Double Barrel Cards - Poker Double & Triple Barrelling

Double and triple barrelling is something butchered by a lot of bad regs. Some people are too aggressive in certain spots and not aggressive enough in other spots. So what are you doing wrong?

In all spots the best double barrel card is always an overcard to the highest card on board. The theory behind this is very simple. When an overcard to the board comes on the turn and you bet it your perceived range gets stronger and your opponents range usually weakens because flop calling ranges tend to be top pair, middle pair or a weak draw since strong hands tend to get raised on the flop (this is not always the case depending on board texture, IE dry boards get big hands slow played more often) but you will frequently get folds from almost all hands that weren’t top pair on the flop. Its important to know your opponent, some villans are non believers, against these players either bring multiple barrels to the gunfight or don’t c-bet at all.

The worst double barrel card  at all times is a card that pairs the board. On a T 7 2 rainbow flop, the worst double barrel card would be a T 7 2. With an emphasis on the T. The best barrel card is any card J or higher.

Other good spots to fire a second barrel is when the first card is pretty high and then the second card is also pretty high. So for example you have a K 9 4 flop and the turn comes any card above a 9. Why is this? you will frequently get folds from 9x, mid pairs and ace high floats, which will be a large portion of villans flat calling range compared to Kx and sets.

There are other spots where you can fire a 2nd barrel when you think your opponents range is weak but will call a second barrel and fold to a 3rd. You can only bet the turn here if your going to bet the river.  An example of this is when you think your opponent has turned equity but doesn’t want to raise there hand. So usually there bottom or middle pair turns a straight draw or a gutshot. They will call again since they now had added equity but there hand is still very weak and will always fold to a 3rd barrel. Also, the equity they get is fairly obvious and when they hit the river will usually bring 4 to a straight. An example of this is say, the flop comes out 9 T k and the turn is a 8. all of there hands like J9 TJ  QT KJ 79s T7s will all call the turn because they feel like they have added equity but will almost always fold the river when it blanks.

Against good hand readers these second barrels will look obvious but the fact of the matter is that in these spots your range will be improving with the turn overcards and it puts them in a tough spot when you have the threat of calling a big river bluff. A lot of the time regulars will go, ok this looks obvious but will still fold because they think they will have to fold the river or hero call the river, which leads to lots of variance. As you start getting called lighter you obviously have to start betting more for value.  So for example you have pocket Jacks on T62 flop, turn comes a K, bet for value, river comes a Q, bet for value and get looked up by Tx or pocket 8′s. Inversely, you have QJ in that spot and turn a straight draw bet the K turn, and value bet the Q river, it really is a beautiful thing. Remember, when you hit a turn or river overcard bet them for value, don’t pussy out, especially if your gonna be betting that spot as a bluff.

As you move higher, so 2/4 and above, you will meet players who know all the moves so this is where some levelling comes in.  You may want to barrel bad 2nd barrel cards because they will think you shouldn’t be barrelling there as a bluff and then think your strong. You don’t want to level yourself though, that’s important. These players are not the majority. And if you do want to bluff in bad double barrel spots because you will frequently have value hands, do so a minority of the time, so your hand range is still weighted towards value hands. An example of this is we have a K 7 3 flop, the turn brings a 7 and you continue to barrel. In this spot you will get alot of folds from pocket 5′s-Q’s maybe even sometimes Kx or any draws on the board because villan will assume you are never bluffing in this spot, because of course, that’s a bad double barrel card. So against these good hand readers a bad double barrel card, can sometimes become a good one.

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