An Ace high flop is a positive but isn't that great against V's who are loose preflop. I don't think J high has any value. It is in V's pre calling hands more than your legit preflop raising hands. IMO:

K high>Q high>A high

Loosely connected, FD flops, and V's who like to peel are fine to c-bet, but you want to do it less often and have to be prepared to fire another barrel on the turn when you do, situation dependent of course.

Okay to c-bet low boards on occasion but you need to be deep enough and firing the second barrel close to 100% if heads up if V is not a total fit-or-fold.

I have to disagree with this. Lots of tighter players will be folding A10 and maybe even AJ to a preflop raise and then call with all of their small and mid pp's. Looser reg-taype players show up with A7o and peel. I don't like to c-bet an A-high flop against two of these...

+1

You have to realize players who calls your cbet with bottom pair are exploiting you when you refuse to bluff on the other more expensive street (turn and river).

Cbetting 1 and done is very bad in the games I play, I'm always amazed when I see a thread and Op describe his image by "slightly winning, been raising pre and taking doen a lot of pots with cbets". The games I play in are the total opposite.

I have adjusted by value betting middle pair+ on almost every flop. Sometimes bottom pair on somewhat drawy flop. I almost never check the turn anymore unless I plan to bluffcatch river. OOP I don't remember the last time I checked the turn.

If I'm unwilling to double barrel, I just give up. I have massive betsizing tells when double barreling air to anyone paying attention but I don't care, I print money. I bomb every flop because the turn has so much more FE I want the pots to be as massive as possible.

This sounds like my dream opponent.

I didn't write the post but if people are calling with easily dominated aces that should be good for the PFR. If you construct your pre-flop raising range correctly it shouldn't be profitable for someone to float an ace-high flop with KQ.

If A5o is way ahead of your opening range you have other issues besides continuation betting. If Villain's are calling too many continuation bets then we should construct an opening range that's profitable against them.

If the board is J62 that should miss virtually every suited connector that a Villain might have.

I think most people have barreling backwards. The people who are tight never barrel and they're the ones who should. The people who are loose usually barrel and they're the ones who shouldn't.

At a nine-handed table usually someone has a hand:

On a nine-handed table 87% of the time someone has KQ, A2+, 22+. Roughly 49% of the time someone has AQ/AK/22+.

Maybe a better way of looking at the question is: How do you take advantage of someone who continuation bets with incorrect frequencies? If someone can take advantage of us, while following their natural inclination of being a calling station, then it's probably our problem to fix.

We should be able to c-bet high-card flops, because most flops have big cards in them. If you open JTs then 56% of the time the flop with be Q, K, or ace high. If you're getting a bunch of callers, all with better hands than you, then the issue isn't just raising and then giving up.

About 40% of all flops are ace or king high. Shouldn't we all be raising hands that hit the most common flops?

I appreciate all the good advice so far. Lots of good stuff! The games I play in are mostly new players every time with a few regs mixed in. They're $1/2 games.

I'm starting to think I need double barrel a little more frequently. I noticed a pro-level player last night and he was just exploiting the hell out of people by raising in position pre-flop and then firing two barrels every time. People were constantly calling the flop because they thought he was FOS, but constantly folding the turn because it was too much money. It seemed like he was doing this with ATC.

I've been running so bad lately that I'm putting a microscope to every area of my game. I need to start paying better attention when I'm not in hands. Tonight, I observed other people's c-bets and how Vs reacted. Some Vs will call with any piece of the flop. Some Vs will fold everything but the nuts. I also noticed that donking into some pfr's is profitable. You can essentially c-bet them realizing that they're going to miss 2 out of 3 flops and just fold to your donk bet.

Here's a hand from tonight where I had a failed C-bet:

Hero raises UTG with AK
Two competent Vs called LP

Flop was 972 rainbow.

I figured this was the perfect flop to barrel. I bet out on the flop and get called by both players. I just c/f the turn. One guy turned out to have pocket 9s. Maybe I'm just running bad. I don't know.

I remember Sklansky saying in one of his earlier books that if you folded a royal flush every time you flopped it, you wouldn't lose very much money in the long run. His point was that it's the small mistakes in common situations that cost you the most money. C-betting is about is common as it gets, so I'm really trying to fine tune my bets and be a surgical c-better.

Another mistake I'm making (like someone pointed out) is that I should have a plan for the whole hand when I c-bet. I need to get out the habit of just betting and hoping to take down the pot. I need to know when I c-bet if it's a one and done or if it's going to take a 2nd barrel.

I'm pretty good at making my c-bets and value bets the exact same size, but I might be giving off timing (or other) tells. I need to make sure I'm taking the same amount of time and giving off the same body language every time.

Youre already got a lot of good advice OP, but i want to chime in also as i struggled with the same issue the last year-especially in games were i logged alot of hours with the same players over and over again. I got alot of very good advice from the better players on this forum back then and this is what helped me the most:

1) Expand your double barrel range if you suspect people calling your flop C-bets very light. A good start is to be looking for flops to C-bet where you can pick up alot of good turn cards that helps your equity. Lets say you make a standard C-bet on K-2-4 board with one heart and you hold the J10 suited in hearts. You can both pickup a heart on the turn for a flushdraw, any picturecard for a straightdraw or making a pair.

What will happen with time when people get familiar with you more often firing multiple barrells is that they get afraid of getting into hands with you with marginal holdings and your flop C-bets will eventually get more credit. Why? Because your opponent will see that you are not messing around and that it probably will get even more expensive on the turn.

2)Hands like flopped second pair or small pocket pairs go up in value if people are calling your C-bets very light. Lets say you hold 66 and C bets 2-4-9 flop and suspect the caller can be stationing you with two overs and even ace high: fire that second barrell.

3) Adjust by choosing to delay C-bet on the turn a given percantage of the time instead of "auto C-bet" the flop everytime. That changes the dynamics,changes your percieved betting range and with one more card to come instead of two cards its not so appealing anymore to float/call you down light.

4) Take some time and reflect on your whole game, especially your open raising range from every position. Are you opening too many pots? Are your raising range preflop too wide? Are you raising to small so you get too many callers when you dont want many callers? I could have listed alot more questions, but i think you get the picture.

I agree with all this. It's just much more profitable to bluff a Q-high flop than an A-high one. Much more so for barreling with air. Don't get me wrong. Betting A-high is the right thing to do most of the time, especially against tight V's. On the other hand, it is horrible to C-bet a whiffed A-high flop into more than one loose V who likes to limp/call with suited aces and medium aces when he gets suspicious of raises from position.

I think ace high boards are great flops to c-bet because villains often put you on AK when you c-bet. When villains call, the turn is easier to play because only aces and draws are likely to call your c-bet. As a result, you will have an easy check on the turn.

Just put some thought into what your bets are trying to accomplish. What hands are you trying to fold out with a cbet? What worse hands are calling? What does my perceived range look like on different board textures and how will that affect how wide the villians peel the flop? Ect ect.

Am I the only one who watches my opponents when the flop is dealt? Their reaction has some influence on my decision to c-bet. I've made some regs get a bit upset at the table by seeming to never c-bet when they flop a good hand.

This is something I need to work on and started doing yesterday night. There is a lot of value to be had doing this, it's hard not being a tell boxe when the flop is dealt apparently. What are some examples of reaction that affect your decision? Looking at their chips, looking at us after seeing the flop/looking at our chips? What do you make of all of this?

I tend to believe that tells are player-specific, so that a lingering look at the flop means that Player A flopped a pair and he had to make sure that his kicker was one pip away from two pair (if he raises, he did hit two pair), that Player B has a draw, and that Player C is tired and zoned out for a second staring into space except his head was pointed at the flop, so it gives you no clue about his hand.

You can't watch everything and you can't watch every player at the same time, so I concentrate on the eyes, mouth, and hands of the most active players and the players who make the largest bets relative to the size of the pot.

I don't know if I am doing it wrong but whenever I watch my opponents preflop I never really seem to pick up much info. Occasionally on the flop I will pick up on the seemingly disinterested V that will fold to any bet, and I routinely take advantage of that tell, but that is really the only one I seem to be able to pick up on.

What exactly are you looking? It seems a bit far fetched for villain's eyes to bulge out of his head, licking his chops, etc.

I tend to trust bet size tells (based on a sample size I've observed of V) more than physical tells.

Bet sizing tells won't tell you much, when it comes to cbetting. Since they won't be betting.

Start by watching their calling frequencies. And their flop calling range. Due this early in your session, while playing fairly tight.

Pick up on the players that call alot of flop bets. And the ones that give up to much. This will help you pick the right situations (and opponents) to cbet. And help choose correct bet sizing. (weather it is for value, or for bluffing).

The players your betting into is more important than the board alot of times.

For example you have 2 loose passive fish call your PFR. Both players will only call with Top Pair, flush, or oesd draws. Then regardless of the board. I am c - betting in this spot. Often double barreling on good boards.

Example 2:

We have a passive station. Who loves to make hero calls. If he is calling my PFR. Then I may choose to only value bet. That may include value betting Ace high, or 2 overs on a low ragged flop.

Also remember. You don't need to be winning every cbet. If you are betting half pot. Winning 1 out of 3 is breaking even.

It's really hard to explain. I also tend to trust bet size tells more, which is why I seem to do much better when my opponents have the initiative.

One thing I tend to look for when my opponent calls is a sign that my opponent was deciding between folding and calling or between calling and raising or had no decision whatsoever and was 100% calling with his hand. For example, an opponent facing a bet who looks to his left before acting is sometimes worried about a raise behind him. For certain opponents, this means he probably has top pair but is worried about his kicker. If I have played him often enough, I can sometimes determine his kicker range pretty decently, allowing me to milk him for non-scary bet sizes on the turn and river if those cards are likely to have not given him two pair.