Foreword: This week, we’ll deal with continuation bets and I’ll give you a few hands in the form of a quiz with the solutions at the end as usual.
**** Hand 1 **
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
9 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $33.26
UTG+1: $4.40
MP1: $33.98
MP2: $27.26
MP3: $4.65
CO: $26.14
Button: $21.75
SB: $21.95
Hero: $5
Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is BB with T♠ T♣
3 folds, MP2 calls, MP3 folds, CO calls, Button calls, SB calls, Hero raises to $2, 3 folds, SB calls
Flop: J♥ A♣ Q♦ ($4.75, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero ??
Hero's Aktion ?
a) Check
b) Bet $2.40
c) All-In
* Hand 2 **
PartyPoker $10 NL Hold'em (10 handed) Recorded and converted with HandRecorder
Stacks & Stats
BB ($10.78)
UTG ($5.37)
UTG+2 ($2.30)
MP1 ($8.30)
MP2 ($6.15)
CO ($14.90) - VPIP 15% - PFR 7%
BU ($6.40)
MP3 ($2)
SB ($1.90)
Hero ($1.55)
Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with K♠, A♣
1 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, 4 folds, CO calls $0.40, 3 folds.
Flop: ($0.95) 4♣, 8♦, 9♣ (2 players)
Hero ??
Hero's Aktion?
a) Check
b) Bet $0.50
c) Bet $1
* Hand 3 **
Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
10 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
Hero: $4.40
UTG+1: $39.75
UTG+2: $28.95
MP1: $25
MP2: $13.20
MP3: $4.17
CO: $33.15
Button: $4.65
SB: $6.70
BB: $18.13
Pre-flop: (10 players) Hero is UTG with K♣ A♠
Hero raises to $1, 3 folds, MP2 calls, 2 folds, Button calls, 2 folds
Flop: 6♠ J♠ 6♦ ($3.35, 3 players)
Hero ??
Hero's Aktion?
a) Check
b) Bet $1.70
c) All-In
Solutions :
* Hand 1 **
Solution : c)
Here we have a perfect board for a continuation bet. It's true that we miss the flop completely, but it looks very dangerous for our opponent, too. He'll fold a lot of hands with which he could have called a pre-flop raise, making a continuation bet entirely justified.
Since we only have $3 left, an all-in is the only sensible bet amount. We still have 4 clean outs to a nut straight so we wouldn't be able to fold to a re-raise anyway.
The decision here is independent of the opponent; such boards should always be used for continuation bets. !
* Hand 2 **
Solution : a)
This board doesn’t look very dangerous for somebody who called a raise. He will not assume that we’ve hit anything.
Now the question is whether he’s hit something himself. Since our opponent is a relatively tight player, the most frequent call hands are pocket pairs and suited connectors.
Flush draws and straight draws are possible on this board (any suited connector has at least a pair or gustshot, 56 gutshot, 67 OESD, 78 pair, 89 two pair, T9 pair, JT OESD). Also, a pocket pair will seldom fold here.
All told, the flop and opponent clearly speak for a check. Sometimes we’ll get another free card and get a chance at our backdoor flush draw and overcards.
* Hand 3 *****
Solution : a)
We miss the flop, which looks pretty harmless. As an UTG raiser, the jack will seldom be ascribed to us, so nobody will guess that we have a strong hand.
We have 2 opponents and at least one of them probably has a pocket pair, which he’ll not fold easily on this flop.
All in all, it’s a bad flop for us.
If we were to make a continuation bet, we would be forced to go all-in on our overcard outs, which are mostly very good here.
However, at this point it’s not worth investing $3.40, so it’s better just to play check and part cheaply with our hand.
