Continuation Betting
Continuation betting is becoming so common now that even in the low stakes games you’ll probably find a lot of players raising the flop with nothing just for the sake of keeping initiative in the hand and sussing out weak passive players.
A continuation bet (c-bet) is when you missed the flop having been the last person to raise pre-flop. You raise the flop with air in order to keep initiative and equity in the hand or increase your perceived range for bluffing on later streets. It’s a straight forward bluff that pays off extremely well. With a typical ½ pot-size c-bet, you only have to win 1/3 times to break even. Back in the old days c-bets were much more profitable. Given the increasing quality of games even in the micro-stakes 6-max tables however, you’re going to have be prepared to double-barrel the turn against solid opponents a lot of the time. This is because any half-decent player who manages to hit the board in any way is going to call to see the turn. When you double-barrel the turn however, the commitment of chips to call makes it much more expensive to play a backdoor draw with.
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Types of Boards to Continuation Bet
Although you can c-bet 100% of flops in micro-stakes games, as you move up the stakes you need to be aware that some flops are more profitable to c-bet than others. The best types situations to c-bet are on dry boards. Non-connected rainbow flops such as As-7h-2d or Kh-10s-5s are great to c-bet because they make it very unlikely that your opponent will have hit with anything.
Flops that bring a pair to the board e.g. Q-5-5 are good to c-bet because it will be very hard for your opponent to hit a piece of this board. Unfortunately this also means that you’ll get less credit for bluffing here, and against solid aggressive who bluff-raised you it makes c-betting here a little more dangerous. That’s not all bad however, since when we do actually strike the nuts with 5-6 we might actually get paid off more.
Ironically, 3 cards of the same suit is a very profitable flop to bluff. Bluffing a 6h-9h-Qh means an opponent can only afford to call if he has the Ah or Kh. Your opponent will be forced to fold hands like AKo because most of the time he will be drawing dead.
Having been the pre-flop raiser, the worst boards to c-bet are those that fit into your opponent’s calling range. Middling cards, broadways and high suited connectors are without question the worst flops to c-bet with e.g. 5-7-8 or J-10-8. Your opponent’s range could easily include mid-pocket pairs or suited hands such as Jc-Qc which more often than not he will strongly connect with. You need to avoid c-betting wet flops like these, especially in multi-way pots where almost everyone can clip a piece of the action. Most opponents are not going to fold to a half-pot c-bet with a mid-pair or even a weak backdoor type hand.
Extra Reasons to C-Bet Flops
- Most c-bet will not get re-raised. Loose aggressive players will want to slow-play monster hands like a full house which helps control the size of the pot. In addition, you are unlikely to get re-raised by opponents with weak holdings or those who’ve missed the flop.
- C-betting balances your range and keeps your opponent guessing whether you have a hand or not. Having a loose table image is generally considered a good thing.
- C-betting the flop gives you added equity for double/triple-barrelling the turn and river. By being the pre-flop raiser, you can easily bluff a strong hand or overpair like AA to a Q high board.
- A semi-bluff on the flop can increase your implied odds and increase the size of the pot for when you complete your hand.
Position
Like most bluffs, c-betting is most profitable when you have position on your opponents (i.e. when you’re last to act in the pot). Let’s say you raised pre-flop from LP with 9s-10s and get called by the BB and UTG. If both players check the turn, then you can take advantage of their weakness by c-betting the flop and forcing them to fold. Sure, they might float your c-bet hoping to catch something on the turn, but once you raise them again it makes it very costly for them to call or re-raise you.
With a mediocre holding like QQ on a A-10-5 type board, I think you’re decision to c-bet will depend upon your position at the table. Out of position, you should want to c-bet this hand on this board since you need to make up for your lack of position by keeping the initiative in the hand. If fail to take initiative and check out of position, then it will be very hard for you to call a c-bet and play the rest of the hand with only mid-pair. If you’re in position against a LAG, then you can afford to check the board for thin value and give your opponent a free card. This might sound silly, but if there’s a chance your opponent will bluff-raise you then it’s better to limit the size of the pot and avoid getting into trouble against a stack that has you covered. Against a weak-passive player however then c-betting will make more sense and as you can him to fold off the pot and take the chips down easily.
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