Heads-Up Free Cards

Here are a few heads-up confronations I was recently involved in. In all of them, I have the opportunity to take a free card on the turn if I want to. I would be curious to hear whether people think these turns should be bet or not.


5 handed 10/20 (online)

Loose-aggressive UTG raises, I 3 bet next to act with Kd Jd. Folded to UTG, who calls. Flop: Ac 9d 8d. UTG checks, I bet, UTG calls. Turn: 6c. SB checks.


5 handed 10/20 (online)

Loose-aggressive player open raises from SB. I 3-bet in BB with Jc Qh. Flop: Kd Th 3d. SB checks, I bet, SB calls. Turn: 8h: SB checks.


6 handed 10/20 (online)

I open raise from the cutoff with As Qh. Loose aggressive SB 3-bets, BB folds, I call. Flop: Kd Jh 3s. SB bets, I raise, SB calls. Turn: 3h. SB checks.


Heads-up 10/20 (online)

Note: the BB is on the button. Solid SB raises, I re-raise with Ad 5s, SB calls. Flop: 9d 4s 3s. SB checks, I bet, SB raises, I re-raise, SB calls. Turn: 8h. SB checks.


Thanks for your input.


-Dan

KdJd: Bet.


You have a lot of outs if raised or called plus you have a hand to showdown if you miss i.e. second nut no pair hand.


QcJh: Check.


This is a good spot to take a free card unless you think the only way you will win is if you bet now and cause your opponent to fold an Ace high hand. Your opponent's most likely hand is Ace high. If you think he will call on the turn with that hand, you are toast because the combination of you bluffing again on the river or you bluffing and him folding for one more bet is unlikely. On the other hand, there are lots of reasons to bet again on the turn so this one's close.


AsQh: Bet


Again, it's because you have a hand to showdown. Also, you have a pretty easy laydown if you get checkraised.


Ad5s: Bet


Sounds to me like you are really going out on a limb here although it may be right in headsup play (I have no idea about this as I have no heads-up experience). I would criticize the early aggression but having gone nuts so far, I would think you may as well continue the charade and bet again on the turn. It sounds pretty crazy to put in all those bets preflop and flop and then choke by checking the turn. I would bet but I don't think I would have got myself in this spot in the first place.....but again, I have no heads-up experience so I could be out to lunch on this one.

I think you should be in hand one because there is a decent chance Kd-Jd is the best hand. Also, you might be able to push him off a small pair. I wouldn't count on it though, but you have a lot of outs. I also don't think you are likely to be check-raised by one pair of aces. I was never really sold on Sklansky's bet with no outs, check with outs. I understand the argument, but practically a situations come up where I think the reverse is true.


The second hand is a clear bet. You can push him off A high, plus he may have nothing from the small blind. Also, it seems like an A,9,Q,J is going to be good. If called, check down the river.


In both hands, if I pair on the river I bet through.


I don't like the play in the third hand. You went too far. I check the turn. And fold the river.

Hand 1: KdJd. I would bet, with a player dependent check. His most likely hand seems to be some sort of pocket pair (or possibly some sort of K), which he may lay down if you fire the second barrel (the opponent dependent check is if you know he will call to the bitter end with a hand like 22). Since you may have 12-15 outs if called, the bet doesn't cost you much if he calls with a better hand, and there is some chance you are betting the best hand if he has something like KJ KT QJ QT JT. Being raised sucks, but at least you won't have to worry about calling a mystery bet on the river if you don't improve.


Hand 2: QhJc. Looks like SB has ace high, a medium to small pocket pair, or paired the T on the flop. With all the draws out there, there is probably a high danger of him getting fancy with a check raise. So, I would take the free card unless you think there is a pretty decent chance (say at least 20%) of him folding.


Hand 3: AsQh. Again opponent dependent, IMO. He might have a pocket pair, in which case you want to bet unless you know he is not willing to release those 8's. He might have a worse ace in which case you probably want to check and pick off a bluff on the river when he only has 3 outs. He might have paired the J or K, in which case you want to check because he isn't going anywhere. He may have a straight draw, in which case you want to bet because you have the best hand and are immune to a river check raise (since you are certainly taking the free showdown). He may be waiting to check raise (with a straight draw or a pair), in which case you want to check because you might have 7 outs to win and don't want to fold. Overall, I think you often want to check the turn (and call any river bet), with a bet becoming better the greater the chance is that he will fold a pocket pair and/or the lesser the chance is that he will check raise.


Hand 4: Ad5s. I would check. He didn't check raise the flop because he thought you would fold there, and if he was making a move/resteal he probably would have dropped or 4 bet on the flop, so he thinks he has you beat. That being the case, I don't think there's much chance he will fold any better hands if you bet the turn. I might bet here if I felt I couldn't safely fold to a bet on the river, but you are pot stuck if he check raises (you have 7, maybe 4, outs and there would then be 9BB in the pot).

I disagree that the AsQh is an easy laydown if check raised on the turn. There would be 8.5BB in the pot and you could easily have 7 outs (any A or T), which is an easy call. When you your decision to fold is based on deciding whether or not some of your outs are dead (because he flopped a set or holds AK/A3) and whether he's pulling a move with some sort of draw (AQ AT QT JT and/or turned hearts), the decision (at least for me) has ceased to be "easy". /images/wink.gif

I was never really sold on Sklansky's bet with no outs, check with outs.


If you're talking about Fourth Street Concepts from HPFAP, I always assumed this advice applied only when you are in an early position (it's not explicitly stated that way, but that's what makes sense to me and that is the case in all the examples). My further assumption was that you would check raise the hand with outs if someone bet behind you. I think the idea is that since you must sometimes check raise on the turn (to avoid being completely readable and position dominated), you might as well do it those times when a free card is less likely to hurt you.


In these hands, you are always last to act, so that advice wouldn't seem to apply (at least the way I read it).

That is an interesting point, but I assumed this principle was true with position as well. I'll have to think about it.


Also, I never assumed that they were assuming you would check-raise the turn after checking with outs.


Interesting comments though. Ill have to think about it some more.

Just a more general comment...


A strategy that I've always employed (and has recently been reinforced by reading C&B) is that when heads-up against a typical mid-limit opponent, a bet is almost always better than giving a free card.


Generally, by the time you get to the turn, there is at least 4 big bets in the pot, giving you 4:1 on your bet. So, if you think there is at least a 20% chance that your opponent will lay down, a bet is clearly correct. Of course, this discounts the chances of a check-raise, so against an aggressive opponent, perhaps you should use 30-35% instead of 20%.


But, what I've found (again reinforced by C&B) is that a check heads-up *usually* implies weakness, and in the games that I generally play, a bet in this situation will generally (at least 50% of the time) pick up the pot.


Of course, if you do this all the time (especially against strong opponents), they'll eventually pick up on it, and will start check-raising the turn, so you might want to occassionally check behind just for perception purposes. In this case, I would be more likely to check those hands that tend to be strong, since you are less likely to hurt yourself by giving a free card, and may induce a bluff by your opponent on the river, giving you a chance to make up for the missed bet on the turn. Again, though, don't be too predictable against strong opponents.


All that said, against a player that doesn't know you, tend to generally bet the turn when it's checked to you heads-up.


DC

For whatever its worth, here are my opinions:


5 handed 10/20 (online)

Loose-aggressive UTG raises, I 3 bet next to act with Kd Jd. Folded to UTG, who calls. Flop: Ac 9d 8d. UTG checks, I bet, UTG calls. Turn: 6c. SB checks.


check is OK sometimes. the button kind of puts you in a bind.


5 handed 10/20 (online)

Loose-aggressive player open raises from SB. I 3-bet in BB with Jc Qh. Flop: Kd Th 3d. SB checks, I bet, SB calls. Turn: 8h: SB checks.


definitely bet the turn. If you check the turn and sb bets the river then, if you have any pride, you pretty much have to bluff raise no matter what card comes.


6 handed 10/20 (online)

I open raise from the cutoff with As Qh. Loose aggressive SB 3-bets, BB folds, I call. Flop: Kd Jh 3s. SB bets, I raise, SB calls. Turn: 3h. SB checks.

bet.


Heads-up 10/20 (online)

Note: the BB is on the button. Solid SB raises, I re-raise with Ad 5s, SB calls. Flop: 9d 4s 3s. SB checks, I bet, SB raises, I re-raise, SB calls. Turn: 8h. SB checks.


take the free card.

> Loose-aggressive UTG raises, I 3 bet next to act with Kd Jd. Folded to UTG, who calls. Flop: Ac 9d 8d. UTG checks, I bet, UTG calls. Turn: 6c. SB checks.


Bet some of the time, unless it is the type of player that will never fold a pair heads up, in which case I would check most of the time. The fear here is getting check raised, which a good player will do with any ace (and some other hands). If it is a weak player that will check call with weak aces (and other hands), then fire away.


> Loose-aggressive player open raises from SB. I 3-bet in BB with Jc Qh. Flop: Kd Th 3d. SB checks, I bet, SB calls. Turn: 8h: SB checks.


Bet almost every time, and bet the river. You aren't likely to win unimproved in a showdown, and there are a lot of hands that might be folded on the turn. If you are beat now, you've got outs against anything but a big flush.


> I open raise from the cutoff with As Qh. Loose aggressive SB 3-bets, BB folds, I call. Flop: Kd Jh 3s. SB bets, I raise, SB calls. Turn: 3h. SB checks.


If it is the type of player that can fold a pair less than jacks (even some of the time) you should bet. Otherwise check behind with the intention of calling on the river.


> Note: the BB is on the button. Solid SB raises, I re-raise with Ad 5s, SB calls. Flop: 9d 4s 3s. SB checks, I bet, SB raises, I re-raise, SB calls. Turn: 8h. SB checks.


There is a decent chance he's either got a pair or a better ace to make this play out of position. I would check here, and often fold to an unimproved river.

>> I open raise from the cutoff with As Qh. Loose >aggressive SB 3-bets, BB folds, I call. Flop: Kd >Jh 3s. SB bets, I raise, SB calls. Turn: 3h. SB >checks.


>If it is the type of player that can fold a pair less than jacks (even some of the time) you should bet. Otherwise check behind with the intention of calling on the river.


Actually I changed my mind. I think I would bet here most of the time, call a check raise (smacks of a steal), and check or call the river if I don't improve.


It is a close one and it depends a lot on your opponent and there current image of you. You just want to mix things up, so I don't think it matters too much how you play it here ....