Continuation Bets And Ways of Handling Them

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Number of posts : 21Location : Prince George

Continuation Bets and Ways of Handling Them
Originally posted Feb 3, 2009 11:21 pm

Ok so now you have a nice hand. You make a great raise pre-flop. The flop comes, but iy misses you entirely. But, you think you may still have the best hand. You bet out. That’s a continuation bet. Your opponents won’t know for sure if you hit the flop or didn’t. That’s the point. A continuation bet doesn’t say much about your hand.

Now if your opponent comes back over the top of you, and you haven’t hit anything, and even/unless you’ve got great drawing opportunities, you'll want to follow the old adage "If the flop don't hit then don't commit(chips). The best of circumstances will be winning the pot with your continuation bet. At worst, you are going to throw some chips away.

The Importance Of The Continuation Bet
A continuation bet gives you the chance to win the pot even though your potentially strong hand never hit.

One of the best, prettiest drawing hands is the Ace-King(of which i wrote a blog on www.railbirds.com/blog/220498/the-lure-of-ace-king.html ). You want to play that strong pre-flop, to the point that not every player stays with you to the flop. But if the flop doesn’t hit you, you don’t really want to surrender without a bit of a fight. And when you do bet, you will be representing that you DID hit the flop. No matter how unlikely that might be.

Ok let's just say you’ve got the A-K and two others call your raise of four times the big blind. The flop comes 10-7-4 rainbow. Chances are good that if a player stayed with your pre-flop raise, they will have missed that flop. There are some exceptions to be concerned with. It’s possible that they had a pair, perhaps a pretty good pair. They could be ahead with J-J.

So your opponent could have flopped a set. If they called your raise with 7-7, they just picked up a huge hand. If they slow play, you are vulnerable if you are too aggressive with your betting. But, those situations are rare. Usually, a continuation bet will take care of most if not all of the competition. Continuation bets are usually best if made before others have a chance to act. If someone bets before you, proceed with caution. Of course, they may just be continuation betting.

Players will either think you hit the flop, or that you had a big pair to begin with if you bet out in the scenario above. That is if they believe you. But, if a player bets out each time they get past the flop, you can expect that in some cases, they are just continuation betting.

Deciding What The correct Continuation Bet Size
When you make a continuation bet, you are attempting to represent a holding that you don’t yet, or may not have the chance to have. You should size your bet accordingly.

In the above scenario, you would like the opposition to think you have a pair that is higher than what is on the board. To properly represent that hand, you should bet somewhere near pot size.

As a rule, a minimum bet suggests weakness. It could be that others will consider that a trap, but you’ll have to know the players you are sitting with to make that judgment.
A large bet may win the pot for you even if your opponent has made a hand. However, if they’ve made a really good hand, you stand to lose more chips than you should.

The other aspect to consider with a continuation bet is that the turn and river could actually come through for you. You’d rather win the hand as it stands, but if you get a call, you still could make the winning hand.

Continuation bets are best made when you do have some hope of making your hand. A pure bluff will backfire if you took a swing at the pot and missed.

Defending Against The Continuation Bet
A player who makes an occasional continuation bet is tough to sniff out. If you think that’s what’s going on, a small raise should smoke the continuation better out. That will tell your opponent that you DID catch something and you are willing to battle for the pot. Careful though, the bet may not have been a continuation bet. It shouldn’t be too tough to figure out tough.

If you suspect a player of making continuation bets as the norm rather than sparingly, you should pick your spot and go for the throat. Let’s say you are suspicious that Player A is just pushing. You get 4-7 off suit, the flop is A-K-8, and you raise the continuation better. Not a good idea. He may not have hit the Ace, but all he’s got to do is keep going and you’re beaten.

Now, if you hold the Ace-8 and the same flop comes, you hope Player A still tries to get the pot before anyone else does. All you’ll have to do is raise and you should be bringing in a nice pot.

You’ll recognize the continuation better. Rarely does he have to show a hand. But still, he keeps scooping chips. Often times, they’re on some draw and would rather just take the pot before waiting to see if they get their cards. The longer you play with a continuation better, the more able you’ll become to spotting the tactic.

Which bring me to this little piece I found which could also help in figuring what to do and a way of handling things.

5 Five Tips to Use Online

1. Continuation Bet against as few opponents as possible. The ideal number of opponents is just one, you might also consider continuation betting against 2 opponents on some occasions. Any more than this and you need a hand to continue, it is just too likely that someone hit enough of the flop to call your bet.

2. A Half-Pot Bet only needs to work 1/3rd of the time to break even, any more than this is a profit for you. If you vary your bet size to ensure that ‘made hands’ and continuation bets are similar in size you will be more difficult for your opponents to read.

3. Beware of ‘Draw-Heavy’ flops. A flop containing suited and / or connected cards is less attractive for continuation bets. If your opponent calls you then you will not know whether they have a made hand or are drawing to a flush or straight. This will make your future decision making difficult.

4. Skilled opponents will know that continuation betting is a high-percentage play and will expect you to do this on many occasions. Tend to continuation bet less against tricky opponents who may call you just to see if you will fire again on the turn. Not betting every time you are checked to on the flop will improve the credibility of the times you do choose to continuation bet.

5. When an ace falls on the flop you usually have an excellent opportunity to continuation bet against a small number (preferably one) opponent. Since an ace is the first assumption opponents will make about your holding they are unlikely to continue with the hand unless they hold an ace or a stronger hand themselves.( Thanks to www.theonlinepokerlife.com/poker-strategy/level-2-intermediate/continuation-bets-five-tips-to-use-online/ for the 5 Five Tips to Use Online)

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Number of posts : 742Location : Ottawa

There is some great advice in here. Thanks!

Guest

Awesome read and some great tips for a beginner like me. Thank you! cheers