Checking

What ive started to do and works quite a lot of the time is if i have a K/10 and they both come into the flop and everyone has checked i also check and on the river if someone checks or bets i just raise them and more often than not they call and lose . But of course this doesnt always work.

yer checking can be used for devious means, need to be careful someone isn't slowplaying you though

typical low limits its best to play straightforward most of the time though

lost count the number of times i have bet and they call with a really low pair and beat me though, tried to cust that out of my game

In texas holdem checking is a great tool for fooling your opponents, just like you can bluff, you can make them think you have a bad hand by checking and then they may try and raise you as they think their hand is better.

For example you've just raised after the flop and they call. Then the turn comes and you check, your opponents card up, they may think 'hmmm he's not so confident anymore, maybe I've got a better hand than him now', so they raise, allowing you to reraise and woop them for all their money

yer thats not just limited to hold em

problem with it is you have to be sure they are going to bet, otherwise you are better off just betting at them, if you do check you run the risk of them checking behind you giving them a free card

you may also hear it called sandbagging and some people disprove of it, but its part of the game, ignore them and go ahead check raise them every chance you get and they may well go on tilt ;]

over the long run this will lose you more money than you will win

youve missed a bet at the flop and turn at this point - add this to the fact that if he does fold all you win are the blinds. Over time youd win more getting those extra bets in

I think the best time to check is when you bet all the way to the river card have the best hand check, he goes all in thinking you missed it and you call! LOL

well depending on whats on the flop, i think bet would be a good idea to get more chips in. someone could be holding a K/Q and think he has the best hand and might call or reraise you and then you can smooth call him. i dont like checking because you run the risk of someone hitting their miracle card. a harmless looking 7 on the turn just made someones set, so now your bet on the river is reraised, you reraise and end up losing a lot money because you let them catch. that bet is not only for you get more money, but also to get rid of those people looking for draws. the same is said on the turn; again i would bet here to scare of draws to to build the pot. at worse your bet on the flop will get folds all around and you win a small pot. its better to win a small pot and build up your chips slowly, then slow play what might be the best hand at the moment, but then risk losing a lot of chips at the end.

on the river if i believe i have the best hand i usually like to over bet to make it look like im stealing or i think my opponent has something better. if you make it look like a steal, you're likely to get a call...espeically if your opponent has commited himself. checking on the river is good too because you can check raise if they bet, but if they check you missed out on some extra cash. i think the best play is to bet the amount you were on the flop and turn. if they called the previous bets its likely they'll likely call or even reraise you.

even though I just learning this game checking can be used in many ways.
To feel out a opponent or to entice someone to bet or just the real thing of
waiting for the flop to fall.

I used to think this too, but I have since discovered that betting/raising gleans you more information about the other players than checking ever did... which means I don't play at all unless I already have something in my hand. I MIGHT check after the turn if I were slowplaying a hand, but that means I have to know at that point that I have the nuts, AND that my opponent is liable to bet into me. Checking before the flop (big blind) is a waste of time and a loss of money unless you are playing a marginal hand.


just my .02

wish I had a dollar for everytime my two pair gets beat by a set. Take the pot down as soon as you can. Of course there are exceptions

A good tactic of this that i use is to pretend you have a middle pair, for example flop A, 9, 2 bet a small amount when you have a pair of Aces, people call, next card K, now check, people think you have the 9 so someone with a king will now bet.

But if i do have something i always put a small bet in, you want to get rid of a few players, i hate losing to the river card

Only check if you have a monster hand or definite win, otherwise I'd raise to root out the limpers. If you have a monster hand let someone else bet or bluff. Chances are, someone will if theres more then 3 people in the pot. If you have high pair and nothing else, you probably have to root out the people looking for draws though.
Example: You have 9 A offsuit while the flop is 2 4 9. The two and the 4 being suited.

I think you gotta raise a good amount to root out the fishers. You can almost safely say that you have the board won right now if noone has raised preflop. With no preflop raises it is unlikely there is a high pocket pair. However, the blinds could have limped in with trash, but a two pair is still unlikely. Otherwise, you have high pair and high kicker. You have to try to eliminate the people that are looking for the flush or straight. Or at least make it as costly as possible for them. If they call, odds are you still have them beat with turn card. If they dont get their flush/straight, reraise another larger amount.

here is a great example where checking was a bad option.

i was playing at a $100. no limit game at a casino. i was on the button with about $130 dollars and had K/K. 7 people limped in and i raised it $20 over the blind. [$24 do go]. 1 person calls and everyone else folds. [$68 dollars in the flop after the $3 dollar rake was taken out.] the flop comes out 10/6/A rainbowed. player checks and i check behind him. the next card is a K. player bets 20, i think for a bit and raise it 40. he calls. the last card is a 5, player checks and i bet 40. player pushes me all in and i quickly call. he flips over 6/6 and show him my K/K.

...now had he bet on the flop i would have quickly fold my hand because of the Ace. and since he called my PFR, i would expect him to be holding something like A/K. since he only checked, he allowed me to see the turn card for free. a simple bet to win a $70 pot cost him a lot of his chips.

Since you raised pre-flop he might have been scared of pocket aces and thats why he checked. (since there was an A on the board)

Actually, i think i was more scared of him holding an A and had called me with A/K or A/Q. i have a different way of playing A/A early in a hand and even then i wouldve played them a bit differently since i was a new face to the table.

I think when the flop showed, he figured he had a made hand so he checked to slow play it. i doubt he thought i was raise so much with A/A and probably put me on mid pockets or had raised with A/K. he checked to see if i had that Ace or not or would have probably smoothed called if i had bet.

When the King showed up and he bet into it, i sensed something a bit fishy. i figured the only that the K helped him is if had A/K. i think he called my raise and probably concluded i had him my A/K hand. his simple call of my reraise, then his check at the end told me he didnt have AA [which was a possibility] and i had concluded that i the best hand.

I never use the check unless I'm drawing or planning to check raise. Check is what can get you beat by letting other people draw. Just decide wether you wanna pursue the hand or let it go on the flop or preflop

check and raise works great online in no limit freerolls as there are so many clowns ready to push it all in. I tend to bet what I got in limit poker, however as you can't get those huge pots unless you build em from the getgo. Leftylou

Can be used to your advantage.Knowing when is the hard part.

checking, in my opinion, is the most valueble weapon in poker, your opponent doesnt know whether u have nothing or whether u have a monster, it is brilliant

I think that it is a hand to hand situation. Do you know how your opponent plays? I like to check raise myself but there are so many all in players that check raising can lose a hand quick. I think that if you have the hand you should atleast push it at first and see the reaction and then compensate after you see the results of your pushing.

I generally like to take the pot when I can get it unless I have the nuts. By betting the hand, you limit the chances of somebody drawing against you. I do make an exception for pot limit games where a check can increase the pot size for a larger check-raise bet. I will also slow-play pocket aces preflop and bet them agressively after the flop assuming a no flop surprises.