I don’t want to let the pre-flop raiser know
the strength of my hand and I want the other two players to put money in the pot.
The correct play is to also check after the turn card. Then at this time, when
the pre-flop raiser bets, you check-raise and bet into him/her on the river. Remember
that the bets double on the turn. The point is that it is often best to check
and call to let others become involved with your strongest hands. You don’t
want to do this if your hand is vulnerable to being outdrawn.
Example
2: You are under-the-gun with KK, raise pre-flop and get two callers, one
in late position and the big blind. The flop comes A 7 2 rainbow. The small blind
checks to you. What do you do? You must bet for a couple reasons. If an Ace scares
you so bad that you would check after raising pre-flop, you should be either playing
lower limits or another game, and more importantly, you must bet to try to get
the late position player to fold, giving you position on the small blind for the
turn and river. If both players call, you can check the turn. If this were the
case, I would still call a turn bet and a river bet against some players. Most
of the time you will know that you are beat, and when you know you are you should
fold, but many players will call a flop bet with middle or bottom pair in hopes
of hitting their second pair on the turn. For this reason, if I have the Kings,
I usually bet on the turn again if no opponents have shown strength. If you are
check-raised on the flop, you must either raise or fold. Don’t wait till
the turn to get fancy because it costs you twice as much. If you are check-raised
and you re-raise and are raised again, then you are beaten and should fold. I
realize this may be painful, but think about the situation. You raised pre-flop,
bet on the flop, were raised and then you re-raised showing tremendous strength.
If a player can stand up to all of this strength by continuing to raise, this
is a clear signal you should fold. The only players capable of making a play this
sophisticated on a bluff are the top professionals and if you are playing and
holding your own against them, you have already advanced past the scope of this
article.
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