Top pair: c-bet or pot control

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andreashhh

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Let's say you have top pair in a 6max cash game

When do you want to c-bet the flop and when do you want to use pot control?
If the flop is dry, do you c-bet and then check the river for pot control?
If the flop is wet, do you Check? If you Check you give you opponent a free card, but my experience is that People with a good draw call anyway, Even if i give them bad pot odds

so, to sumarise: when do you c-bet and when do you use pot control? And why?
 
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SnowedIn

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pot control when you have a hand that's not strong enough to bet but has showdown value.
 
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andreashhh

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is top pair any good?

Do you think top pair is a good hand? Do you want to play a big pot or do you use pot control? I think that someone calling a big bet must have a better hand than top pair, so i prefer playing smal pots, of course it depends on opponent and the other cards on the table.

How do you play your top pair?
 
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alexis8888

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Top pair is the best hand, so you need to derrive from it the maximum money, so go ahead and shove!
 
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andreashhh

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Do you really think anyone will call with worse than one pair? If i sove and get called, then he definitely has better than one pair
 
Sil3ntness

Sil3ntness

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It's too complex to give you a simple answer.

Do we have fold equity when we bet? The 2 sided golden rule of poker:

When we bet we are trying to get value from weaker hands or have better hands fold in the process.

So when we are c-betting the flop: Are we heads up? Is it a multi-way pot? If you are using a HUD, how likely is it your opponent will fold to C-bets out of position / in position? If they have a high fold to C-bet you can bet any flop with any two cards and print money in the long run. They are only hitting the flop about 40% of the time with a unmade hand. So 60% of the time you can steal from nitty fit or fold post flop players.

If the flop is wet you have to determine if your hand is stronger than your opponent's range of hands. If you have KJo on BU and the BB defends on a 5c6h7h flop you might want to focus on pot control. If you bet in position and the BB floats your bet. What are you going to do on a blank turn? 5c6h7h can hit a BB defend range pretty well. Suited connectors, mid pocket pairs 88+

Like I said: Your answer will be different from everyone. It's a complex situation which makes poker not a one solution fits all.

In conclusion: refer to the golden rule stated above: We C-bet for value (we have better hand equity) or folds (we have worst hand equity).

We pot control based off how tight/loose our opponent is. If our opponent is dumb enough to pay off his or her whole stack with top pair bad kicker than we will be playing for stacks. If our opponent is nit tight, we want to have strong showdown value for big pots on river. (Trips with top kicker, Sets, straights, flushes etc.)
 
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Xmaster

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You should not do everytime the same. Otherwise your actions will be very obvious. It also dependes on the board. If it is draw heavy, you should normally bet, because you want to protect your hand. If the board has not a lot of draw, you might consider to check in postion, to let your opponent bluff. But also here: Don't play always the same!
 
westside1950

westside1950

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pot control when you have a hand that's not strong enough to bet but has showdown value.

Have to agree with this.

Also, your decision has a lot to do with your opponents tendencies - some tend to call more widely so there's no need to use pot control check like against some abc players.
 
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