When To BET Or CHECK [Pot Control Strategy]

This poker strategy segment video covers a question asked by one of you! Jonathan looks at when you should value bet vs when you should slow down and pot control.
It is a common question that I am asked by many of my poker students as they are unsure whether their hand is strong enough to bet for 2 or 3 streets of value or whether they should decide to control the size of the pot by checking.

Remember that when you are recounting a hand history that you must give as much information as possible so that any analysis can factor in all of the many variables in a poker hand!

What positions are the players in? How deep is the effective stack (the smallest stack in the hand)? Is there any previous history with the opponent? These are just a few of the questions you should be answering when asking for poker advice on any given poker hand.

Whenever you decide to bet in a poker hand you must always ask yourself; what am I trying to accomplish? With your strong made hands you are looking to get called by worse hand hands, protect against various draws and also get accurate information from better made hands.

0:00 - Intro
1:03 - What Are You Trying To Accomplish?
3:52 - What Can Go Wrong?
6:20 - A Summary
7:44 - How To Exploit Opponents Tendencies

On this Poker Coaching channel we cover a weekly poker topic to help improve your poker strategy!

In order to take your poker game to the next level it is vitally important you learn all the nuances of the game.

Do you know what ranges of poker hands you should be playing from each position? When should you 3-bet, call or fold? When is the right time to make a hero call or a huge bluff? Do you know how to play preflop, flop, turn & river effectively and how should your poker strategy change depending on the street? What difference does it make if you are playing multi-way vs heads-up?

#pokerstrategy #potcontrol #valuebet

[PokerCoaching]

What variables do YOU consider when deciding whether to value bet or check for pot control? 🤔

[parkerpolgar]

I can tell how genuine you were when you said "I like helping anyone who will listen". I appreciate it.

[glenterris]

Some considerations I think about when acting post flop
1. Who is in Position? H or V?
2. Who has range and nut advantages? Do I have both?
3. Is the board static or dynamic?
4. What is the effective stack in the hand?
5. How does the board texture interact with our ranges?
6. What tendencies do I know about my opponent?
7. Can i generate fold EQ on future streets?
8. What turn cards do I plan to barrel on and which to I plan to check or check raise on?
9. Any game flow considerations should be factored into this hand?
10 Did I flop premium/marginal/trash?

[eazeazeaz]

Got my first crazy bink last night. 1st of 4761 entries. $2.20 > $1, 135. Thanks for setting me up for success ❤️

[danielvandici]

The amount of information in this videos, are out of this world 🙆‍♂️🙆‍♂️ ! Thanks Johnattan, also multi way pots are always very intresting to have a look.

[tadthegoat]

Love the information!! Many thanks for providing these videos 💙💙

[TheSodakboy]

As noted - as you bet bigger on the flop here, you will actually want to do more checking with KQo on the turn as your opponent's continuing range is stronger. (a lot of the third pair hands here like TT-55 fold to a bigger flop bet immediately but stick around vs. a smaller one)

From a simplistic perspective I think I like the idea of pure double barreling my best Qx (AQ/KQ) and pure checking worse Qx. If I thought my opponent was prone to overvaluing a Q or willing to find all sorts of bluffs on the turn, I could argue for a bet here, but against most players in low-to-mid stakes you're going to likely make more money just going pretty big on the turn and then planning to either block bet or check most rivers.

[Mrgeoffox]

Hi Johnathan, I recently discovered your content, and I love it. I am a recreational player, but I’m trying to implement pro-style play in order to have a “slow-pro” poker career (still put in volume, just lower density). I don’t have a large bankroll, so I am playing mostly online microstakes cash games to practice and start growing the bankroll. But on the rare occasions that I do go to the poker club with my brother and friends, I don’t have the 30 buy-in bankroll I ought to have (although I have disposable income from a full-time job). The smallest tables are $1/$2 cash games, and I’ve been typically bringing about 150-200BB to the poker room, and I wondered, would you suggest sitting down with 100BB, capping myself at 2 maximum buy-ins? Or would it be better to take maybe 50-75BB, allowing more more potential buy-ins in cases of unlucky shoves? Until I have a large enough bankroll to reliably buy back in?

[bossbear]

"well yes I do, you came to the right place"....lmao

[alexandergustafsson]

Very good video Jonathan, helped a lot there - could you please talk some more about bet sizes in these sort of situations and also situations where you are bluffing against someone you know likely doesn't have a very strong hand?

[mrkc]

The thing at low stakes is, nobody bets the pot on the flop. Whenever I bet for value on flop and turn cause, yes, I want a bigger pot cause of my chances, they call everything to get to the river no matter what. At that point everything can happen and they can easily bluff or raise cause get the lucky river for the nut. I know in the long run they end up loosing money but man... It s just like playing with unpredictable bots

[Spazer]

been listening to alot of your videos while i work and the info you have provided has been a big help in trying to get my mindset right and in improving my overall game

[BSweetVideos]

I find myself getting sandbagged a lot when I go with larger sizings lol, which is more annoying than getting raised.

[YTSparty]

OK I have a question. I played heads up, had 9-6 of hearts. Opp raises, I re-raise, she follows. And 3h-5h-Jd is flop. She checks, I raise small, she calls. I have a straight flush draw. On the turn the board is 3h-5h-Jd-3c. She checks, I raise smallish, she calls. On the river the board is 3h-5h-Jd-3c-8c. She checks. I have nothing, my flush missed. What should I bet?

[chip]

So on the Big Blind you have AQs, Co bumps to 2bb, Button 3 bets to 7, 8bb sb folds... So should I ship in, 4bet or limp call and see a flop?

I get in these spots often end up calling and missing completely or I ship im out lol Help Coach!

Thanks for the content, vids are awesome

[mattso]

Something worth mentioning here is a lot of the hands I think KQ loses to in this situation are likely to 3bet, AA, AQ, KK, QQ, JJ. Against most people, I think this is a bet, as most do not raise as a bluff, and hands like Q9HH or QT, flush draws, and KT are still probably going to call, as well as a lot of Jacks. Also, a lot of strong hands may raise the flop, 44, QJ. So I think you are likely to face a lot of worse made hands and draws, and only once in a while, a 2 pair, 88, or 9T. I honestly would be happy to bet a 3rd time assuming a blank river, because many (not all) strong hands raise the turn too.

[eugeneahmad]

This is something I'm working through, but I feel like I still struggle with when and how much to do this with value bet in these spots. I have started to value bet more often, but still worry about getting raised

[jamesgelberg]

In Los Angeles, almost all the $1/2 cash games cap out at 50bbs, some as low as 40. How should players adjust to the shorter stack sizes? Almost all the pre-flop charts I've studied assume a 100bb starting stack.

[dillonkeller]

My strategy is to check 100% of the time so my opponents can never tell what I have :^)

[JasonHall]

Here's one I've been struggling with. I raise or check raise with a strong draw on flop. The turn is a blank. Do I continue to barrel or check? In tournaments, I feel a burn up of a lot of bb in these situations. Thanks!