The continuation bet or 'c-bet' in no-limit hold'em is a frequently chosen action made by players who have taken the preflop initiative by raising. 4) The reason we cbet so much is for balance. Many winning players will tell you that they will cbet almost every flop they see. So when you are advised to cbet around 70% of flops you are doing this for balance. See the article on balancing your range for more information. It's an interesting read. Noun When a player bet out or raised during a prior betting round, the act of betting out again. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: If a player has represented a strong hand by making a bet or raise in a prior round, making an additional bet may represent that the hand is still strong even with additional cards available. This may induce opponents to fold.

• Signification Cbet Poker
• Cbet Poker Meaning

Cbetting Articles:The Continuation Bet : More Cbetting Tips : When To CBet (Examples) : Double Barrelling

Still need some help with your cbetting game? Don't worry, you'll get there eventually with practice.

In the meantime, here are a handful of tips to help you develop a well-rounded continuation bet strategy.

1) Rule of thumb: Wet is bad, dry is good.

When making a continuation bet bluff when you haven’t connected with the flop, as a very general rule of thumb, dry flops are better for continuation betting than wet ones.

As a quick reminder, dry flops are uncoordinated whereas wet flops are highly coordinated with potential for a lot of drawing hands. See the continuation betting examples for a more in-depth discussion.

This rule isn’t going to apply to every flop imaginable, but it’s a good place to start if you come up against an unfamiliar flop and have no idea whether or not a continuation bet would be appropriate.

2) You can bet slightly less on dry flops.

On very dry flops, it may well be the case that a 2/3 or even ½ pot size bet will do the exact same job a ¾ pot size bet will.

For example, let’s say you hold AQ on a K72 flop and you decide to make a cbet. On this sort of flop your opponent is unlikely to continue with their hand unless they have a K, 7 or decent pocket pair. There are no draw possibilities, so your opponent will just as happily fold to a $5 bet in to a $10 pot as they would to an $8 bet in to a $10 pot.

Conversely, let’s say you hold AK on a flop of Q87. A lot more hands like 56, 9T, 96 and 9J will be more inclined to call a ½ pot size bet as opposed to a ¾ pot size bet. Therefore a $5 bet in to a $10 pot will be less effective than a slightly larger $8 bet in to a $10 pot. It’s a small difference, but it definitely has an effect.

It’s better to bet a slightly smaller amount if you are confident that it will have the same effect as a larger bet due to the fact that you are risking less money for the same outcome. Don’t go out of your way to bet minimally at every opportunity, but just be aware of the option in certain situations.

3) It’s nice to have some equity when cbet bluffing, but it’s not essential.

As with any bluff the more equity we have the better. This basically means that when cbet bluffing it’s better to hold a hand that could still potentially win the pot if we get called on the flop.

For example, it’s better to have A Q on a flop of K 7 2 than it is to have K Q on a flop of A 7 2.

This is because with the A Q hand we have an overcard that can give us a higher pair on the turn or river if called, whereas if our opponent already has top pair on a flop of A 7 2 there is very little a hand like K Q can do to improve.

In spite of this, whilst it’s nice to have equity it’s not essential for making cbet bluffs. There will be a lot of times where you can make a cbet bluff with very little equity and it will still be +EV. Nonetheless, there's no denying it makes you feel warmer inside to have at least some equity just in case though.

4) The reason we cbet so much is for balance.

Many winning players will tell you that they will cbet almost every flop they see. So when you are advised to cbet around 70% of flops you are doing this for balance.

See the article on balancing your range for more information. It's an interesting read.

If you cbet this frequently you cannot expect to make your opponent fold every time you miss and have them call every time you hit it just doesn’t work like that. However, because you are betting with almost your entire range of hands when you see the flop it makes it near-impossible for your opponent to know what you hold when you cbet.

Therefore, this lack of information for your opponent allows them to make more mistakes than if we were to cbet 90% of the time when we hit and 20% of the time when we miss. If we cbet almost all of our hands our cbetting is balanced and we stand to make a profit from this.

In a nutshell, cbetting such a large % of our hands makes us difficult to read and makes us money over the long run.

5) Don’t be put off when your opponent calls a cbet bluff.

Following on from the last point, do not get disheartened when you opponent ends up calling one of your cbet bluffs. If we are cbetting such a high percentage of the time we should expect to occasionally get looked up when we do not want to.

Far too many players have one negative experience from a certain play and convince themselves that it’s not profitable to continue making that play. However, with cbetting you have to put your faith in the less-than-obvious fact that you are actually making more money over the long run, even if you expect to lose a little in some hands from time to time. It's the same principle as the one used in pot odds.

We stand to win more money from the times our opponent makes an incorrect call or fold than we expect to lose from the times our opponent makes a correct call due to the fact that we are cbetting so much - try reading that over again until it sinks in. It’s hard to grasp at first but you’ll get there.

Furthermore, just because we get called it doesn’t mean that it’s end of sports. We may well still have an opportunity to win the hand through potentially firing a second barrel or actually improving on the turn or river.

Things get easier when you understand why you are cbetting and already have a plan of action for when/if your cbet gets called.

Go back to the awesome Texas Hold'em Strategy.

Comments

A bet from a player on the flop who raised pre-flop is known as a continuation bet or simply a c-bet. That player has continued to seize the initiative, hence the term, continuation bet. The normal use of the continuation bet is by a player in position against a lone opponent who has checked on the flop. The use of a continuation bet is rooted in the wisdom that most of the time one’s hand does not improve on the flop. Therefore the first player to bet may take down the pot right then and there.

Over time the use of this strategy has almost become the 100% default action by many poker players. Right up front we will state that if players employ this poker strategy every time they have taken the lead pre-flop, they are continuation betting too frequently. When this is the case, what can be utilized selectively to one’s benefit can become a major leak. As in all of poker, predictability is analogous to stepping into the cross hairs of all but your most obtuse opponents.

In this lesson we will attempt to explore the why, when and against whom this action should ideally be taken. We will also recommend some counter strategies for when your opponent is the one making a continuation bet.

The Purpose of Continuation Bets

As stated above, the strategy is based upon the fact that a hand is not usually improved upon by the flop so attacking your opponent with further aggression, regardless of your holding, can many times win the pot. It can also be used a reverse bluff when you hold a strong hand and would like to build the pot. The main purpose, however, is to win the pot immediately.

The Number of Opponents

The fewer opponents you are facing the higher your chances of success in winning the pot with a continuation bet. As a general guide, consider the following:

• C-bet almost 100% when heads up
• C-bet 50% when against two players
• C-bet 25% when against three players

Continuation betting against more than one opponent, while much less frequently, gives your game a degree of unpredictability. Although if there are four or more players then you’ll probably want to have hit the flop before sending more chips toward the middle – and a check may be in order.

The Texture of the Board

As the Mad Genius of Poker, Mike Caro, has stated… hold’em is a game of high cards while stud is a game of live cards. Keeping that counsel in mind, if the flop comes Jack, Queen and King there is a high likelihood that one of your opponents may well be holding a match to one of these wheel house cards. They weren’t calling your pre-flop raise with 6-3 offsuit!

The texture of the flop is critical to whether a c-bet is the play with the best expectation. Aside from high cards, be careful of coordinated boards that favor straight and flush draws. Ideally, you’ll want to see a ragged, rainbow flop.

Let’s look at a few examples. Suppose you raise with and get called by the button and the blinds. The flop comes :

Figure 1

This is not a good spot to c-bet. You’re against three opponents and your hand value is only an inside straight. You missed your high cards and flush potential and one of your opponents could have easily connected with such a flop. If checked to, then check and hope you get a free look at the turn. If you bet and then get raised by the button or check-raised by one of the blinds, you would have to fold, so see if you can hit your draw on the turn.

Let’s suppose you’re holding the same hand, yet this time you’re against a single opponent and the flop is dealt :

Figure 2

This is a completely different situation and if your opponent checks it’s a great time for a semi-bluff c-bet to either take the pot right then or if called you have two overs and the second nut flush draw. If you were facing more than one opponent then it would also be a good time to make a continuation bet, unlike the previous example.

You can also make a continuation bet when you flop a very strong hand, such a set. Remember that in poker it’s important to play different hands the same way. If you regularly make continuation bets when you whiff on the flop, you should also bet when you make a strong hand too – so as not to arouse suspicions. Your intention in poker is to manipulate your opponents and one advantage of frequently c-betting is that you will give your good hands some cover and disguise.

Bet Sizing

If you’re playing no-limit hold’em then you will also need to decide the size of your wager when planning a continuation bet. Many factors should contribute to your decision including: opponent playing tendencies, stack sizes and your own table image. You need to balance your bet size for two reasons. Understanding that the strategy is not fool proof… you don’t want to bet too small which will invite a call and to bet too large becomes foolhardy.

But it’s important to be consistent with your betting. Therefore your continuation bets should be the same size as any other post-flop betting and conventional wisdom seems to favor a bet size of at least half the pot. To bet less extends better calling odds to your opponent and to bet more becomes too costly when you run into an opponent that actually has a hand. This is not a hard and fast rule and you’ll find yourself making adjustments through experience, feel and the general nature of the game.

Your Opponents

While it is true that knowledge of how you believe your opponents will react is a universal poker criteria to successful play, when betting into an opponent with nothing, it is good to know how tight or loose he may tend to play.

In addition, just as you are making a play so may be your opponent. Is he savvy enough to be floating you? This is a play in which your opponent may suspect you are continuation betting so he just flat calls expecting you to check on the turn. If you do check after he calls your continuation bet, his intention is to seize upon your apparent weakness and bet to steal the pot.

The factors outlined above are the major criteria one should evaluate to determine the wisdom of making a continuation bet. In a perfect situation you should be in position against a single weak/tight opponent making a bet of about half the pot into a raggedy board. The half pot bet will offer him 3-to-1 odds which aren’t very good drawing odds. If you know your opponent is knowledgeable regarding drawing odds, this becomes a positive to offering him poor odds to a possible draw.

Countering the Continuation Bet

Signification Cbet Poker

Now let’s take a look at the same situation in the mirror. Instead of aiming the shotgun at a lone opponent, we’ll imagine you are looking down the barrel of the continuation better. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, always be observant of your opponents in order to improve your decision making. Is he aggressive and loose or timid and tight or where in that range does he dwell? You know many players love to see a flop and then feel compelled to fire a continuation bet to end the action. Know your opponent’s tendencies – this knowledge pays dividends.

Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering is a term used in many fields to describe a process wherein you first dissect a competitor’s product, marketing plan or just about anything in order to determine how it’s made or done with the intention of replicating it or improving upon it. The best way to combat an opponent who is continuation betting is to understand his thought process and, if appropriate, play back at him. Review the following checklist to determine if you’re being manipulated by an opponent’s continuation bet.

• Does he regularly, therefore predictably, continuation bet?
• Does his bet warrant a call based upon your hand?
• Based on his tendencies, is attempting to steal the pot?
• If he is stealing, should you raise, call, or fold?

Identifying the Meaning of Your Opponent’s Bets

There are many different types of bets in addition to continuation bets… value bets, probe bets, and semi-bluffs as examples. There is nothing worse than attempting to thwart what you believe is a continuation bet by calling all the way to the river only to face the ultimate revelation that your opponent was value betting the whole time.

Knowledge is power and it is up to you to observe your opponents betting patterns to understand just how they play the game. It is this knowledge that will help guide you to making quality decisions and when all is said and done – making quality decisions is what separates the winners from the losers.

Cbet Poker Meaning

Conclusion

Continuation betting is a solid poker strategy to employ when the criteria outlined above is in place. However, it should represent only one arrow in your quiver of ploys. As in all of poker, don’t use it every time you have been the pre-flop aggressor as you will become predictable and, therefore, exploitable. Instead, observe your opponents and determine who among them does not understand the wisdom of mixing up one’s game.

By Tom 'TIME' Leonard

Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.