Leading on the Flop

Play Texas Hold’em The First Two Cards: Early Position Part Five Playing Short-Handed What You Must Realize The Hands to Call With Another Problem Calling or Reraising Before the Flop What If It Is Three-Handed ? When the Blinds are Very Loose Leading on the Flop Calling on Fourth Street Slowplaying on the Flop Fifth Street A Note on Tells Playing Short-Handed Afterthought Part Six Playing in Other Non-Standard Games Wild Games Playing in Extremely Tight Games Playing Against a Live Straddle Strategy of poker of News of poker And is much another about poker



In a regular ring game when first to act in a two- or three-handed pot the proper strategy is to check many of your hands on the flop. There are many reasons to do this as we have already mentioned, with the simplest reason being that at least one of your opponents is likely to have something worth betting. But this is less likely to be the case in short-handed games.Thus you frequently come out betting with nothing at all and try to win whenever your opponent doesn't have anything. You usually are getting 41/2-to-l odds on this play. The problem with this bet, however, is that it might look suspicious that you didn't check to the raiser, who will often bet automatically. Most players, if they have a good hand, would have gone for a check-raise.But it is highly beneficial to be able to bet out and sometimes pick up the pot. So you must be able to preserve this highly profitable play. You can do this by not automatically checking to the raiser when you have something. In other words, in order to make this highly profitable bluff or semi-bluff not look suspicious, you will need to bet into your opponent when you have legitimate hands as well.In our experience, many of the better short-handed players use this strategy. They call a raise from the blind, and on the flop they frequently bet, and very often they have a legitimate hand.Now when we say bet your legitimate hands this roughly translates into betting anytime you have a pair or a draw. Heads-up this includes bottom pair because your opponent will frequently have no pair, and he might even throw away some pairs. For example, suppose your opponent raised on the button with a pair of fives and the flop is:J©  9§  4©It will be very difficult for him to call if you bet.So if you often bet out with your decent hands it allows you to also steal when he has nothing. Of course you don't always bet good hands, nor should you bluff too much. But you should balance your bluffs with legitimate bets.One reason to bet slightly mediocre hands rather than check-raise is that a check-raise puts too much money in the pot and may get your opponent psychologically involved in the hand. He will often call your raise with little and you won't have a good read on his hand. You won't know whether he's slowplaying or just calling all the way with a better hand. The mere fact that he calls when you check-raise on the flop doesn't necessarily suggest that you might not be able to win it with a bet on fourth street. But it does make the play of your hand much more expensive. So one extra advantage of leading is that it increases your chance of winning right on the flop.By no means are we saying that you should never check-raise the flop. If your strategy was to never check-raise, your opponent would begin to realize that when you do check you don't have anything. Thus, balance is the key. Don't check to the raiser every time you have a legitimate hand, but don't bet out every time either.To recap, in short-handed games, if you call a raise out of the blind it is important to come out betting far more than in a standard ring game. This is because it is less likely that your opponent has a good hand. Furthermore, you should almost ignore the fact that there was a raise. Sometimes bluff, sometimes bet a mediocre hand,

and sometimes bet a good hand right out. Don't think about the fact that your opponent was the raiser. If this is an aggressive player who will be raising with a lot of hands, automatically checking to him gives him too big an edge