How to Play Texas Hold Em Poker - Betting the Turn

Texas hold em poker is a game of both skill and luck. To be successful, you will have to have a good deal of both. Learning to bet the turn card is just one more tool in your poker playing belt. The more Texas hold em poker playing tools you possess, the better off you will be in any poker game.

In Texas hold em poker, Each card is more important than the one before; Do you know how to bet the turn card?

After the turn card is flipped, a series of betting takes place.

Before betting at the turn card, many variables should be taken into consideration. This is true no mater what your hole cards are and what cards lay on the table before you. Some questions that you should be asking yourself are as follows.

Is a flush a possibility?
Is a straight a possibility?
Four of a kind?
Three of a kind?
Two pair?
Straight flush?
Royal?
How many people are left in the hand?
How do they bet?
Do they bluff?
How can you tell?
How can I take this hand down?
What bet is right?

Poker is a game of what ifs. After each card hits the table, you must reevaluate the situation. Unless you have the nuts (the highest possible hand) you might find that you are the one who is getting trapped and betting into a better hand.

If you raise before the flop people will put you on something. If you raise again after the flop, people will put you on something as well. If you check at the turn card after betting both before and after the flop, then your opponents will most likely smell weakness. This can be both good and bad depending on the situation you find yourself in.

Example 1:Iffy hand at the Turn in a Texas Hold em Poker Game

You are big blind and are dealt an QC - 10C. Five players call the big blind and now it is back to you to make a move. You bet three times the big blind to scare of the low hands. Three of the remaining players fold to your bet, leaving you to battle the little blind and one player who must act after you. Flop comes 6D - 7D - 8S. Again, you bet three times the big blind figuring that you have a draw at straight and you still have an over card with your queen. Little blind folds. One caller. Turn comes ace of clubs.

What do you do?
Do you check and hope that you get to see a free card? Doing this might show weakness.
Do you bet like you already have the straight?
Do you bet like you just caught the Ace?
Your opponent, what could he have?

In this situation, it is best to do some damage control by making the same bet as you have been. This is the best bet because in your opponents mind you probably have a solid hand. If they have nothing, they are likely to fold. If they caught a low pair they are likely to fold. If they have a hand, they may call but they are not likely to raise out of fear of your hand.

No matter what card comes next, betting at the pot was the right thing to do in this situation.
If you checked, your opponent would likely have tried to bully the pot forcing you to either spend more chips to see the river or folding the hand yourself.

Example 2: Leading at the Turn in a Texas Hold em Poker Game

In this example, you once again are big blind. You are dealt pocket 6c - 6d. Again, a total of five people call the big blind and the action is back on you. In this case, you want to bet pre-flop again to scare out any low cards (you want to be the only one to catch if low cards hit the flop).

You bet three times the big blind amount.

Three players call your bet.

The flop comes 4h - 6s - 5h. You just hit trip sixes and have the game well in hand. At this point, your bet before the flop should have scared out anyone who may have considered staying in with anything low that could have made a straight. You are clearly in a dominant position.

Little blind checks.

You raise three times the big blind. Again, this is a good bet because you want to keep people in the hand without letting on what it is that you have. They are likely to see this as a continuation bet and put you on over cards.

Turn comes 6h. Holy Cow, You just got quads. Be cool. Don't let on that you have any thing. You want to get more money in that pot. Three hearts on the board, that's good. they could be on a flush draw. They also could be on a straight draw or even have a high pocket pair.

So many opportunities. What to do?

In this situation, you could do one of two things. First, you could make another continuation bet. You bet at the pot twice already. Could they really put you on quads? Probably not.

Next option is to check. Remember that weakness I spoke of? If you check here, Someone on a flush draw, Straight draw, or someone with just a high over card may push the pot in an attempt to take it down. If you check, you may just see someone push all in.

There are so many variables in a Texas hold em poker game, that it is hard to know what to do in every situation. Even if you play every hand of Texas hold em as perfectly as you can, you will still lose sometimes. . . That is where luck comes in.

In Texas hold em poker you need to have luck.
In Texas hold em poker you need to have skill.
Find them both, and you will find the glory that comes with being a true Texas hold em champion.