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Phil Hellmuth专栏
Strong or Weak, Bet the flop!
A useful tactic that is both old school and new school is the flop bet. Whether or not you are strong, or weak, or somewhere in between, betting the flop can be a very effective tactic. When you bet out weak (bluffing), then oftentimes you will pick up the pot uncontested. When you bet out strong, you are giving yourself a chance to control the size of the pot.
New school top notch player Tom “Durrr” Dwan bets tons of flops; Durrr bets the flop when he is strong, and he bets the flop to great effect when he is weak. Over-and-over I have watched Durrr win pots with a flop bet when he had absolutely nothing. How does he keep inducing folds from his opponents? Well, oftentimes Durrr’s bets on the flop put his opponents in a tough spot. For example, if someone raises it up pre-flop with 10-10, two players call, and then Durrr calls in the big blind with say, J-8; and the flop comes down Q-9-2. Durrr bets out and puts the player with the 10-10 in the middle. The player with 10-10 cannot simply call Durrr in this spot very easily as the player has to worry about the other two opponents in the pot that called his raise pre-flop, and he also has to worry about an almost certain bet from Durrr on the turn (a call on the flop seems weak and thus Durrr will probably fire on the turn). The player with the 10-10 has to ask himself how much money he is willing to commit with 10-10 and a queen onboard. So Durrr’s well timed bet here causes the player with 10-10 to fold more often than not. Part of the effectiveness of Durrr betting out on the flop is that he is able to gauge an opponent’s strength, and if he feels weakness, then he pounces with another big bluff. And when Durrr does actually have a strong hand like A-Q (in our example), then his flop bet allows him a chance to bet both the turn and the river, thus he is able to determine exactly how much money he wins.
Betting on the flop is also a good lesson for me as I have been way too passive on the flop for a long time now. Lately I have been winning to little with my strong hands, and by taking the lead on the flop I will give myself the chance to win more money when I am strong, and of course, give myself a chance to pick up some pots when I am weak.
Old school player Mike “The mouth” Matusow likes to bet out on the flop when he has a strong hand like top pair or a set. The Mouth bets out on the flop when he is strong for two reasons; first, he thinks it looks weak when he bets the flop and that his flop bet will induce an aggressive opponent to make a raise; and second, the Mouth can control the size of the pot when someone does call his bet on the flop. I have disagreed with the Mouth’s use of the tactic of betting out on the flop, because sometimes he doesn’t follow it up with enough flop bet bluffs. Thus the Mouth fires out when he is strong--and oftentimes he wins the minimum when he flops a set or top pair because his opponents just fold—and he check-folds on the flop when he is weak.
How did it come to pass that I do not bet out enough on the flop these days? Because I have been in the business of trapping my new school (ultra-aggressive) opponents so much, that I forgot the benefits of a simple flop bet! By trapping my opponents, I do oftentimes get a flop bet (continuation bet) out of them that I may not have received had I bet out myself. But now that I am famous for trapping, my opponents are checking behind me when they flop top pair, so that I am winning the minimum when I have K-Q, and they have Q-J on a Q-9-2 flop. |
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