Advanced No Limit Strategy - Continuation Betting Continued

In the first part of my look at continuation betting (c-betting) in No Limit Hold’em, I outlined the basic parameters of a good c-betting strategy. Now I’m going to get into some specifics. I am going to list the most important factors in deciding whether or not to c-bet, with a discussion of each.

Hand strength: If you hit a piece of the flop (or didn’t need to), c-betting is usually the way to go. You may consider slowplaying if you hit a monster. You should also c-bet most of your draws. However, in order for your play not to be too predictable, you should also bet with your very worst misses. Let’s say you raised preflop with trash because you thought you could steal the pot. On the flop you miss completely. You should definitely c-bet, because you have no other chance of winning the pot. On the other hand, you may want to just check with some of your better draws and very good made hands, so that you’re opponents can’t just steal the pot every time you don’t c-bet. For a deeper explanation of this logic, read the series of articles on game theory and poker. However, your default should be to c-bet when you catch a piece of the flop.

Board texture: Against amateur players who only play their own hand (they don’t try to read yours), you should c-bet all dry flops. A dry flop is one with no obvious draws, something like Q83 (nothing suited). However, experienced players will realize what you’re up to and bluff reraise you once in a while. Still, you should be more likely to c-bet when you miss if the board is dry.

Pot size and stack size: If the pot is small there’s obviously less incentive to c-bet, but your c-bets will have a better chance of getting your opponent to fold. You should regularly try to pick up these small pots, especially if your opponent is tight. If you hit a monster on the flop, and both your stack and your opponent’s stack are big, you definitely want to c-bet, not slowplay. That’s because you need to build the pot so you can get some real money in later in the hand without having to overbet.

How tight your opponent is: This is one of the real keys. Against tight opponents that never reraise bluff or play back at you with a marginal hand, you should c-bet relentlessly, probably at every opportunity. More aggressive players require a subtler approach. You don’t want to let them scare you, but you definitely need to temper your own aggression. You may also want to check behind more often with made hands, in order to encourage them to bluff on the turn, but that’s a dangerous strategy.

Number of opponents: You definitely don’t want to be bluff c-betting into multiple opponents. Two is really the max if you didn’t hit the flop.

Opponent’s donk bet frequency: A donk bet is a bet made by a player who wasn’t the aggressor on the previous round; it’s a bet made before the potential c-bettor gets a chance to bet. It’s not a check-raise. If a player routinely donk bets when he hits (rather than check-raising), you should donk bet every time he checks. He’s giving away the fact that he missed. In the rare scenario that an opponent only donk bets as a bluff, you should raise in those situations, but significantly lower your c-betting frequency. If your opponent never or rarely donk bets, you should slightly lower your c-betting frequency, especially on scary boards where you’ve missed.