When To Check In Cash Poker. Poker Player

David ‘bruechips’ Eil shows how paying close attention at the table can help you exploit your opponents’ tendencies

All poker players know they should observe their opponents, but not everyone is able to use the information they gather to maximum effect. Consider these two hands from a $1/$2 game against a villain whose stats suggest he is quite tight. In the first hand, I hold As-Jc and it is folded to me in the small blind. I raise to $7, hoping this tight player will fold most of the time. Even when called I might be able to flop a good hand or win with a c-bet.

He calls and the flop comes 8s-7d-2c. I bet $8 into the $14 pot, hoping he will fold small pocket pairs, as well as Broadway hands and some Aces. However, he makes the call. At this point I think he can have a pair with a hand like 9-8 suited, a straight draw with a hand like Ts-9s or 6s-5s, an overpair like 9-9 that he’s trying to control the pot with or a set he’s slow-playing.

The turn is the 2h, a blank. Betting again is not out of the question as it could get value from, or fold out, a draw. Most of the villain’s range, however, consists of one-pair hands or better, and I will have a hard time representing an overpair. Therefore, I check. The villain checks behind.

The river is the 3c, another blank. My turn check has left me unable to represent strength credibly, so I am forced to check and hope to show down Ace-high, which will sometimes be good. The villain checks behind and shows Js-8h for top pair. There are two lessons to take from this:

1. This opponent is not as tight as I thought, since J-8 offsuit is a hand many tight players would have folded in this spot.

2. This villain is not very apt to make even slightly thin value bets. His hand is almost always good on the river, yet he checked.

Observe And Profit

A few orbits later I get a chance to use this info. Again I am in the small blind, and make the same raise to $7 with Ah-Qc. The big blind calls again. The flop is 6c-6s-2c. Again I bet $8 and he calls. This allows me to put him on a pocket pair, the occasional monster, and a wide range of other hands that are drawing or simply floating.

The turn is an offsuit ten, a relatively harmless card. Again I check, because it will be hard to fold out a pair on this card and he is certainly not folding a monster. Plus I have a plan against his floating range that does not require betting this turn. After I check, he bets $20 into the $30 pot. This is a good thing for me. I figure from the previous hand he would be checking behind with his pocket pairs, and maybe even with a ten.

Those two hands comprise the majority of the hands that beat me: the rest of his range is trips or better and bluffs. His range is polarised, and because there are relatively few monster hands, I call. The river is the 9d – another relative blank. I check again and this time he bets $50 into the $70 pot.

I am now even more confident in my hand: even if he could bet a turned ten, he would almost never bet it again on the river. I call, and he shows A-7o for a worse Ace-high. Careful analysis of an earlier play allowed me to win a nice pot.