A continuation bet is when you are the preflop raiser and you bet at the flop unimproved. This is a very strong weapon in any player’s arsenal. While a continuation bet can be used in a lot of spots, there are good spots and there are bad spots. Knowing the factors that create a good opportunity to continuation bet will help you win more and lose less.
Board Texture
The best times to continuation bet are when it is very unlikely your opponent hit the flop.
EXAMPLE 1:
You raise AK and get called. The flop is 33Q with no flush draw. This is the perfect opportunity to continuation bet. Your opponent will more than likely not have hit the 3 and if they don’t have a Q then they have no choice really but to fold.
EXAMPLE 2:
You raise pocket 5s and get called. The board is T42 with no flush draw. This again is a very good spot to continuation bet. Like the example above, your opponent will more than likely only continue with a T and be forced to fold nearly any other holding.
The more draw heavy the board, the more you should lean towards not continuation betting.
Opponents love to chase, so on draw heavy boards you can’t be sure if your opponent is on a draw or if they have made a hand they intend to go all the way with. Also, continuation betting into multiple opponents isn’t the best idea either. A continuation bet is made when you think that you can simply take the pot down then and there. Multiple people competing with you for the pot means more people you have to make fold to win. It’s better to just check/fold these situations.
Boards that have one high card and two random other cards are the best to continuation bet. Paired boards are also very good. To sum it all up, the less likely it is that your opponent has connected with the board, the better a board it is to continuation bet.
Player Tendencies
If you are in a pot with someone who does not fold on the flop very often, then it is not a clever idea to continuation bet against them liberally. When you don’t have a made hand there is no need to build up a pot against someone who will call with second pair just because they can. Even if they just call the flop and check down to the river you are still losing the money that you put into your continuation bet.
There are a lot of players who do not like to fold any pocket pair when there is no high card on board. While against most players it is a good idea to bet at a T42 board, you should just check and try for free cards against these types of players. This again goes with the idea that you should not be making this play if there is anything in the situation that will aid this play to fail at what it is trying to attempt-taking the pot down right away.
Bet Sizing
When you continuation bet, the more unlikely it is that your opponent hit the flop, the less you have to bet to take it down. On a board of 33Q, you should only be betting around 60-70% pot. When the board is 55K and your opponent has neither card on board, they are going to fold regardless, so you might as well save yourself some money in the situations that you do run into those hands. Also against weaker players, you can make your continuation bets smaller because it is very likely that they aren’t making a connection between your bet sizing and whether you have made a hand or not. Against other regulars you need to make sure you are keeping your bets the same size so that you are unexploitable. Play exploitable against players who won’t take advantage of it and keep your bets the same against players who will notice the change in your game.
