Postflop Concepts – The Continuation Bet
December 15, 2008 on 5:17 am | In Pokkercards.com | 3 CommentsA lot of you reading this article probably have a good idea of how to play solid preflop poker. Maybe you’re ready to take your game to the next level. After all, following hand charts can make you money, but it sure can get boring pretty quick. The key to unlocking bigger profits in Hold’em, as many pros will tell you, is learning to play great postflop poker.
You’ll find that once you can dominate postflop, you can worry less about the cards you play preflop. Postflop skill is kind of like a magic bullet, allowing you to constantly outwit your opponents regardless of your holdings. The first step to mastering postflop Hold’em is learning how to use a betting technique called the continuation bet.
What is the continuation bet (c-bet)?
Simply stated, the c-bet is a bet made by a player on the flop, after that player has raised preflop. The player’s preflop aggression is continued by another fire on the flop- hence, continuation bet. In order to make a c-bet, the bettor need not hit his cards on the flop. The technique can act as a bluff or a genuine value play. It is useful in both cases.
Why c-bet?
There are a few reasons you should consider adding the continuation bet to your arsenal.
Try to win small pots right away: The idea here is that a lot of the time, players in a given hand aren’t helped by the flop cards. Roughly, a player will pair either one of his cards 1/3rd of the time. Meaning, 2/3rds of the time, your opponents don’t hit anything on the flop. Even when a player hits bottom pair, they do not perceive their hand to be strong enough to continue with in the face of aggression. You can fire a c-bet. You’ll find that your opponents fold a majority of the time. This is good when you don’t have a hand you necessarily want to continue with. You can win a small pot with absolutely nothing.
Bloat the pot with good made hands and strong draws: As the old saying goes, “something worth nothing ain’t something at all.” This is especially true in poker. If you make a hand, but don’t build a pot, you’re not going to win any money. It’s that simple. The c-bet is a great tool to use when you make top pair type hands, or strong flush/straight draws. A lot of beginning players don’t bet on the flop when they make decent hands.
Their reasoning usually involves not wanting to scare players out of the pot. This is a bad way to think, and costs a lot of players tons of profit. If your opponents want to stay in the hand, they’re going to stay in the hand even if you bet. By checking, you’re simply allowing worse hands to draw out on you. Save the trap plays for your monster hands, not your decent ones.
Protect decent hands from draws: Bad players love to chase draws. C-betting your decent made hands can make it costly for your opponents to chase. Inducing opponents to make mistakes is a good thing. Even if some won’t fold to your c-bet, you can price them out of their draw. If they choose to call, they will be making an unprofitable play- a mistake. When you do this, you always win!
How can you use c-bet continued in the next post 
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Your series on poker strategy is one of the best I’ve read so far. It actually works very well in real life! I’ve got a question though about opponents re-raising on my initial preflop 3BB + 1BB x #limpers raise. Is this a safe place for a call? Another reraise on JJ or better? I get the sense that after seeing me steal the blinds repeatedly some of my opponents reraise just for the heck of it. Thank you, Daniel Cota
Comment by Great Advice — December 17, 2008 #
Hi Daniel,
Glad to hear you are doing well at the tables. Your question about an opponent reraising you preflop (3betting) is tricky- it really depends on the specific situation you’re in. As a general guideline against fairly bad players (standard) I like to simply push over their reraise with KK and AA, sometimes AK suited depending on how silly I think he’s being. For example if somehow I just KNOW he is trying to stop me from stealing, and that he does not have very good cards, I will push all-in with AK suited for two reasons: 1) I have some fold equity. Meaning, there is a chance that he will fold to my 4bet once he realizes I have a great hand, and I will win a nice pot, and 2) there is a good chance he will call and I will be a huge favourite against his marginal hand. I stress that I only do this in situations where i have a very strong hunch that he is re-stealing.
Against standard opponents you really don’t want to play around too much, as you likely won’t know too much about them. I advocate simply calling a reraise preflop with TT-QQ, AQ suited, and AK offsuit or suited. Once you call, you can re-evaluate your hand on the flop. If you call a reraise with QQ for instance, the flop comes 2-6-J rainbow, and your opponent checks to you being first to act, you will often have the best hand- you can bet the flop and take it down, and fold to a reraise (because that is always KK or AA from your opponent). If the flop comes A-2-K however, you can be pretty sure you’re beat against a poor opponent (he likely hit an A or K), and fold without feeling bad.
Observe your opponents at all times. Keep in mind whether you think they are:
a) frustrated with your aggression
b) losing (tilting)
c) really bad players,
and play accordingly against them.
Stick to the basics until you can read hands very well: Reraise with AA-KK (and AK suited SOMETIMES), flat call with TT-QQ, AQs, and AK.
As you become more advanced, you can call with smaller pocket pairs if you want, but only against opponents with FULL STACKS, and in certain situations- when you call with anything less than TT, you’re aiming to hit a set and that’s it- call, hit, stack, or call, miss, fold. It’s not worth it to try to hit a set with a small pocket pair against an opponent who doesn’t have a full stack, mathematically speaking. Be aware that calling with small PPs results in higher variance-play with the proper bankroll and it shouldn’t be a problem. It’s best to avoid calling with small PPs until you’re pretty experienced, and have a lot of postflop skill. If you feel like you’re ready, try it out!
Keep making money!
-J
Comment by Jason — December 17, 2008 #
I agree with Daniel — you give fantastic tips and advice to us amateurs out there. I was wondering how much is typically bet on a c-bet? Do I simply go for a standard doubling of the pot?
Comment by betfair poker king — December 21, 2008 #