Continuation betting

[renegaderob1]

I think the two areas of my game that are currently leaking are getting consistent reads and betting. I can play both passive and aggressive and mix it up depending on what table I am on.

I like to continuation bet if the flop misses completely but I have something like AK, AQs, KQs etc. My question, what hands should I continuation bet on if I was the prf raiser, what hands should I not bother with and how much would people bet with? I currently mix up my cont. betting depending on the board and the table; if it misses but there is a flush or straight draw, I may throw out a bet that is bigger than pot size to throw off anyone tempted to chase and to rep TP. If the flop rainbows, I may throw out a 1/2 pot bet.

Any suggestions to how I can improve my betting?

[Rondavu]

Choice to continue has to do with oh about four things...

-Your table image
-Your opponents image
-Your position
-The flop

You might throw "number of opponents" in there as well.

Evaluate all 4 and make a +EV decision to continue or not. It's ok to get whacked around here and there, as long as you make good decisions consistently.

[PokerPatNEU]

The thing you are using to your advantage when you continuation bet is your fold equity. Always know when you have it, and when you don't.

I used to continue 2/3rds of the pot every single time i pre flop raised no matter what. It was a huge leak in my ring game. I agree with Rondavu's list of things to consider, the most important of which being IMAGE. After a few orbits of continuing every time i raised pre flop, people would start calling me down with crap like middle pair, or a pocket pair lower than the board...It was frustrating. Know what your table image is at all times. If your image is really loose, your fold equity decreases because people are more likely to call you down with worse hands than they would want to call you down with if your image is tight. Do not continue if you don't believe you have fold equity, you will leak a lot of $$.

[Surf_Thug]

My continuation bet is dependent upon who I am betting into.

If I'm betting into a thinking player, a smaller bet is sometimes more intimidating. If the player is a moron I will have to make the bet slightly larger like the size of the pot.

Pay attention to what kind of bets take the pot down on the flop and bet close to that amount.

Usually if the opponent truley has nothing a probe sized bet of 1/3 the pot will take it down, so usually I keep it small and simple if it's a nothing flop.

[biondino]

My biggest problem is the turn. I cont bet, I get called - what then? Assuming I've got AK in mid position, have raised 4xBB and got one caller. Then I've bet 3/4 the pot on the non-improving flop, and again been called. Is a turn continuation bet merited (assuming an ace or king doesn't come)? Or is it a check-fold? How much will this depend on reads? Argh, I dunno, but I DO know that it's the 2nd biggest leak in ym game.

[drmcboy]

Key thing to note here is not one reply mentions what 'hands' you should be continuing with. Why? Because it doesn't matter. A whiffed flop is a whiffed flop, whether you have AK or 24.

[aislephive]

It's important to not to overdo your continuation bets. When I say that, I mean that checking is an option as well. If you mix it up with say 60 percent cont. bets and 40 percent checks, then players will respect your bets more. Mixing up your play is crucial with continuation bets, if you make them every single time whether the flop is 278 or AK9 then people are going to call you routinely.

[Rondavu]

Key thing to note here is not one reply mentions what 'hands' you should be continuing with. Why? Because it doesn't matter. A whiffed flop is a whiffed flop, whether you have AK or 24.

This is wrong. Do you see why?

[PokerPatNEU]

I think he means if you're just going for fold equity on the flop alone...Obviously if you're holding AA and you continue and someone calls, you are still probably the favorite :P where as with 24 you are probably m ore likely drawing dead.

[renegaderob1]

Key thing to note here is not one reply mentions what 'hands' you should be continuing with. Why? Because it doesn't matter. A whiffed flop is a whiffed flop, whether you have AK or 24.

The reason I asked about hands is say you have a read on a tight player who calls bets of 4BB with stuff like QKs, AJ, AQ etc. If you hold AK and the flop comes out 278 rainbow, AK is still favourite to take down the pot... so I may be more likely to continuation bet with AK then say AJ.

[melinda27]

I need 2 things to use a continuation bet, position and heads up. I never continuation bet out of position and i never continuation bet more than 1 opponent.

[Checkways]

When you miss the flop completely (no real draw) don't think too much about the cards you're holding. What's more important are the players and the cards they're holding.

If there are too many people in the hand, don't even think about doing a cont bet especially if there is a draw on the flop. Also, a cont bet can be a disaster out of position. Especially if you play with lots of thieves that call to steal later.

Make sure you're representing a hand. Getting fancy with your bets depending on the flop doesn't tell them anything. You need to tell them a story. This is a bluff afterall. If it's all rags then you can only rep an overpair. How do you play overpairs? Do you bet half the pot? You must play it the same way.

When I cont bet I almost always bet the size of the pot and no less. Sure they might think I'm full of it, but do they want to pay this much to find out? Suddenly a resteal gets very expensive or their middle pair doesn't look as good. Sell it, or don't try it.

But really it comes down to your opponents. If they lay their crap down all the time, then just keep firing away. If they like to put up a fight, then you'll have to give them respect.

One of the hardest things for me to learn in NL was to give up the notion that just because I raised it, it's my pot. It's not.

[Miffed22001]

Choice to continue has to do with oh about four things...

-Your table image
-Your opponents image
-Your position
-The flop

You might throw "number of opponents" in there as well.

This is the crux of the problem. If you're a known raiser of AK or simliar hands then any face card blank flop is a problem to you. Opps are going to know your continuation betting. On the other hand if you attack all flops that have a face card after you raise you may get some decent fold equity (providing your preflop raises are cutting down the numbers of opps seeing the flop) I think a strong flop bet 3/4 pot or bigger forces out most competition but also allows you to buy enough pots.
My continuation strategy is simple in that the bet is always the same post flop whether i hit the flop or not. Also, use of the check raise when you hit cards is another way of improving the fold equity of your continuation bets.
Image for me is key. When i play at a table you know when im in a pot. I bet hard and repeatedly with reraises if i think your repping or if i think im in front. Therefore when i hit flops i hit them hard when it looks like ive hit them. I make the opp give me the benfit of the doubt so that when i check a rag flop with AK and opp bets i can let it go.
Make sure your only betting flops that you look like you could have hit and also use a few check raises when you do hit to mix up the opps read on your post flop play. If your check doesnt tell them anything (other than you could be trapping) they may be more likely to believe you when you do bet.

[wideboyuk]

Will check raising the flop at 25 or 50NL mean anything to the players there though? I've done it a few times and they just call anyway. If they do I guess its check/fold the turn as they obviously have a 'semi' made hand?