When I first stated I playing online after doing some studying up, I Cbet a lot which built my stacks quickly. Though, through Cbetting I ended up losing them quickly, hah. So I stopped Cbetting unless I really had a good hand after the flop. If someone called, I'd check through the turn and river unless I had the nuts. I made money this way. Slowly but surely.

Earlier today I was reading up on Cbetting again and decided to give it a try once more. Again, I made money quick. Started wondering why I stopped being so aggressive with it in the first place. Remembered why after I lost my stack, haha.

Here's the rundown...

Today I would only open with a raise, if my hand wasn't strong enough to open that way I'd fold it. After the flop, if my hand improved I Cbetted. If my hand didn't improve I still Cbetted figuring that I had a hand likely as strong as or stronger than villains (exceptions being when I held a hand like AKo and the flop came QQ9 or something of that nature). Things were going good, but here's where I lost my stack:

I'm big blind. Preflop I get 9s 9h.
All fold to MP who calls the blind ($1). Rest fold to me.
I raise to $7. MP calls.

Flop: 8s Kc 3d

I bet $11. MP calls.

Turn: 5c

I bet $18.25. MP calls.

River: 3s

I'm all in. MP calls.

I show 9s 9h (Two Pairs, Nines and Threes )
MP shows Kh 6h (Two Pairs, Kings and Threes )
MP wins with Two Pairs, Kings and Threes.

Please help me understand what I should or should not have done in this situation.

What other people mean by a continuation bet is betting on the flop after raising preflop. However, you are using it to refer to betting every street, getting all of your chips in on the river regardless of the strength of your hand.

When you get called on the flop, try shutting down most of the time instead of turning your hand into a bluff by making bets few players would call with any weaker hands. In low stakes games, most of your bets should be for value or to protect what you think is likely to be the best hand.

Did you realize that you were bluffing on the turn and river?

It's a bit disturbing that you didn't include stack sizes or any reads or your table image/recent actions when you described the hand. Do you not realize that those are important? You may need to work on a lot of the fundamentals, not just continuation bets. If you don't have money to burn, you may want to move down from NL $100 while you work on your game.

cbetting means betting the flop after you raised preflop, not betting every street. usually if you get called on the flop, you give up the hand unless you're strong. also QQ9 is a great flop to continuation bet.

Your pre-flop raise is a little big. I'd make it 5.

C-Betting the flop here is standard.

That is not a very good turn to double barrel. Just check and likely fold if he bets.


Everything pzhon said is good.

However, 100NL is my main game so if you'd rather not move down I'm fine with it.



So to reiterate:

Continuation Betting Part I. (9/28/06):

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...t=1&PHPSESSID=



Why Am I c-betting AGain (11/09/06):

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...rt=1&vc=1&nt=3


Continuation Betting (10/4/06):

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...ue#Post7550075



Continuation Bet Article (3/17/06):

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...n=&page=0&vc=1


When Don't You C-Bet (1/16/06):

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...n=&page=0&vc=1


Another Spot Not To C-bet? (5/22/06):

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...24#Post5915202


Should I C-Bet? A quiz. (12/6/06):

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...=2#Post8313278



DOUBLE BARRELING (8/20/07):

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...an=&page=&vc=1

I love this post by ajmargarine from the "When Don't You C-bet Link". It's really succinct and is pretty much how I see that it should be done:



"Never CB with 3+ villians.
Pretty much always CB vs. 1 villian.

2 villians is where it gets tricky. Having a pp helps. You have TT, board is K74, fire away. You have outs to a flush or straight, fire away. You have 2 overs to the board, fire away.

Places to not CB: Board is straight coordinated (456, 78T). 2-flush on the board should give you pause. Calling stations should give you pause. OOP with 2 villians behind you should give you pause. If current table image is bad, that should give you pause."

Most people will bet this 100% of the time, but I think it is wrong. I think with position it is better to check (for value) a good chunk of the time (at least 40%). Chances of the turn card making villains hand are not good and there is a high likelihood of him betting a worse hand on the turn - and if he checks 2x he is giving up on the hand almost 100% of the time. If he bets a marginal hand on the turn it is going to be hard for him lead on the river so you will usually be able to check behind and play a smallish pot.

Lucky

Hero doesn't have position.....he is OOP. Even having position though I'm not so happy to do that with TT....I'd do it a lot with QQ and sometimes with JJ, dunno about TT though.

This is kinda awkward since we're OOP so I don't hate betting to prevent an opponent bluffing who might do it with a close to optimal frequency, putting me in a very tough spot.

If I was in position I'd often check behind this flop unless villain was a passive, calling station.

If villain is a solid TAG I'd check behind because I don't see him paying me off with an 8 or a 3 too much. It's possible he'd call one street with a lower PP or an 8 from time to time planning on shutting down but he probably calls when I bet the turn anyway so it's the same thing most of the time. I do however see him getting tricky on a board this dry, if he c/raised me I'm forced to fold what could often be the best hand or make a very marginal call down. Checking allows me to control the pot with a marginal hand and pick off bluffs easier. An argument in favour of cbetting would be that it depolarises our range and we protect against overcards. Of course we may not be worried about overcards if we feel villains limp calling range is mostly low PPs or SCs, but then he wouldn't be a solid TAG, so the point is moot. 99 would be kinda a tweener hand, something like QQ would be a much clearer check behind imo. Being OOP makes cbetting better as we don't have the luxury of being able to control the pot and if our opponent is capable of firing barrels we're going to have a very tough time.

If villain was a maniac I might not cbet either. It's far too likely I get floated or bluff raised and I'm left in a very awkward spot. Since he limp called it's less likely he'd have high cards so our hand should be fairly safe to bet for value though so again it's kinda a tweener hand.

Of course in the ideal scenario against a loose, passive station I'd bet the flop for value without fear of getting bluff raised. I may even go for two streets of value but I'd be more inclined to do this in position where it would be easier to show down the hand on the river.

I don't really think there's a "standard" way to play this spot though and there's arguments for both approaches depending on the opponent and other variables.

LOL, I see ye were already getting into a discussion about it while I was typing my post, gotta learn to be more concise.....or type faster .

I will frequently just check in the BB with a mid-sized pair since I don't like playing OOP post-flop, and I'd love to flop top-set for cheap. Raising isn't necessarily bad or wrong, but I prefer to check.

Once you raise from the BB, then this is a great texture flop for a cb. Villain will give you credit for Kx in most cases and fold. It is a drawless flop. If he calls, then he likely has Kx or better.

Once he calls the cb on this flop, however, c/f the turn unless you turn a 9. Your mistake was double and triple barreling into a calling station with top-pair.

So we're trying to get value for 99 by representing Kx?

We can't be bluffing since you just said Kx or better calls.

What are we trying to do, bluff TT/JJ/QQ? Don't you think he might have raised those preflop?

Doesn't that seem like a kinda illogical reason to cbet to you?

Thanks guys, I see my mistake now. Sometimes things are so clear to me yet sometimes little things like this somehow slip by me. It's something I'm working on fixing.

Regarding questions asked...

My table image was reckless and aggressive. For the most part I was actually getting strong hands, but the table couldn't have known that because I was consistently pulling down the pot preflop by raising higher than I normally do. Normally I raise 3-4x big blind. Last night I was raising 6-8x big blind if the pot was limped or folded to me. After flop, with the constant Cbetting I was also conceded the pot. So no one got to see any of my cards. Only once did someone raise my Cbet by going all in. I folded to villain on that one.

Chip stack, I don't remember everyone's but I had about $89 at the time. Villain who felted me had around $200. I'm aware of table image and it's importance. I'm not so aware of the importance of chip stack size in this situation. Villain was not a tight player. He seemed LAG as did everyone else at the table (I've played with them on other tables in the past) but last night it seemed like my aggression put them on the defensive. I figured they'd be coming after me first chance they got.

Funny enough, after the K hit the flop and villain called my Cbet the little voice in the back of my mind said, "Careful, he may have paired that King". But the bigger voice in the front of my mind said, "Keep going. You got pocket 9's. You got a pair for sure while this guy may have a pair.". Cbet after the turn little voice said, "Caaaareful. This guy may really have the King and won't fold like everyone else did before." but big voice said, "F*ck him. Cbet again!". After the river little voice said, "Get out. Get out now." but the big voice yelled, "You already put too much money in the pot to lose it now! If he won't fold, we'll make him fold! ALL IN! ALL MOTHERF*CKING IN!!!!".

And that was the beginning of the end.

Oh yeah, it was mentioned that a flop of QQ7 or similar would be good place to Cbet with pocket 9's. That would make two pair but if someone called the bet would you assume they have a Q and check/fold? What if they raised after flop? Should we call it or fold?

I've read a good amount on the net regarding poker strategy and I'm a little more than halfway through Harrington on Holdem vol 1. It's a great book but I do feel that there are some gaps in my knowledge as the books assumes you already know certain things. I find myself searching the net to fill the knowledge gap. It's like I have pieces 1-2-3 and 6-7-8 but don't have 4-5 to connect it all together. What book do you guys recommend for someone in my position?

No Limit Holdem Theory and Practice by I believe David Sklansky and Ed Miller. I've heard Tommy Angelo's book is good.

And though I haven't read it I think the REM part of PNL is probably good...though I wouldn't advise spening too much time with the SPR part....again this is having not read the book.



And about the 99 on QQ7 board that would be very opponent and situationally dependent though I'm much less likely to just give up on that one.