Let's talk about double barreling this week. A double barrel is a bluff or semi-bluff that occurs after the turn and after you made a continuation bet on the flop.

Can you pull the trigger when you need to - and do you know when it is not a good spot for it?

Read this article and let's discuss it:

Double Barreling

I choose these spots very very carefully. I need a good read on my opponent to follow through with a double barrel - because I am so picky it works a lot for me - but I likely miss opportunities at the same time.

I think, I do it maybe much too often this double barreling and it is sometimes a mistake to do so. Also that I use the C-Bet too often. I think, it is often my mistake, that I play preflop aggressive and try to continue afterwards the same. Meanwhile I try to learn to check more often and see how the opponent reacts on the flop and on the turn. Also more in thought about to let the opponent bet and put more chips into the pot.

I think to go for a double barreling, you need to see on the board. If there are a lot of dro in the board, then it's better not to bet. If the board is dry, then you need to bet. Of course, in a position.

Can aggree that most people overuse it. If C-bet on the flop can be a prob/value bet/block bet on the turn I see most people just bluff away too much. The pyschological idea the "if i put in the money pre- and on the А so i must C-bet turn" is just such a huge leak. Though it's interesting as creators of that poekr bot... Liberatus I think said that they belive "Turn play is the strongest part of the computer" so it can tell you that even pros often screw-up turn plays.

It is a great article, provided by CC!This is the key for positive outcome of our efforts to perform well in mtt's and sit'n goes!
Use it carefully! I prefer to have a blocker in my hand, thus reducing hugely the variance.
Very useful when you are ahead in chip stack

I dont often double barrel,usually i double barrel if i put my opponent on not so huge drew and blank hits turn,if i put him on pockat pair or Ax float,in some sitations if im preflop aggresor and somone defends later position and calls cbet and when A or K hit the turn its good card to dobule barrel etc..

i like double barreling only if i put the opponent on air and that he's kind of sticky to the flop after my cbet and not folding. if he has something like second pair, it doesn't really work, and you really need a tripple barrel and betting big. also, it is also good to have a blocker in your hand for the potential draws the board might have.

If im involdes with more then two players ,i usually wouldn't use a double barrell ,.Playing in league games is even harder to apply the technique as so many play so tight . if you know i player is weak it is prime to use it

It seems to me everything depends on the position in the hand + the number of players of course

I always make decisions about the second bet based on which opponent - if he is passive and knows how to fold, then I bet. If the opponent never gives in on bets and often goes to showdown, then I bet only when I have equity

It depends a lot on the time you have playing at the table, the continuation bets with almost mandatory when making a RAISE / PREFLOP you have to know your rapporteur when choosing the size of your continuation bet and you also have to see the FLOP before measuring the size of your continuation bet, there is no perfect game but if you can avoid making a bad bet with wrong cards and the wrong player, I personally always give my time at a table to meet the players and study their game, I do not make decisions lightly with players I do not know

Double barrelling is effective on suitable boards against advanced players that can see and think about something else besides their two cards and how they connected to board. Sometimes it can work against calling stations as well if your image became too tight at this table. But overall I would not recommend it in freerolls or a majority of micros tournaments as people are just not gonna fold their underpair. So pick your opponents wisely or you'll run of the chips pretty quick trying to use this trick.

Double barrels are good against intermediate players. It's a waste of money against calling stations.

The Delayed Double Barrel recommends against firing the second barrel on the turn if the opponent is a calling station. This is generally good advice.

But there are some opponents, common in microstakes, who have a lower than average Fold to C-bet, but an average or below average Went To Showdown.


These players will call c-bets with one overcard in their hand, with an underpair or second or third pair, with a gutshot draw, or with a plan to float you. But they'll fold to a second bet (or a re-raise) on the turn.

To decide on a second barrel in the form of a bluff or semi-bluff - it is extremely important to understand the style of your opponent's game. This does not work against some players. You will only worsen your situation if you bluff against the "telephone center".

One of the complexities of playing in big tournaments is that you almost always play against unfamiliar players. Their behavior is unpredictable.

Once you have built a solid image on your table you can profit highly from Double Barreling I like semi-bLuffs with high potential like 2 Big cards on a flush/starigt draw and I double barrel Turn and River to take down some pots.---------------------------------------------------------------


You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.


Zig Ziglar

I find it useless (flop-turn). Opponent will see it on the river. It is confusing: what to do on the river? Maybe against tight player it's fine.

Generally speaking in the Zoom format - what I'm most familar with - cbets tend to be called with a wide range of hands. Everything from bottom pair, to draws, to overcards. Double barreling is essential to punish those drawing that miss the turn, or for those holding overcards that miss. The key against unknowns is that your story has to make sense. On a 7 high board that you raised pre, double barreling when the turn is an 8 usually doesn't pay off. Your story has to jive with the board or it usually gets met with a check raise or aggression that unless you have a hand...is tough to call.

Double barrelling is pretty common in online game. Position and type of opponent is critical to success. We try to represent a crediable story but sometimes though a bad card for opponent is all it takes. Should not try when you are very active at table as it is easily picked off or exploitated.

I used to double barrel often, but online poker players have improved. I have to choose more wisely and less often.

I like the article but I have a question.

How many BBs should we have when we double barrel?

Yes it is a common situation and a strategy I follow many times. It has profits many times but it also can reduce my stack and send me back! It needs intuition to find when is the right hand to do it. It depends too much from the opponents we have each time and the kind of play they have.

I'm doing this, maybe too rarely.I prefer to have a blocker in hand and a large stack when I do it.

I think I'm not a player to play a lot of double barrels, I try to play hands connected to the flop, and play decene and premiun hands ... doing a lot of bluff does not bring anything good because you will not always win, there will be an opponent with a better hand, and the best is to play safe, I do not have much to say about this topic because I'm not a player who plays with a lot of bluff, but occasionally you can do the same if you are leader in chips

I do not have made a lot of successful double barrel.I try to avoid bluffing but it saved me a couple of times.

If you raised preflop, that should mean you have a hand. And if the coming flop has high cards though you didn't make even a pair it's good to make a continuation bet. If opponent doesn't give up it means that he obviously has something, draw or pairs. If the turn is again a high card or it doesn't close potential draw it's time to make a second barrel, imo

Double barreling it's a very effective play against loose passive players. It works well when you've been too tight in the table, after receiving a lot of bad cards. You can use the image the villains have of you.

But I think it's very dangerous against calling stations, tight players and skilled aggressive ones. The first ones will call anything. If a tight call your first bet, you must be very careful. And you are against a aggressive one, there is a good chance That the villain 3bet after the turn.
And, of course, you need to choose the correct spot.

I use this tactic, but not often, because when bluffing or half-bluffing there is a very high probability that the opponent will receive a strong hand on the flop. in this case, answering the call on my bets, he will suck my chips. this is a dangerous situation. if I have a bluff, I can get a raise in the river and I have to fold. but if the opponent believes in the raise preflop, then there is a high probability that he will drop on the river. to use the double barrel you need to be able to read the players.

Live Double Barreling can be a complicated (but fun) dance of reading your opponents' physical reactions to your actions and tendancies. It is more difficult to fully explain than this, but you understand it when you're doing it.

Online, it's easier to do, but the same constraints apply, you just have no physical information.

One thing that is mentioned briefly in the article under “Position is Key in Multi-way Pots” is "Keep in mind, however, that you may be forced to decide to fire a third barrel on the river". This is something you should definitely be doing any time you throw chips into the pot on a bluff, any position, any number of (potential) callers. Double barreling requires some chips, so make sure you have them. In order to have reached this position, you have raised Preflop and C-bet the Flop. Even if the second barrel doesn’t come until the River, you’ll have fired three or more times into this pot.

Another important point is : “Under no circumstances should you reduce the size of your bet. That screams weakness, and a double barrel requires an image of strength to be effective”. I see way too many people Double Barreling weak on the Turn (Excluding the 10% of them who aren’t actually Double Barreling and have turned the nuts).

As always: “Keys from your opponents” are everything. You can often find a save on the River if you can convince your opponent who did not believe you on the Flop, that you actually hit the River. This whole situation becomes a lot easier if you know what they have.

Double barreling is definitely not a common tactic of mine. Double barreling is most effective when you know your opponents. I think the consequences far outweigh the risk because if you do get it wrong, you are basically jeopardizing your tournament life on a move that could have been avoided. If you have to double barrel, I suggest that you have some information on your opponent or you are betting into a board that has turned a scare card that didnt elicit a bet from the player ahead.

I try to bluff quite often this is a good action.Against the answering machine is useless to bluff.

Everything depends on me how much the opponent is strong and whether I managed to read his game during the tournament, if the opponent is weak I'm going to the end, if he follows me then he probably has good tickets, until now when I bluffed on the turn card I had a passage of 50%.

It depends on the situation and the analysis of the opponent for me.

Of course, this must be used. It is important to be aware of the size of these bets and whether you can risk such a large number of chips. From experience I can say that everyone constantly puts the second barrel. And most importantly, it works.

what a great article well done CC. I like that you use every possible situations and advices for making the best desicions at double barreling. Position always matters ,the profil of opponents of course and size of betting ...

Very good article! I like playing with 2nd barrel for bluff too. Quite often I see that players trying to play 2nd barrel when pair on flop. When I see this I bluff and I play mini raise on turn vs 2nd barrel. I think that bluff mini raise on flop vs 2nd barrel when pair on flop is EV+. My mini raise in this is very very strong. Players offten fold this with top pair too. When players call my bluff mini raise on turn, I know that thair hands is very good. Sometimes I like playing 2nd barrel with pair on flop, becouse many players fold this!

Sometimes you have to resort to this. It all depends on the situation at the table and on the opponent.

I fire double barrel when i am faced with the calling station.

Nice read. I think on paired boards you have to employ this strategy a lot especially as people like to call on low paired boards with overcards

Double barrels work sometimes, and sometimes they don't.
This strategy is very risky
and it depends on when you use it and the cards on the table

I probably should double barrel more when I play tournaments, but I don't.

I usually do it a lot when I play cash games since I feel more incentive to win every pot. Although it doesn't seem to work out for me too often. Maybe I need to work on my bet sizing on the turn.

""The size of your double barrel bet is crucial. It has to be larger than your continuation bet, which should have been larger than your pre-flop bet.""

This is the only part in the article I do NOT agree with !


This bet sizing is very exploitable and gives a good read to your opponents that you did not hit the flop and you are trying to intimidate them with a bigger bet.


Post flop, I always try to make c-bets of the same size, regardless of my hand preflop or whether I hit the flop or not.

Excuse me, could you give an example, what board, and what oponents ... and I think many will answer ?!

It is very complicated to play the double barrel, it is imprecindible to know the opponent well and to make a good reading of the possible hand that is taking.


I usually do it and it has worked for me, but mostly when they already know me it does not work very well.

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Originally Posted by albosaltenio

It is very complicated to play the double barrel, it is imprecindible to know the opponent well and to make a good reading of the possible hand that is taking.


I usually do it and it has worked for me, but mostly when they already know me it does not work very well.

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Do you put the second barrel in a bluff or semi-bluff? If it's a bluff, then in which cases do you put the third barrel?

very good article CC I only use this type of play if you have a good advantage in the stack of chips, in position and the opponent is weak

I have never been lucky enough in it, I lost more than I got, so I try never to use double barrel, I only use cbet more often and I try to expel out the opponent, but sometimes I lose control and I use three barrels in a row, on river all in, but most commonly it ends up bad for me..

Originally Posted by BigGrayWolf

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Do you put the second barrel in a bluff or semi-bluff? If it's a bluff, then in which cases do you put the third barrel?

especially when the projects are not complet

Originally Posted by albosaltenio

especially when the projects are not complet

Can You give an example please?

Originally Posted by BigGrayWolf

Can You give an example please?

flop

turn
river