Poker for Dummies (Mini Edition) (19 page)

With a hand this promising, you want action. Get more money into the pot by betting or raising. And if you think one of your opponents is going to bet, you can try for a checkraise.

Playing the Turn

The
turn card
is the fourth card dealt face up and is common to everyone’s hand. Some poker pundits have suggested that the turn plays itself. Although you can’t play the turn on autopilot, you shouldn’t get yourself into too much trouble unless you’ve already made the mistake of seeing the turn when you shouldn’t have. If that’s the case, you’ve already thrown good money after bad.

Much of the time, you won’t even see the turn. You’ll have thrown away most of your hands before the flop and released others after you saw that the flop didn’t fit. If there’s no logical reason to be in the pot by the turn, you should have folded.

It’s very easy to squander your bankroll one bet at a time. Poor players do just that, calling one more bet and then another. Although calling any one bet may be insignificant by itself, collectively it can break you.

If you’ve made it to the turn you should be holding a good hand, be holding a promising draw, or believe your bluff can pick up the pot.

What to do when you improve on the turn

Your hand can improve on the turn in one of two ways. The first, and best, happens whenever the turn card improves your hand. But you’ll also benefit if you had a good hand going in, and the turn — though not helping your hand — did nothing to improve your opponent’s either.

If you have top two pair on the turn and an opponent bets, you should usually raise. If you’re in late position and none of your opponents have acted, go ahead and bet. If you’re in early position, check with the intention of raising if you’re fairly certain one of your opponents will bet. If you think your opponents might also check, forget about trying to checkraise and come out betting.

If you have the best hand, betting gets more money into the pot and makes it expensive for anyone to draw-out on you. But it’s not a totally risk-free strategy. If your opponent has made a set or turned a straight, you can count on being raised or reraised.

What to do when you don’t improve on the turn

It’s unfortunate, but true: Most of the time the turn card will not help you. What’s a player to do?

If you have an open-ended straight or flush draw and you’re up against two or more opponents, you should usually call a bet on the turn. However, if the board is paired and there’s a bet and raise in front of you, be wary. You may be facing a full house. If you are, you’re drawing dead. (Drawing dead is a draw where, no matter what card you get, you’re still going to lose.)

You may be facing a set or two pair. Once again, knowing your opponents will help you determine what they might be holding. If you’re up against someone who never raises a three-suited board unless he can beat that probable flush, release your hand.

If the turn didn’t help and there is a bet in front of you, not only has the cost gone up, but the number of future betting rounds has decreased. You have less opportunity to punish your opponents if you make your hand. Moreover, many of them will probably fold on the turn, too — leaving you with fewer opponents to punish, if indeed you were to get lucky on the river.

Should you continue with a draw?

Flopping four-flush or an open-ended straight draw is a common situation. If it’s relatively inexpensive, you’ll invariably stay for the turn card — particularly when you’re certain yours will be the best hand if you make it. But most of the time the turn card will not help you. Players call that a
stiff.
After all, if you’ve flopped a four-flush, there are only nine remaining cards of your suit in the deck.

Even if you don’t complete your straight or flush on the turn, it usually pays to see the river card in hopes that deliverance is at hand, and you can reap the rewards.

Should you checkraise or come out betting?

Suppose you were dealt Q-J, flopped an open-ended straight draw when 10-9-5 showed up on board, and made your hand when an 8 appeared on the turn. If you’re really lucky, one of your opponents holds 7-6, or J-7, and made a smaller straight. You’d love to see that, because he’d be drawing dead, absent flush possibilities.

If you try for a checkraise and your opponents all check behind you, you’ve cost yourself some money. Should you bet, hoping to get some more money into the pot? Or are you better off checkraising and trying for a bigger payday, bearing in mind you may not get any money into the pot at all if your opponents also check?

It’s time to put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and do some detective work by reconstructing the play of the hand. Was there a lot of action before the flop, suggesting that your opponents held big hands or big pairs? Did they raise on the flop, suggesting they might have been trying to force any straight draws to fold? Or did they just check and call, suggesting that they were also on the come, and have now made their hand — albeit a lesser one than yours.

An opponent holding a single big pair might also check, because the turn showed straight possibilities. If you think this is the case, you’re better off leading with a bet, because she may call, but she would throw her hand away if she were the bettor and you raised.

If your opponent were also drawing, you might want to check, hoping she would try to steal the pot by bluffing. Another possibility is that she made a smaller straight than yours, and will bet from late position. If that’s the case, you can raise with the assurance that she won’t lay down her hand — even if she suspects you have the nut straight.

This is a case where recalling the play of the hand is more important than knowing the tendencies of your opponents. If you can deduce what kind of hand — or hands — your opponents are likely to hold, you can decide whether to come out betting or try for a checkraise. Remember: Unless you think your opponent will bet and call your raise, betting is the preferred course of action.

Bluffing on the turn

Suppose that you raised with A-K before the flop and then bet into two opponents when the flop was J-7-3. You don’t suspect any strength, and know your opponents are solid enough players to release a hand when they think they’re beaten.

Because your opponents have to consider the possibility that you’re holding an overpair or a Jack with a good kicker, it’ll be difficult for them to call with anything less than a hand like J-8. Of course, if your opponents are calling stations, they’ll call with almost anything, and you’ll have to become adept enough at knowing their proclivities, so you don’t try to bluff someone who never releases a hand.

A good player also understands that you might be betting a hand like A-K. But she may not call even if she holds a hand like 8-7, because she can’t be certain about what you have, and she could be beaten if her inclination about your bluff is wrong.

Your bet may cause an opponent to lay down the best hand. Even if he calls, the river could bring an Ace or King and win the pot for you. But if you bet and are raised, throw your hand away. Sure, someone may be making a move on you. But it doesn’t happen frequently enough to worry about, particularly in low-limit games. Most of the time, you’ll be beaten when you’re raised in this situation.

Playing the River

If you’re still contesting the pot while awaiting that last card on the board (the
river
card), you should have a strong hand, or a draw to what you believe will be the best hand if you make it. If you’re playing with reasonably prudent opponents, what may have begun as a confrontation between five or six will probably be reduced to two — or perhaps three of you — after all the board cards have been exposed.

Realized versus potential value

Prior to the last card, many strategic considerations are predicated on your chances for subsequent improvement. You could, for example, bet a hand composed of a pair and four flush. Taken together, that pair, coupled with its potential for a flush as well as the possibilities of improving to two pair or trips, made it worth playing. And its worth was made up of both realized and potential value.

After the river card is exposed, your hand no longer has any potential value. Its value is fully realized — for better or worse. If that flush draw never materialized, you’re left with one pair, and it may not be enough to win the pot. More importantly, your strategic thinking has to change, too. You have no remaining potential upon which to base decisions.

What do I do when I make my draw?