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EXPERT VIEW - Betting First In No-Limit Hold`em
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08 April 2006
When you play in a high-stakes cash game and that game happens to be no-limit you need to understand the importance, and the danger, of betting first at a pot. The rewards outweigh the risks, if you approach it correctly, and not doing it is a slow form of death at the table.
I`ll begin with an example because it is so much easier that way. You hold QJ and there are four players in the pot. You are second to act. No one raised pre-flop, which happens fairly regularly in no-limit cash games online. There is $24 in the pot. The flop comes A-J-3. The first player checks to you.
My advice here is to bet. What most players who hold middle pair would do is throw out a small probe bet. This tends to say to the table: "I have something, a piece of this flop, but not much." Maybe you`re holding Ax with x being a weak kicker, or you have a J. If you bet half the pot, however, it becomes tougher to know what you have. Regardless, you put those left to act under some pressure, and force them to reveal the strength of their hands.
The advantages of betting first here are as follows: You might win it right now. That`s a great result. You could get a call, which helps you going forward, as I will show. You see where you stand in the hand. The disadvantage is that it could cost you the bet of $12. If someone raises substantially you need to fold here.
As it happens, you get one caller after you. The turn is a 9. Now you can throw out another similar-sized bet or you could check. Against one opponent my advice is to bet again. If you had two or more callers and still only held middle pair I might be inclined to suggest a check. Look at the board - if they haven`t got an A what are they in the hand for? Maybe they have a J as well, or more likely they`re drawing for a flush or a straight...
The river is another A. This is why betting first in no-limit is so important. You have more or less represented the best hand on the flop, and for many players that means the Ax hand. Now there are no flushes or straights on the table (in this example), and when you bet at the board on the river only a hand with an Ace can call you. Do you have the best hand here? Possibly, but imagine an opponent holds QQ and you`ve bet aggressively on the flop, turn, and now the river. It is very hard for a good player to call you.
In no-limit cash games the flop misses most players, especially in games where players like to limp pre-flop. The time to outplay opponents in poker is after the flop, not before as so many novices like to think. Pushing hard before the flop gets you involved in huge coin-flip hands where you feel "unlucky" if you lose, or it brings you small wins. But playing smart after the flop can decrease your risk and increase the opportunity to win a lot of good-sized pots.
Posted by: Marc Weinberg at 12:27
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