Do you have sweet check-raising skills? Do your opponents shake with fear before firing a c-bet?
Let’s find out!
For each question, assume you have no solid reads on your opponent. And make sure you share your score at the end!
Note: Just because an answer is ‘wrong’ doesn’t mean it’s a losing play. It means that, by comparison, that play either has less expected value (EV) or should be used less frequently than the other option(s).
You hold a monster draw with 33.4% equity against even the top of the BU’s range, which is a set of Tens. With so much equity, the best course of action is to pour as much money into the pot as quickly as possible, just as you would with the nuts, so that you win a bigger pot on average. Another benefit of raising is that you fold out some hands that had decent equity either on the flop or on later streets.
This type of hand works perfectly as a check/raise for three reasons. First, it can deny a bunch of equity from the BU’s range. Second, it doesn’t have showdown value. And third, it’s able to hit the nuts or improve to a combo draw on the turn and continue barreling.
If we check-raised 8♥ 7♣ or 7♥ 5♥, we would neither get enough value or deny enough equity to justify inflating the pot. These hands function better in small to medium pots as bluff-catchers.
Although both of these hands should be raised at a certain frequency, T♥ 7♥ is a much better choice and thus should be raised much more often than T♠ 7♠. It has 9 more outs to improve to a combo draw on the turn, and can be barreled off very profitably.
Question #4 When it comes to check-raising as a bluff from the big blind, which would you rather have?
Generally speaking, hands with at least a slight chance of winning at showdown should not be used as bluffs. This is because they don’t usually gain enough fold equity to justify sacrificing their showdown value.
Question #5 Complete the following sentence
The smaller the c-bet, the _______ I want to check/raise.
There is an inverse relationship between the bet size and the frequency of the raise at equilibrium. This happens because the bigger the bet size, the more polarized the range should be. And against a polarized range it doesn’t make sense to raise because you want your opponent to keep betting with bluffs and lose the minimum against their tight value range.
This hand is a perfect candidate for check/raising because it has very little to no showdown value, outs to the nuts, and the opportunity to improve to a combodraw on the turn.
Even though A6 is a decent candidate for check/raising, check/calling is a superior line. Holding the Ace means you still have some showdown value when it checks down on the turn and river.
Question #7 On which board should you check/raise more often?
Assuming you defended from the big blind versus a late position raise.
9♣ 8♦ 5♥is the type of board that you want to be check/raising very often on. With 12 more combinations of 76, you have a high number of nut combinations compared to your opponent.
On A♥ K♠ J♦, you do not have nut advantage. Because of this, you will not be able to raise too many combinations for value and thus will not be able to have many bluff combinations which will result in a much lower raising frequency.
Question #8 Complete the following sentence
If your opponent barrels too much on the turn after c-beting on the flop (BU vs BB), you should adjust by raising ________ on the flop.
If your opponent is barreling too much after making a c-bet, you delay your raises (both value and bluff) to the turn. This adjustment encourages your opponent to bet too thin for value and/or bluff too much.
9♠ 8♣ is the perfect candidate to check/raise as a bluff since it has no showdown value, it can improve to a monster draw on the turn, and it can make the nuts.
T♣ 4♣ and K♦ 7♦ have more than enough showdown to call profitably. You should be looking for hands that have very little to no showdown value but can still improve to the nuts or very close to the nuts.
Although raising is a good option, this specific combination works better as a call since it has both nut and pair outs to beat hands that the BU might bet, such as top pairs and second/third pairs.
Additionally, raising with this combo might leave you open to exploitation (by the BU increasing his 3-betting range) due to overbluffing, since it will be hard to control you A♠X bluffs in-game.
