4 Common Postflop Plays That Give Away Your Hand

Hi Ed,

nice article. The give-up-on-the-turn line is pretty popular over at 2+2, where its called the stack-a-donk. Its used when you flop a monster OOP against an opponent who will bet when checked to on the turn. You bet the flop and then c/r the turn big. It helps to prevent people from stealing if you check the turn.

The Turn Giveup

I have major problems with a play that mimics this out of position. Say in your example I hold KQ on a board without a flush draw. I bet the flop and get called. The same brick hits the turn. Now what? If I fire another bet, I’m bloating a pot with only top pair 2nd kicker. If I check, I’m mimicing the Turn Giveup and will likely see a decent bet out of any decent player no matter what 2 cards they hold. Can a check raise be right? A check raise bloats the pot even more than simply leading out. Is this the proper place for a blocking bet? What size bet keeps us from bloating a pot with a marginal hand but keeps me from getting out player out of position?

BTR, If you haven’t picked it up, the new book talks at length about situations like this and planning the hand around commitment.

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to your question but there is a lot of info to think about. Basically, the worst thing you can do is bet/fold after putting a large part of your stack in or check/call a turn bet against an aggro player who will potentially bluff the river again.

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Say in your example I hold KQ on a board without a flush draw.
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BTR,

This isn’t the sort of hand I think of when I check raise the turn and suspect that the villain may be or has been floating a lot. I would check raise with AK but not KQ. Unless I think the villain is really getting out of line, I don’t try that move without a good made hand or a strong draw. In most cases, I really don’t want to end up all-in with a hand like KQ, which is where you’re headed with the turn check/raise. I really like the play when I happen to flop 2 pair with a hand like AT, AJ or AQ. I really want a good solid hand because the pot is going to be big. Every once in a while I’ll do it with a set if there is a draw on the board in order to represent a big semi-bluff.

With hands like KQ OOP on a Kxx board, I find that I am more often checking the flop. I think the delayed c-bet works really, really well there.

Todd

I’d really like to discuss this type of hand more, but it’s probably better suited for the board than the comments.

Interesting. “The Speech” seems to go along with the concept in NLHTAP that states, “If your opponent has a hand at least worth a call, but raises instead, it’s almost never a bluff”.