Make oppenent's pay when you are a favourite
Most newbies will go on and on about how their opponents always seem to outdraw their hand on the river. There is a truth that is often overlooked in this assertion: if you have the best hand on the flop and still have the best hand on the turn, you will wind up winning the pot most of the time (usually more than 60% of the time)
For example, if you have J-J, the board is 10-7-5-2 and you’re up against A-Q, K-10 and 7-9, there is a 60% chance that you will have the winning hand on the river. That being the case, it makes sense to bet the turn because you are in a favourable position. Furthermore, you will often be a larger favourite than 60% to win the pot as your opponents will not always have hands like A-Q, K-10 and 7-9 on boards of 10-7-5-2.
But because beginners have lost so many pots on the river with these sorts of hand (as we all have), they let fear control their betting patterns on the turn. Rather than bet and attempt to turn a favourable hand into a highly profitable outcome, they choose to check and call the whole way, simply hoping that their hand will stand up in the showdown. But beginners are doing themselves two disservices by playing this way. First, they are failing to capitalize on a favourable situation. When you are a favourite to win the hand, you should focus on your main goal in poker: making as much money as possible by betting and/or raising. Second, by checking and calling (and hoping) they fail to kick out random draws to improve their chances of winning. For example, we have all been in a situation where we hold a hand like J-J and the flop is 10-7-5, but we end up losing the pot to a player holding 2-4 when the turn is a 3 and the river is a 6. If you check the flop in this situation and everyone else also checks, you just gave the 2-4 a free card and improved him to an open ended straight draw. You have improved his chances of winning the pot from around 6% (on the flop) to around 20% (on the turn). You have enough to worry about in this situation because there are so many overcards that may cost you the pot. Why give yourself another headache by having to worry about dangerous undercards that might complete a draw? While you will often find it difficult to force overcards out of the pot in a low limit game, you shouldn’t encounter too much difficulty pushing out hands like 2-4 on this type of flop, especially if you raise.
Players often justify playing a strong hand weakly by saying “they’re going to call anyway, so what’s the point of betting?” Obviously, this is a rather unintelligent statement because you make money in poker when you are a favourite to win the hand and your opponents call your bets. But more to the point, some players, even in low limit games, will fold their hands correctly if you bet. In fact, the majority of low limit tables will have a small number of sensible players who will fold K-Q on a board of 10-7-5-4 and if you can force them out on the turn, a queen or king on the river will not necessarily cost you the pot.
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