Big Pairs on the Turn

Hello friends,

I’m here to talk about playing big pairs on the turn.  I’m talking about overpairs like AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT and top pair top kicker (TPTK) hands like AK on an A49 board.  Got it?  It doesn’t have to be those exact hands, but some sort of big pair on the board.

This is going to be a useful article because we catch big pairs and see turns with them quite often.  The problem is a lot of poker players don’t fully analyze the best way to play big pairs on the turn.  I think small and mid stakes poker players are losing a lot of value with big pairs these days.

I’m going to use an example to describe a common situation.  Let us say that you are playing a 100NL 6-max game and pick up AK in middle position preflop.  You raise to the standard 4BB and everyone folds but the big blind (BB).  He is a regular player and seems to play a pretty solid game.

Anyways, the flop comes something like A62 without any flush draws.  The BB checks to you, you make the standard c-bet and he calls.  The turn brings another 2 and there are still no flush draws.  The BB checks to you again and here begins your dilemma:  You think to yourself, “Well this guy seems pretty solid so I doubt he will call another bet with a weaker ace than me unless he has something like AQ.  There are no draws to worry about either…maybe he just didn’t believe me on the flop.  If I bet again though he’s only going to fold weaker hands and checkraise big hands.  So I guess there really is no value in betting again.  I’ll just check the turn and bet the river again so that I look weak and maybe get a call from some hand that doesn’t believe me.”

It’s a common line to bet TPTK on the flop, check the turn, and then bet again on the river.  It’s not a terrible line but poker players default to it way too often.  Now if you have had some trouble losing big pots with big pairs then I would suggest you default to that line for a while to practice some pot control and get used to playing big pairs.  But otherwise you should consider alternative lines.

When I say you should consider alternative lines, I don’t mean you should never use this line.  I just mean you should mix your play up more and not be afraid to value bet that big pair again on the turn.  I know sometimes it seems like nobody in their right mind would call you with a weaker hand but people do all the time.  But hey, it’s not your job to analyze the mistakes opponents make; it’s just yours to make those mistakes possible.

You need to value bet those big pairs on the turn and river more because you’re going to lose out on a lot of money if you don’t.  Don’t be scared of the checkraise from a hidden set – you can deal with that when the time comes.  To keep your game balanced and to get your turn bets to show a decent profit, you need to be pulling double barrel c-bets some of the time too.  If you notice opponents folding to your turn value bets a lot then you should consider bluffing the turn more often when you whiff with AK and whatnot.

If you do run into a big checkraise on the turn, you should strongly consider folding your big pair unless you have a solid read on that opponent. It’s harder for opponents to make big turn checkraises with air because it is so expensive to fail. They are afraid of being wrong and getting called. The average opponent is going to try and mess around with you on the flop much more often than on the turn. It is a lot cheaper for them to bluff you on the flop and they know they can get free cards if they are semi-bluffing. If you find yourself playing against an opponent who is strong enough to properly mix up his turn checkraises with bluffs then I would suggest avoiding that opponent.

If you want to be successful when you move up to higher stakes, you’re going to have to keep your play so mixed up that opponents just end up guessing at what you have.  This does not mean catching a case of Fancy Play Syndrome.  It means mixing up the lines you take with your hands.

This means pulling those double-barrel continuation bets with air often enough that people will start calling your turn value bets when you actually have something.  When you find the right balance your opponents will have a really hard time figuring out if you’re bluffing or have an actual hand.  At the same time it will make it harder for them to bluff you and put you into a tough situation.

Even at medium and small stakes a lot of people can recognize the old TPTK line of betting the flop, checking the turn, then betting the river.  It becomes obvious pretty quickly if you are one of those people who always uses that line.  At higher stakes people will start checkraising you all-in on the river because they’ll know you have a single big pair and can’t call a huge river raise.  If people start doing that to you too often you’re going to have to start mixing up your play more and make the occasional snap call when someone goes for the river checkraise.

This opens another opportunity for a bluff play.  To really keep your opponents off balance, use the turn check river bet line when you have air.  I would save this line for opponents whom you play against often and who actually pay attention to your play.  This line looks pretty bluffy to weak players and you’ll get too many calls from them for it to work to your advantage.

It’s all about mixing up your play.  There are only so many ways to play a hand in hold ‘em but if you use different lines for your big pairs then nobody will know what you actually have.  Sometimes you will be bluffing the turn, sometimes you’ll be value betting the turn, sometimes you’ll check the turn with air, and other times you’ll check it with a big pair.  As long as you mix things up you can keep your opponents confused and off balance.

My main point in this whole article is to stress the importance of betting big pairs on the turn for value.  If you are thoroughly mixing up your play, you will be able to squeeze all kinds of value out of your big pairs and go to bed at night with a little extra money in your account.