Why bet/fold so much?

Interesting discussion going on the Mid-High Stakes Shorthanded forum somewhat relating to this.

[jedi]

Does check/crying call help induce a bluff if you have been leading out the entire way and it looks like the villain might have missed a draw somewhere along the line? Sometimes I'll do it against a tightish opponent, possible draws that did or didn't hit, and just 1 pair. Against the typical player I'll bet out for value, but against better players who won't pay off with a missed draw (but might bluff) or will simply raise if the draw hit, I'll check/call in this spot.

Just posting this so that more people read the above explanation.

[flair1239]

I have not read through yet, but I share this opinon a bit especially on turn play.

Only because of this. I believe bet fold lines have become very popular. As a result, check/raise with light hands/draws has also become more popular.

I think what happens on this forum is we get focused on lines. Some months back the Way Ahead/Waybehind line was quite popular; that got overused as well.

The way to avoid this type of thing is to be opponent aware and adjust accordingly. Which seems like an extrodinarily obvious statement. But with all the multi-tabling we do, it seems that many of us are just interested in default lines and fall into the default mode way too often.

I have recently dropped a table back to three... just because I noticed in my play, that I was doing too many default lines in situations where they were not apporpriate for the particular opponent.

PA HUD is a great thing, your powers of observation are a great thing. Work on using them. To develope and get used to using this skill might come at the expense of hands per hour. Each player needs to decide whether a higher BB/100 WR is worth it; in relation to what you are giving up in hands per hour.

I for one feel that I am improving again and feel that increasing my skills will pay more future dividends than playing the extra 70 hands an hour in a mediocre fashion.

[flair1239]

[ QUOTE ]


So, yes, your concern is a good one, but one that is, in my opinion, far more applicable in mid-stakes or higher-stakes games (and also in live rather than online) than in the Party 3/6-type universe in which we reside.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have not played Party too hard recently. But at the 5/10 games that I frequent, there are more than enough players who pick up on this stuff. And it is not only the good players, but a lot of the bad ones too.

I think it is one of those moves that attracts attention and done repeatedly in the same session many players notice. Also it eventually shows up on your HUD stats that your opponents view (in the form of a higher fold turn percentage).

I think part of the problem (again I am speaking more to the turn than the river), is that we are conditioned that Checking through on the turn is just terrible. When in fact there are a good chunk of situations where a free card is not that big of a deal. Again the qualities of the opponent should guide you. Against people who either don't checkraise or have a very high winSD after checkraising percentage, I bet fearlessly. However, against others I consider the other options.

[W. Deranged]

The proper balance between checking and betting the turn, particularly in position with marginal hands that may have outs, is one of the hardest things to achieve in limit hold'em.