Tournament Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
Playing top Pair on the Turn
Playing top Pair on the Turn Most players feel lost when playing top pair or an overpair on the turn because they usually bet it, assuming it must be the best hand, only to be raised by their opponent. This is probably the easiest spot in poker to avoid. All you have to do is check. The problem with continuing in the hand if you get raised on the turn is that top pair is rarely the best hand by the river. Even if your opponent is check-raising with a wide range, such as good draws, top pair, and two pair or better, your hand is still in poor shape, especially facing a large turn bet. That’s why pot-controlling the turn is usually smart.
Say you raise A-A to 3BBs
Say you raise A-A to 3BBs out of your 150BB stack and the small blind, a tricky, aggressive player, calls. The flop comes J-6-3. Your opponent checks and you bet 4BBs. The turn is the 9. While this card doesn’t look too scary, you should still consider checking behind your opponent because he could throw out a check-raise with hands like K-Q, and also J-J, 9-9, 6-6, 3-3, J-9, 9-6 and 6-3. He could also check-raise with a range of bluffs, as this flop probably didn’t hit your hand too well. Either way, checking behind is usually best, especially if you know your opponent will put you in tricky spots by check-raising here with a fairly balanced range.