While this fact may seem foreign to a lot of players, every pot you play does not have to be for your entire chipstack. There are many situations where playing for a huge chunk of chips with top pair (top kicker or otherwise) is stomach churning and can often get you into trouble. In fact you’ll often be forced to throw away the best hand, and if not you may find yourself calling off your chips as a 4-to-1 dog.
Imagine you’re getting deep into the money in a tournament when you raise from the cutoff with Kc-Tc and are called in the big blind by a player also 35BB deep. The flop comes down Ad-Kd-4c and you know the player is very capable of check-raising here both with made hands and as an anti-continuation-bet bluff (you did raise in late position after all). You’ll be put to a very tough decision if check-raised and ultimately will have to pass.
On the other hand, giving away a free card here isn’t that dangerous as you’ve got two very strong backdoor draws (J-Q for the Broadway straight and running clubs for the King-high flush). If your opponent has an Ace he’s beating you already and there’s always the chance he may hit a two-outer for a set (but that will only happen about 4% of the time on the turn). By checking here you automatically reduce the size of the bets being made on the turn and river, and as you are in position you are still in control of how big those bets are anyway.
Keeping it containable
If you don’t improve then check-calling the turn and river (depending on the size of the bets) will probably see you take the pot, particularly if your opponent either catches a card or likes to represent the Ace. And if they did catch top pair your check on the flop will have reduced the size of the pot so that you still have more than enough chips to carry on and aren’t in push-or-fold territory. If checked to on the river you’ve still got the option to make a relatively thin value bet which may be called by a pocket pair or turned/rivered pair lower than the King.
Checking for pot control shouldn’t be your default action but neither should auto-shoving any turn card!
Checking to induce
Checking is a sign of weakness, right? When you check you’ve given up not only on the pot but on life itself? That’s common poker knowledge, and on the whole is correct – and that’s exactly why it’s something you can exploit given the right kind of action and board.
Say you’ve raised with Qd-Qs from early position preflop and have been called by the cutoff and the big blind. It’s early in a tournament so deep-stack poker rules apply and it’s very possible that your opponents have called with a wide variety of hands. The flop comes Qc-9d-6c, which is obviously a lovely flop as you’re currently holding the stone cold nuts – although you are still vulnerable to draws. The big blind checks and you bet two-thirds of the pot on the flop, as you have been every time you’ve opened the pot, and the cutoff calls. The big blind passes his pocket Eights. You suspect the cutoff is on a draw with two clubs, 8-7, or the hand that people love to see a flop with, J-T.
The turn is the Ah. This completes neither draw but it does bring a scare card. But is it really a scare card? Unless you think your opponent was calling you with something like 9-T it’s likely that his holding will almost force him to call a half-pot bet on the turn, as you’re both still relatively deep-stacked. If he’s got a flush draw or open-ended straight draw he’s likely to pay over the odds to connect. He can still make a play at the river if he misses, right? And that’s exactly what you’re counting on.
Checking the river
Whatever the river delivers a check should be strongly considered. If a card arrives that brings the draw your opponent either has it or not. By betting you’re opening yourself to a major bluff on the river which may force you to drop your hand. By checking you also open yourself to a bluff but one that you can profitably pick off, as your check will allow many missed draws to take a stab at the pot – and as we know many bluffs are oversized. Juicy!
If the river card is a complete blank, let’s say the 4d, then you’re laughing. Okay, you may miss some value by not betting, but the range of hands and the size of the bet that will be called is smaller than the bet made by someone bluffing the river with a busted draw. And if they’ve been slow-playing a set of Sixes all along then you’re in clover!
Check-raise in the house
If checking is weak then it’s easy to say that betting is strong. But what is stronger than a bet? A check-raise, of course! It’s like the Muhammad Ali rope-a-dope against George Foreman. You soak up the damage of a bet and then coming out swinging with a raise of your own. The check-raise is a sign of ultimate confidence and is the default line taken by players who have called out of position and hit a set with their pocket pair.
Check-raising with two pair and sets is the ideal line against a player who has previously proved unable to get away from an overpair or top pair, good kicker once they have declared their strength. Against other players check-raising with a wider range of hands is advisable, particularly against aggressive players in late position. In fact, check-raising 8-8 on a relatively dry board, such as Qc-7d-5h, is a very good line to take. Leading out (aka donk-betting) is going to fold out hands that you’re beating and also open yourself to a player floating or raising you off your hand. A check-raise here will trap you extra chips from someone c-betting with Ace-high and may even fold out a hand beating you like 9-9 through J-J, depending on who you’re playing and the image they have of you.
By mixing the occasional marginal hand into your solid check-raises you’ll be more likely to get action the times you’re ahead. And that’s always a good thing.
Semi-bluffing
The classic check-raise is the semi-bluff with a draw, preferably the nut flush, but any draw will do (okay, maybe the gutshot isn’t a great idea). The check-raise with a draw plays on the key tenet of no-limit Hold’em, and that is that there are two ways to win a hand: by having the best hand or making your opponent think you do.
You can take the pot down right there and then or you can win by hitting your draw – and possibly overcards – on the turn or river. This is particularly effective with an all-in shove given the correct stack sizes. Assuming you’ve got fold equity, the check-raise shove is a great way to pick up a tidy pot – especially if your opponent has enough chips to fold and continue if you make the move in a tournament.