Hey everybody,

A lot of the newer people have been telling me about how they feel like they're just laying on the train tracks waiting for the newer generation of players to plow them over. They've described feeling kind of helpless at the tables with the level of aggression that's going on, and I've decided to come through with some special BC Exclusives to help you figure out how to pull off the moves that they are using and what you can do to counter them so that their overwhelming aggression is used against them.

This series is designed to be for newer players and to be easy to digest. It does not include more advanced topics. Instead, it provides a good starting point that players can get comfortable with before progressing on to refining their game. Let's get started.

The Continuation Bet

If you're the aggressor before the flop, and it checks to you on the flop, you have the option to go ahead and bet. If you do so, this is called a "continuation bet" because you're continuing your aggression from the pre-flop betting. Continuation betting is an aggressive play, but it also makes sense because you were representing having a strong hand before the flop with your raise, and how you're keeping on with telling that same story of having a strong hand.

A lot of people will automatically continuation bet on almost any flop with almost any hand no matter what as long as they are up against just one person. The reason for that is that it can be very profitable. Consider the following:

A continuation bet of two-thirds the pot is always profitable if the opponent folds more than 40 percent of the time.

What makes this so interesting is that most people are going to miss the flop more than 40 percent of the time, so continuation betting makes a lot of sense.

How to Counter the Continuation Bet

The main maneuver that we're going to look at against someone who places a continuation bet is bluff raising them. Consider this rule:

Suppose that someone makes a continuation bet of two-thirds of the pot. If you raise them to three times their bet size, then you need them to fold about 55 percent of the time for your bluff to be profitable.

If someone is continuation betting with just about every hand that they have, then a lot of the time you're going to be able to bluff raise them profitably. This takes advantage of their aggression and turns it against them.

We're going to recommend that you use this play with hands that have some outs but that aren't quite good enough to call. For example, you might want to raise with two overcards or with a gutshot straight draw. Having a few outs means that they don't have to fold quite as much for your raise to be profitable since it's a semi-bluff and they can call and you still win sometimes.

Let Me Know What You Think

Do you want to see more of this BC Exclusive series? Let me know by replying to this thread.