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Some hands will finish on the flop, as you fire a c-bet, your opponent folds, and you pick up the pot. But, how do you proceed when they call?
In this article, we’ll focus on choosing between big and small turn bet sizes when playing in position, after our flop continuation bet is called.
We’ll be building on examples from the previous article on flop c-bet sizing, so make sure to check that one out first to get up to speed.
The bet sizing strategy on the turn is an extensive topic that can’t be fully covered in a single article. So, in this lesson, we’ll try to focus on some of the most representative and interesting spots, which you can use as a foundation to further study this complex area of the game tree.
As always, before we dive into it, here are a few main takeaways from this lesson:
- The default sizing on the lower card turns following an ace-high flop is a mix between 60% and 150% bets.
- We are betting big on high cards following a dry ace-high flop, usually picking 150% pot-size bets.
- On cards that don’t change wet ace-high board texture, we’ll be defaulting to the pot-sized bet.
- Use big bet sizing on high-card turns following high-card flops
- Default to a pot-sized turn bet on most turns following disconnected low-card flops
- Utilize 60% of the pot size when betting turns following low-card wet flops
Tip #1: Use a Big Turn Sizing on Most Scare Cards Following A-High Dry Flops
Let’s start with dry ace high flops, which, as we saw in the previous article, favor small flop continuation bets. Once the c-bet is called and we proceed to the turn, the big blind players will usually check to us once more.
So, how do we correctly size our turn bets? The main takeaway is that solvers prefer using a big sizing on a variety of scare cards that introduce significant draws (straight + flush combos).
So, on the flop of A♠7♣2♥, the big sizing of 150% pot is the preferred option on cards like:
- Any high card (K, Q, J) – 150% of the pot 30 – 33% of the time
- 6♥ – 150% of the pot 17% of the time & 100% pot 13% of the time
- 8♣ – 100% of the pot 16% of the time
On all board pairing cards, the solver defaults to smaller bet sizing of either 60% or 25% of the pot.
The most common sizing in these spots is 60% of the pot (about 50% of the time), but, as always, there is a good mix of different strategies as our overall betting percentage in these spots is around 35%.
As you can see, we will still use a larger size some percentage of the time in these situations, primarily defaulting to it with the strongest parts of our range and a few pure bluffs for balance. The rest of the hands in our range fall primarily in the smaller bet category.
Turn Sizing Following Wet Ace-High Flops
On wet ace-high flops, our default c-bet size is the large (75% of the pot) one. However, once the big blind calls and we proceed to the turn, there are very few spots where we’ll want to continue betting big in these situations.
One spot that really stands out is another ace that completes the flush. So, if we take an example of the flop we used in the previous lesson of A♠10♥9♥, the A♥ on the turn will create a scenario where we pretty much always use a large sizing of either 150% or 100% of the pot after the big blind checks to us.
Another group of hands where we’ll be defaulting to a larger sizing of either 100% or 150% of the pot sizing are straight-completing, non-flush cards, such as kings, queens, jacks, and eights.
In these spots, we’ll mostly gravitate toward the pot-sized bet, with the exception of off-suit jacks, where we’ll be utilizing the 150% sizing about 27% of the time, and 100% of the pot around 20% of the time.
Finally, on blank cards, i.e., cards that don’t really change the board texture, we’ll be defaulting to the pot-sized bet at around 60%.
Tip #2: Bet Big on Ace Turns Following Dry High-Card Flops
Let’s now turn our attention to high-card flops, starting with dry boards. We’ll continue on the example from our previous article, where the board is K♠8♣2♦.
The most interesting card to look at in these situations is, of course, an ace, introducing an overcard to the flop. It’s interesting that the solver gravitates heavily toward large 150% pot bets in these spots after the big blind checks, utilizing this bet sizing around 24% of the time.
Other spots where we’ll be primarily using big bet sizes are high-card turn, i.e., jacks and queens, regardless of whether these cards introduce a flush draw or complete the rainbow board. We are c-betting around half the time in these spots, using a 150% bet around 25% of the time.
When it comes to low cards, the sizing strategy is well-mixed, balancing four different sizes at very similar intervals. Of course, to make it a bit easier on yourself, you can merge these spots so that you are just using 100% and 60% sizes. However, fully understanding all these different scenarios will require a bit more work than reading a single article on the topic.
It is also worth noting that this general strategy applies to other types of high-card flops as well. On a Q-high flop, you’ll be defaulting to the large turn sizing on aces and high cards as well, while low-card turns will feature a mix of bet sizing strategies.
Tip #3: Default to a Pot-Sized Bet on Turns Following Low Card Disconnected Flops
Finally, let’s turn our attention to low-card flops. When it comes to low-card flops of this nature, such as 8♠4♥2♣, we know from the previous lesson that our default flop c-bet sizing is of the large variety.
Once the big blind calls and checks to us on the turn, the preferred size is 100% of the pot, with almost no exceptions. When it comes to high-card turns specifically, we’ll also have a fair percentage of 150% pot bets (around 14%).
One specific scenario where the solver prefers the big bet sizing of 150% of the pot, using it over 27% of the time, is when the turn pairs the lowest card, which would be a deuce in this instance.
If we shift our attention to connected low flops, which we c-bet at a low frequency on the flop to begin with, the solver keeps things pretty straightforward in terms of sizing.
While our turn bet frequency will change, the default size is 60% of the pot across the board, which we’ll be using 80% to 90% of the time. This applies even to significantly board changing cards, such as aces and kings.
