Thread: Follow up bets
View Single Post
  #15  
Old 12-31-2005, 06:32 PM
ansky451 ansky451 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 24
Default Re: Follow up bets

I'm sorry it seems I'm always busting your chops Jeannie, but I'm going to again. The enitre concept of this thread is perpetuating a bad way of thinking about poker. In your random example, there are so many factors to be considered.

1) Your hand has showdown value. I'm more more willing to take off a free card and possibly even call turn and river bets with ace high when I have a hand like ace king rather than if I raised 97s and I whiffed. You should sometimes CB, sometimes check behind. There are spots when cont. betting is essential, and there are spots where it is no so important.

2) You are in position. You have better control of pot size in NL Hold'em when you are in position. Assuming you are out of position against an opponent, you reduce his positional advantage with larger bets. IE its harder for him to get tricky and float, or bluff raise, or make ballsy calls when you are betting full pot rather than half pot.

3) There are different flops. A flop like 239 should not be treated like a Q97 flop, or a 987s flop. You generally should be more likely to cont bet on rainbow boards with 1 big card, rather than all rags, or highly coordinated boards. When I raise AK and get called by a blind, and the flop comes 789 of 1 suit (i dont have the suit), I'm very much ready to check behind and give up.

4) READS! Poker is about playing the [censored] player---- there is no universal answer to your question because there is no default player. Ok, barring a read everyone is a default, but you should be able to get SOMETHING on a player. Reads in tournaments are so crucial, for situations exactly like these. You want us to answer a question in vacuum. Poker is not played in a vacuum.

5) Stack sizes. With shortstacks, making the decision to cont. bet or not can be very important, and fundamental to the preservation of your stack. If you have to cont bet for 1/4th of your stakc, you should definitely be considering how often your opponent will be check raising you. If you have a hand that has likely has 6 outs, taking a free card will have more value then if you raised a hand like 67s and you likely have 0 outs on a board like A83 if you are behind.

6) Your table image. If I am viewed as a [censored] maniac, I'm probably going to slow down. Seeing as how I usually am viewed as a maniac, this happens a lot.

Well. That was fun.
Reply With Quote