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The Turn Quiz
When published in InsidePoker magazine, these quizzes are often edited or presented in a slightly different format. I am uploading them here as sent to the editor.
Many respected Hold’em players will tell you that the most difficult street to play is the turn, and when you think about it, they may well be right. Preflop, it’s possible to play almost by rote, using some sort of unimaginative strategy that tells you what to do in each situation. On the flop, you’ll often make a continuation bet without much thought, or fold when you have nothing and somebody bets. On the river, you’re often being offered such good pot odds that you should call without thinking – and that’s if you even reach the river, because in No Limit tournaments you’re frequently all-in with no further decisions to make.
On the turn, there are few automatic decisions when the money is deep, and despite the large amount of information available to you, it can be difficult to choose the correct action. In this quiz, we’ll look at three situations from the same cash game session, and decide what the best action is in each.
You’re playing eight handed $2/$5 No Limit in Las Vegas, and the players at your table are:
Seat 1 ($200): PJ (A complete beginner, with a ‘Win at Texas Holdem’ cheat sheet in front of him)
Seat 2
Seat 3 ($1000): You (A budding professional)
Seat 4
Seat 5 ($360): Tony (An obnoxious drunk, who plays loose and passive and goes on tilt easily)
Seat 6 ($700): Wendy (A local, who plays tight and aggressive and feeds her family with her winnings)
Seat 7 ($500): Chip (A professional, who is waiting for a seat in the larger game)
Seat 8 ($2400): Randy (A strong, unpredictable player, who is very aggressive)
Scenario 1 – Betting for Value
You are in middle position, and are dealt Kh-Qd. PJ limps in, and seat 2 folds. You know that your hand plays best against a small field, so you raise, to $25. Only Tony and PJ call the raise, making a pot of $82. The flop is Qh-10h-7c. PJ checks, you bet $60, Tony calls, and PJ consults his cheat sheet before folding.
The pot is now $202, and the turn is the 10s. Should you..?
- Check
- Bet $60
- Bet $140
- Bet the maximum $275
Answer
The first thing you need to do is assess Tony’s possible range of hands. Because he is drunk, and a loose player, his range is extremely wide. We can reasonably expect him to call your raise before the flop with any two big cards, most big-little suited combinations like Q-7s and K-5s, any pair, any ace, and so on.
The fact that he called your bet on the flop allows us to narrow down that range of hands, mainly to those containing a Q, 10 or 7, flush draws, and straight draws. Occasionally, because he is drunk, he will misread his hand and have absolutely nothing.
You have top pair with a good kicker, and you are ahead of most of Tony’s range of hands. You should therefore play as though you have the best hand, and do what you can to extract value out of him.
Checking cannot be the best play. Tony, being a passive player, will likely check behind. You won’t protect your hand if he has a draw, extract any value from a worse hand, or gain any information that will help you to play the river.
$60 is the same amount you bet on the flop, and is likely to be called in a flash. After all, Tony called that amount on the flop, and the pot is even bigger now. This is what we want, but because Tony is so loose and passive, we might be able to extract more money from him by making a bigger bet.
However, setting Tony all-in might not be the best play either. There is something about an all-in bet, particularly in live poker, that makes your opponent sit up and think. The last thing you want is for Tony to count his chips, realise that you’re overbetting the pot and think ‘I can wait for a better opportunity’.
$140 is the perfect amount – about two thirds of the pot size, and half your opponent’s remaining stack. It’s small enough so that Tony can call without thinking too much, but big enough to make the most out of a good situation.
Scenario 2 – Floating
Later in the game, you get involved in a hand with Wendy. She raises to $25 preflop and you call with Ah-Qs. The flop comes 10s-8c-7d. She makes a $50 continuation bet but you sense weakness and call. The turn comes the 2h. Wendy checks. Should you...?
- Check
- Bet $75
- Bet $625
- Fold your hand in disgust
Answer
You’ve only got ace-high, but it might be the best hand, so you should check and hope to see a free showdown, right? No. On the flop, you called not only because you might have the best hand, but also to set up a bluff on the turn. When I started playing the game, this move was called ‘calling to bluff’, but these days people also call it ‘floating’.
This is a great situation to bluff. Your opponent is tight and has shown weakness, so there is a real chance that she will fold. If she calls, then you have two overcards to the board, which may win you the pot if you make a pair on the river.
Stick with your read, and bet. $625 is pointless, and risks too much. $75 should do it.
Those of you who picked D should consider taking up a different hobby.
Scenario 3 – Stacking Your Opponent
Later in the game, you’ve built your stack up to about $2400, and you are lucky enough to be dealt As-Ah, albeit in early position. You raise to $20. Wendy and Chip call, but Randy reraises to $80. You put in the third raise, to $250. Only Randy calls. The pot is $547. The flop comes J-4-2. You bet $400, and Randy calls.
The pot is $1347, you have about $1750 remaining, and the turn is the Ac. Should you...?
- Check
- Bet $400
- Bet $1000
- Bet all-in for $1750
Answer
Randy is a strong, aggressive opponent. If he suspects you are weak, he is quite capable of firing out a big bet to take the pot. In this case, he probably has a strong hand. If you follow the action, he reraises preflop then calls the third raise, and also calls the bet on the jack-high flop. This betting pattern from a strong player strongly suggests a big pair, and because the third ace has appeared on the turn, we know it must be kings or queens (or, occasionally, jacks which flopped a set).
We would like to win Randy’s entire stack if possible. If he has jacks, that will be easy – almost no matter what we do, the money will probably go in. If he has kings or queens however, it will be more difficult now that the ace has arrived. This is a real scare card, as in Randy’s eyes , A-K is still a part of your range. Many people put in the third raise preflop with A-K, then continuation bet a dry flop.
A bet of $400 doesn’t accomplish much. It’s suspicious-looking, and may well make Randy fold. If he does call, you won’t have won much from him and won’t have put yourself in a position to stack him on the river.
A bigger bet doesn’t do much either. If Randy has kings or queens like we suspect, he’ll probably just fold to your bet, and you won’t earn any money with your big hand.
Checking, however, gives us options. By doing so, we’re representing that either we have bet the flop with nothing and given up (perhaps we got a little creative preflop with a marginal hand, made a continuation bet, then decided not to lose any more money on the hand), or that we are scared of the ace ourselves. We’ve fed some misinformation to Randy, and given him the chance to make a big mistake.
Randy is creative and aggressive, so he may well see this as an opportunity to bet and steal the pot. If he does so, he’ll be close to pot-committed and might not be able to fold when you raise the rest of your stack. If Randy doesn’t bet, then all is not lost. You have still misrepresented your hand, and given him the chance to make a mistake on the river. If he makes a set, or if the river pairs the jack on board, Randy may feel compelled to pay you off.
This is one of my favourite moves, but the conditions need to be right. You need to have a hand that can stand a free card, an opponent who is aggressive, and you need to have shown weakness. Check, and pray that Randy bets.
Summary
The scenarios above were designed to make a point – that turn decision making is far from automatic, and requires creativity, logical thinking, and aggression to be mastered. The next time you’re faced with a difficult turn decision, think through each possibility, take your time, and then make your move with confidence. You won’t regret it.
