The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Too often, beginners don't bet out their big hands when they hit a flop that strengthens their hands significantly. Certainly, if you play a hand like Ace-King and the flop comes A-x-x, you'll bet your pair of aces, and more than likely you'll take down the pot with that bet. It's not a monster hand, but you probably are winning so you take it right then & there without much of a fight.

What if that Ace-King you played was suited, say, in diamonds? And what if the flop came 3-8-Q...all diamonds. That's an unbelievable hand you just made: A nut flush. The normal way to play it would be just to check and see if anyone would try to steal it from you. You want to portray weakness so you're hoping you can build a pot by inducing someone else to bet. It's not a bad play at all, most players would take this route. But what if you try to bet out at the flop instead?

What you're trying to do here is distort the strength of your hand by betting out. Most players will likely NOT give you credit for having the nut flush for the aforementioned reason: You want to check to show weakness and try to induce someone to steal when you've made a monster hand. Most people who bet out a flop of the same suit are betting to "protect" a hand. In the above example if someone held Ace-Queen, they'd want to bet to see if their pair of Queens are good and if they can take it down right there. Someone with an overpair, such as Kings, will likely come along for the ride, too, and pay you off handsomely. A lot would think you are holding just one diamond and might try to raise you thinking they are pricing you out of a drawing hand.

But even if they don't have a hand and they fold after you bet, you might consider turning over your hole cards and "advertise" what you have. "Advertising" is revealing your hole cards to the other players when you don't have to. If you show them you bet out at a nut flush, subconsciously they might think, "Wow, this guy loves to bet his big hands! Whenever he bets he must have something." This helps give you more credibility later on in the game when you make continuation bets after a pre-flop raise when you miss the flop. The idea in that situation is by betting out, you're hoping the opposing player will remember how you played your previous monster hand and will reluctantly fold their medium pairs.

This technique is also effective against aggressive players who bet and re-raise hand after hand. If that's the way they play, bet into them right away and they'll build the pot for you. Extremely tight players will likely fold, but loose, aggressive players can pay you off, especially if you conjure up a little "Hollywood" and act like you're reluctant to bet.

It's also something you should do if there are three or more players in the hand. Likely someone also hit the flop so it makes sense to take the lead in betting. And if you see there are flush & straight draws out there and you made a hand such as two pair, it makes sense to bet so you can protect your two pair and make the others pay to make their flush or straight.

You also don't want to be predictable. If you're someone who leads at semi-good flops but always checks their monsters, you're too easy to read and good players can take advantage of that. Mix up your play a little and become a player who's more dynamic with their betting.