I don't know what it is, but it feels like some sort of disease that's making its way around the micros. Suddenly, everyone wants to wait until the turn to raise. What's the deal? Here are some recent posts (I'm not suggesting that all of these were wrong to wait until the turn):
Wait until the turn to raise?
Another wait until the turn hand
TT - when waiting to raise doesn't protect your hand
I wait until the turn, but now I'm confused
Waiting 'till the turn
The concept of waiting until the turn isn't very complicated. Should you wait until the turn? Here are the basic things to consider:
1) How big is the pot? If the pot is small, just raise it up now. You will make very few mistakes if you raise immediately in a small pot. And "small" here means things like "no preflop raise" and "zero or one callers between you and the flop bettor".
2) How multi-way is the pot? If the pot is only 3-4 handed, raise it up now. Waiting until the turn in a short-handed pot is very often wrong.
3) Who bet? If the bet came from your right, raise it up now. Very often, you will have the best chance of protecting your hand with an immediate raise. This prevents players from picking up backdoor draws, which prevents players from drawing out on you as often.
4) How many cards hurt you? If there aren't many draws available, raise it up now. Here are some examples:
- You have a medium pocket pair (JJ-88) or a medium top pair (T9s on a T64 board) and you are only worried about an overcard falling. Raise now.
- There is just a flush draw. Raise now.
- There is just a 3-straight. Raise now.
When might you wait?
- There are both flush and straight draws out there. *CONSIDER* waiting.
- You have a weak overpair or weak top pair and there is a flush draw. *CONSIDER* waiting.
What should you *CONSIDER*? See #1, #2, and #3. The times to wait are in big pots contested by lots of players when the bet came from your left. This is not a universal characterization, but if you just stuck to these, you will avoid big mistakes.
I should emphasize this point. Failing to wait until the turn is a
small error (it very often should be called a "gamble" and not an "error"). Failing to protect your hand is a
big error. If you think you might make a mistake, make it the small one, not the big one.