The C-Bet

There was a comment on my last post about how they do not like to always continuation bet after raising pre-flop.  Here are the reasons why you should nearly always c-bet.

1.  You have paid for the lead, you need to continue with your aggression.

2.  A bet on the flop from the pre-flop raiser will yield a fold from a single caller more than 1/2 the time.  Thus it is profitable from that standpoint.

3.  If you only bet your hits, and not your draws or whiffs then you are effectively playing your hand face up.  You become predictable and that is never a good thing in poker.

4.  One of several things will happen when you raise pre-flop (in position) with caller(s).

You will nail your flop
You will flop a draw
You will flop total air (if you count overcards to the board as air)
You will catch a piece of the flop such as middle pair...this is essentially a draw

Your opponent has the same opportunity as you on the flop.  Now, you have to ask yourself the question, "If I am the opponent which flops can I reasonably call?"  Well, many opponents will call you with overcards or draws, but not with weak catches or air.  To illustrate this, I raised pre-flop with AK in a recent tournament.  Three players called me.  The flop was AKX and I continuation bet.  All three players folded, including one who had a weak king.  I showed my hand.  A few hands later, I raised pre-flop with QQ.  Two or three callers.  The flop was ace high and I continuation bet the same amount as the last time.  Everyone folded, and one of the callers disgustedly folded his weak ace!  Had I not c-bet, there is little chance I would have won the hand.

What did I learn from this?  My first c-bet was with virtually the nuts, the 2nd with a semi-bluff.  I had a made hand, but extremely vulnerable.  If I had been check-raised, it would have gone in the muck, but another lesson is "don't call raises with weak aces".  You can hit your hand but will not know where you stand and are very vulnerable to aggressive play.

The point of the c-bet is that you want to provide cover for your bluffs and semi-bluffs by consistently raising on the flop.  Another key factor here is bet sizing.  If your initial bet is too much it will force a larger c-bet on the flop.  For example, with blinds at 25/50, and one limper, you raise to 3x the big blind making it $150 to go.  Both the limper and the big blind call.  There is now $475 in the pot, making your 1/2 pot c-bet around $250.  With $725 now in the pot, the first caller is getting 3/1 odds to call.  The wrong odds for most draws and definitely too much for air.  If he calls, the limper is now getting around 4/1 odds, sufficient for some draws.  At this point, you have invested $150 + $250= $400.  If you are talking about a fast tournament with 2000 starting chips, that is 20% of your starting chip stack.  A check raise by either player (particularly the big blind), would have to be at least $500 and would cause you to fold air but get them in with made hands and big draws.  The check raise from the blind shows much more strength than a limper check raise due to having 2 hands behind him.   That said, it helps to know your players, which ones are tricky bastards (I am thinking of an old small Vietnamese man right now at the Crazy Moose), and which like to call with rags in hopes of catching big, which like suited cards of random rank, and which are pretty straightforward tight players (hint:  the fireman @ the moose will not call or check-raise without the stone cold Brazilians).

So, my point is this, you must c-bet nearly always to give yourself more opportunities to win.  Always factor in your opponents, relative stack size and position.  C-betting air against a calling station is generally not profitable.  They will never fold.  Also, the monster stack may also be a tough sell as they are looking to knock you out and use their stack size as a blunt weapon.

 http://www.parttimepoker.com/continuation-betting-in-no-limit-hold-em-cash-games