Recognizing the Perfect Turn Card to Keep Bluffing
Here's a good example of the kind of hand that a lot of players might be inclined just to give up on after they miss the flop and turn. But in fact you'll find a lot of the biggest winners consistently take these kinds of pots when they keep firing.
We were in the money in the $3,500 buy-in World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open, and with blinds 6,000/12,000 and a 12,000 big blind ante action folded around to me in middle position where I had been dealt J♦10♦.
I had a stack of 734,000 (about 64 big blinds) and raised to 28,000 and only the loose-aggressive player in the big blind called. The flop then came Q♠5♦5♣ and my opponent checked.
As I discuss below, this is a spot where you are frequently going to want to make a continuation bet, probably on the small side. Here I did bet just 20,000 (just over a quarter-pot) and my opponent called.
My opponent calling here isn't surprising — after all, I just gave him terrific pot odds to do so. But I'm already thinking at this point about barreling again on the turn, in particular if that card gives my hand additional equity.
Take your seat, wait for your cards, and freeroll your way to the $500k XL Main Event on February 16.
The turn came the K♥ and the big blind checked again. Do you continue blasting in this situation or do you elect to take the cautious route of checking? As the headline above suggests, I think it's a great situation to put the big blind in a tough spot.
Take a look below and listen to my discussion of the many reasons why this turn is a great card on which to keep betting, and also look at what I decided in terms of bet sizing.
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $7,000,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. Sign up to learn poker from Jonathan for free at PokerCoaching.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
