continuation bet is designed to be a display of strength. I am saying to my opponent, “I’ve raised before the flop and now I’ve seen the flop I’m betting out again. You are going to need a very good hand to beat me.” Therefore, you need to make your bet a convincing size; something around 3/4 of the parties and certainly nothing less than 2/3 of the pot. Smaller bets encourage weaker holdings, perhaps middle pairs or medium pocket pairs to stay in the hand as they have odds to improve or they may think their hand is good. Overbets are similarly bad because you are committing a large amount to the pot without a made hand; not an ideal situation.
3. Position and Players
Obviously, it stands to reason that the more players there are in a pot, the lower your chance of your bet getting through and picking up the pot. Multi-way pots are not great spots to continuation bet into as there’s some chance at least one of your opponents will have improved. That said, if you are in position and the players before you show no interest in the pot, feel prepared to take a stab at it. Talking of position, it really is a tremendous advantage in this situation, you get to see how your opponents react to the board and if they check to you disinterestedly, you can pounce. More thinking players will how ever start checking to you when they have made good hands in anticipation of your continuation bet, so don’t abuse the tactic. in those situations, don’t feel constrained to call a raise; you are highly unlikely to be committed and can slip away and cut your losses.
To conclude, c-betting is one of simplest but most effective tactics that improving players can add to their game and as long as they are mindful of the above advice and don’t overuse the tactic, it should be profitable in the long run.
This article was written by meshuganater.
Tags: continuation betting, Key Concepts, poker strategy, post flop play, tactics