Poker: How to Control the Pot

You raise and are fairly confident, seeing as you have an Ace of Diamonds and Ace of Hearts, and you are happy to see that the Small Blind calls. The flop brings the Jack of Hearts, 7 of Clubs and 7 of Diamonds and your opponent follows your bet for the full amount of the pot. The turn brings a small card, the 2 of Spades and your opponent re-raises once more. There are 2,000 chips in the pot and you each have 8,000 chips. What should you do?

Keep Control:
Here, as in many cases, I would suggest that you carry-out a check at the turn, even if there is a strong probability that you have the leading hand. This reasoning will allow for the possibility that your opponent followed you with a pair of Jacks or a 7. A bet at the turn would mean that you lose control of the pot and can subsequently end with you losing all of your chips.

The range of hands that your opponent may hold is so large that it is very important to analyse all the different possibilities. The best possible hands are Ace-Jack, King-Jack and Queen-Jack or some small pairs such as 9-9 or 8-8. But here, there is still the possibility that your opponent already holds a three-of-a-kind of 7's, this should then incite you to check. The problem is that this type of soft-play gels perfectly with a large hand. With a hand such as Ace-Jack, many opponents would have check-raised the flop, so the fact of making a simple call should alert you to this.

Another critical factor that should lead you to check is that there is a strong possibility that your opponent has a drawing hand.

Making such a check at the turn, will that lose you value in the round? I would say that the answer has to be a resounding no. Making this check at the turn means that your cards are unreadable to your opponents and even implies a weak hand. This will mean that you will be able to recuperate a lot of money at the river. So, you will get to see how your opponent behaves at the river and then base your decisions on this. But, in the hope that the river does not give your opponent a card that they need (for example, a Jack or a 7).

Three-of-a-kind 7's or better:
If my opponent holds a large hand, he should bet large at the river once he has seen the slow pace of the turn. The amount of the bet is of little importance, it is practically certain hat you will follow their bet. However, the fear is a lot less important than if you had bet at the turn. The beauty of your check at the turn is that it allows you to under-value your hand, i.e. to make it appear feeble. This is a very useful tactic against a very good hand.

Your opponent holds a pair of Jacks or another pair:
Imagine that your opponent has this kind of hand and say he posses a Queen-Jack. Against the majority of players, it would be difficult to get paid at the turn and the river because your opponent holds such a good hand. you will see that many opponents will give a lot of credit to your second bet and will pass at the turn (and even more so with a small pair).

However, this is not the case at all is you are happy to check the turn- and action that will make your opponent think that you have missed your bluff. So, not only will your opponent believe that you have a weak hand, but you will by consequence pick up a lot of chips at the river.

Think about what your opponent is thinking:
Always pay attention to the type of hand that you have revealed to your opponent when you check at the turn. A good bet at the river is perfect because this can make them think that you have no hand at all and that you are trying to put your opponent under pressure.

Keep value:
Besides the fact that your check at the turn means you avoid losing too much when facing three-of-a-kind of 7's, it will only mean that you lose less when you are in front. If you think about it a little more ou will see that you win more in the long-run by playing in this fashion. This demonstrates the fact that a bet-check-bet can make you win large if you are in possession of a large hand.

There is a scenario that will allow you to gain even more value. Say that your opponent bets 1,200 at the river (a little less than half the pot). Unless you are beaten, you can even make a re-raise. If you are re-raised yourself you know what to do and you should fold the hand.

The bad type of player:
There is one type of player against which this technique cannot be applied, this is the player type known as a ‘calling station'. Against such a player, it is possible that you will be followed on all three of the rounds with a hand as weak as a Queen-Jack. Here, you only need to pray that your opponent does not have any 7's in his hand, and that he will continue to bet.

The first part of this article was dedicated to controlling the pot, put forward a situation in Texas Hold'EM where it was good to check the turn even if you thought that you had the best hand in the round. The check, principally, allows you to prevent the possibility that your opponent has a good hand, but also to control the pot, both of which are important in Texas Hold'EM.

We will now push this idea even further and analyse a situation where a check can be played in an even less conventional manner. Cast your eyes over the following example:

Example 1:
You raise pre-flop with the King of Hearts and the King of Spades and you are paid by the big blind. The flop brings the Queen of Diamonds, Queen of Clubs and Jack of Diamonds and your opponent follows your big bet. The turn brings the harmless 3 of Spades and your opponent checks.

What should you do in such a case?
Here, a check can be the wrong course of action, not only because you are surely ahead in the round, but also because you can lose your hand value. Your opponent is probably drawing and it will definitely be the wrong thing to give them a free card. But the situation is not as straightforward as in the first article; therefore it will be preferable to check.

If you are facing an opponent who has a strong tendency towards bluffing the river, it is the ideal situation to make them pay you. So, the value that you lose at the turn, you will recuperate at the river. Analyse why a check at the turn is a good idea by evaluating the different possibilities.

Your opponent has three-of-a-kind or better:
As was implied previously, you should really be fearful of being check-raised at the turn if you bet. Thereby, you can be bluffed with a draw hand such as 10 of Diamond and 9 of Diamond.

Your check at the turn shows that you will pay a bet at the river, but you will have limited the damage. However, the final scenario can be multi-faceted. If the river gives a dangerous card that completes a draw hand (for example the 8 of Diamonds, 9 of Diamonds or the Ace of Diamonds) and your opponent makes a large bet, you can almost be certain that your Kings are beaten because your opponent either touched at the flop or at the river.

The idea of the free card is something of great importance, but the number of players can bring too much peril. If you consider the fact of betting the flop and checking the turn, it is important to remember one thing. If you bet, you will surely not bet enough to avoid the fact of your opponent paying for his drawing hand. Thus, you would be wrong to tell yourself each time that you bet that you will win. There are certain situations where your opponent will pay and will get what he wants at the river, so money that you had invested at the turn will be lost. Of course, if you know that your opponent was drawing, you would also be wrong to give him a free card.

Your opponent does not have a draw and you beat him:
This scenario probably means that your opponent has a pair of Jacks or an average pair. However, an average hand on such a board is not a very good hand, and some opponents will fold at the turn at any rate, regardless of the value of their hand. There are very few players who will follow all the way to the river with a pair of Jacks. But here, the situation changes if you check the turn because your opponent will find it harder to fold a hand if a blank card (-a card that does not change the game at all) falls at the river. The principle reason for this is that you have masked the nature of your hand by checking. You have shown that you are in draw, that you have missed your card and that you are now attempting to bluff at the river.

Your opponent is drawing from the flop:
There are a number of possible draws with King-10 or 10-9 for a straight draw; it is of little importance which diamond for a colour draw and 10 of Diamonds and 9 of Diamonds for a straight flush draw.

The crucial factor in this situation is that your opponent missed his draw and bet lots of chips at the river. Once you have checked the turn, many opponents will think that you have a weak hand and believe that you are attempting to bluff the river. Players who miss a draw will often bluff at the river; you can therefore win a lot here.

Equally, you have another problem with this situation because you do not know if the river will complete your opponents straight or colour draw. Once he has paid your bet at the flop, you should think to yourself that he would only pay with a straight draw. This is why, if a nine, which is not a diamond, falls at the river and that your opponent bets a large amount, it would be very beneficial to you to pay. You will have a good chance of winning against the missed draw of your opponent.

Develop this strategy:
The fact of making a check at this moment in the hand is something very hard to put into practice. However, through hard work and perseverance your game will improve and you will be able to learn how to vary your gaming style accordingly.

If you have a good read of your opponent's cards, in other words, if you have guessed well, and in an informed way, what cards they are holding, and that you believe they are in draw, it would be prudent to bet a large amount at the turn in order to reduce your opponent's odds.

However, remember that in poker, a good option is not necessarily the best. Two scenarios are possible, either a card that completes a draw falls at the river, in which case you should fold your hand, or a blank falls and you will profit from a big bluff at the river. So you lose less checking the turn than in betting the turn when seeing a dangerous card falling at the river.

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