TYVM DANIEL NEGREANU

ama0330 · #1 01-21-2007, 07:53 PM

From the "Tip of the day" section of fullcontactpoker.com

The Turn

Without question, the most difficult street to play in no limit holdem is definitely the turn. You’ve been faced with a flop bet and now on the turn it’s really decision time because on the turn you are deciding if you’re going all of the way to the river or are you dumping now. Let’s look at a couple of examples of where the turn plays extremely difficult.

Let’s say you have two jacks. The flop comes K 9 6 all off suit. You’ve bet preflop and you’re opponent has called. The turn card brings another 6 (of hearts). Well there’s that king there that’s very scary. So you really have to think, does your opponent have a king? Or does he have a straight or flush draw?

That’s a very difficult decision and the only way to deal with that is to get a read on your opponent. In general what you want to do is check and see where your opponent is at. If they bet you’re going to have to make a tough read which I can’t help you with that but it’s a tough decision as I said.

Next situation, very similar, let’s say your holding two aces, great hand and you’re looking to trap your opponent. Now the flop comes Q 6 4 with two spades. Great flop for two aces. So now you’ve made your bet and your opponent has called. At this point they could have a flush draw, straight draw or maybe a queen. Lets say the turn card is another queen, your aces are pretty vulnerable now. If you’re opponent did have that queen, you only have two outs that can help you now with an ace on the river. So again, lets say you check, playing cautiously which is important on the turn. You have to decide weather he’s bluffing or he has the queen. How do you do that? Well it comes down to instinct really.

IM OFF TO PLAY THE TURN L8R