I have been problem with c/r’ing and I have lost some money with that move lately. I think it might be a leak in my game. I always seem to do it at a bad time or when my range is somewhat weak.
Anyways, I was hoping you could give me some information about spots I should be inclined to c/r. Her's some examples I hope will create discussion.



Dry boards

In general I’ve understood that dry boards are good to c/r.
Let’s say the flop is A72 rainbow and the pot is 6bb.
Hero checks , villain bets 4bb and Hero check-raises to 16bb (NL50: to 2$, to 7$)

Here my range is somewhat weak, since I would 3bet the big aces like AK, AQ, AJ. It only leaves me with AT, which I might not c/r. Also A7 or A2 is possible, if I was defending with a suited ace.
77, 22 account for sets which are in my c/r range, but I would probably call with those since the board is so dry. In summary my c/r range is very polarised, but weighted towards bluffs since it’s hard to have a strong hand in this board. Is this really a good board to c/r based on these thoughts?

In addition should we c/r weak TP hands like A3 in this board ever? Should villain be 3betting me in this board with air mostly since I can’t have anything? Also should I be looking to shove over his 3bet? (Yeti Theorem). Most strong hands call, so If he raises it’s usually a bluff.



Paired boards.

Also in general I’ve thought that paired boards are good to c/r since it’s hard to have anything.
The flop is TT5 rainbow and the pot is 6bb
Hero checks, villain bets 4bb, and Hero check-raises to 16bb (NL50: to 2$, to 7$).

Here both players usually know that neither one has a very good hand. I’m repping basically trips or maybe 5 or pocker pair 22-88, or a bluff. I would certainly 3bet pocket pairs +99. Most T’s that are in my range are AT, KT, QT, JT, T9, T8 and I might just call with trips some of the time.
I’m unsure if it’s good to c/r pairs in this board and why? Is this really a good board to c/r based on these thoughts?

Villain can’t have much in this board if he raises be since strong hands usually call, because they want me to bluff so they can shove the turn with strong hands. If you were villain how would you adjust to someone c/r’ing you here?



Wet boards

The flop is Ts9s7x (flush draw) and the pot is 6bb
Hero checks, villain bets 4bb and Hero check-raises to 16bb (NL50: to 2$, to 7$)

Since c/r’ing dry boards might be bad I wanted to know if this is better since I can represent more hands. I can have two pair, straight, combo-draw, set, top pair, draw + overs. This board should be scary for villain since it hits our calling range pretty strong. The problem is that most villains don’t cbet this board. If you were villain how would you adjust to someone c/r’ing you here?



General Thoughts about check-raising

Should my c/r-range be polarised between strong made hands and draws, and bluffs. Should I c/r with the intention to get AI as soon as possible? Is it sensible to c/r with top pair and fold to a shove if you think the opponent might have overpair to the board. In that case I feel I’m check-raising as a bluff. I would really need some help with this.

It depends way way more on the opponent than on the board

Now u CR him. And now what? Now u r happy if he folds/raises. But he can float with a monster or absolutely nothing. You should remember that you play out of position and if u raise him then u should have a plan for a later streets.

Everything depends on opponent. Everything. if u'll get some pots with nothing then u gonna pay later with all your stack or maybe he will rebluff you out.

Not a single moves wins money for you.
Know your enemy at first.

the more dry the board is the smaller the amount you can CR to. For example, on an A62 board with 6BB in pot and your opponent bets 4BB, you could just CR to something like 10BB rather than 16BB, this saves you $ on your bluffs, and gives your opponent more room to spazz out. You also shouldn t be bluff CRing on wet boards with air as your oppponent.
If your opponent goes nuts against checkraises on dry boards, start flatting hands like AJ, or 99/1010. That way when you checkraise A72 with AJ and get action you can happily stack off as your range is much stronger than expected.

I agree that it is hard to generalize HU, and is mostly opponent-dependent. Some opponents will fold everything but the nuts to a flop c/r. Some will shove over your check-raise with draws and overcards. You also have to keep in mind what level your opponent is thinking on. At 50NL, there is no need to get too tricky with c/r bluffs, in my opinion. Personally, I check-raise as a bluff very sparingly against most 50NLers and usually on paired boards and dry flops, rather than wet flops - and then fire one more on most draw-completing turns. I generally like to have some sort of draw or two overcards when I do it, rather than 92o - unless I am playing a thinking semi-decent opponent who is capable of putting down middle-pair type hands.

This.

I love these kind of threads. I think there should be more of.

one of the most ridiculous pointless comments i have ever read on a forum...
seriously what is the point of this comment?? OP has gained nothing since u have not described how it depends on opponents, or given any example of the different types of opponents to which c/r are suited.

most people understand that naturally c/r a fish with air is gonna be less successful that c/r a solid reg, but maybe u cud elaborate as to which boards c/r would suit which kind of opponents...

you should think of it more like this:

two extremes:

a calling station. you never wanna c/r air cause he will call 100%. value only
a loose/passive. you never wanna c/r value cause he fold 100%. bluffs only.

once you classified your opponents you wanna start thinking about boards. take the loose/passive player here for example. i just sketched a extreme scenario where he will fold 100% regardless of anything. lets tone this down to 80% which is still alot of folding.

the 20% he will call your c/r is when he has some sort of a hand. for this player it probably means a top pair and the better draws(FD and OESD). now if you wanna take the examples you gave:
dry boards: our villain is less likely to have anything here, since he is hardly adapting you wanna c/r him here alot.
wet boards: our villain is more likely to have something on these boards. these are the boards you wanna watch out for.

for the calling station its kind of reverse, on a wet board you are more likely to hit something, so c/r those alot(still only if you actually have anything tho, not as a bluff!). and on dry boards you won't have that much hands worth to value bet. so you can c/r there but you will do it less often cause you won't have a hand that often.

i hope this clears something up.

also if you are playing a regular, he is obviously not that easy to play against he would most likely see the things as you described them in your original post. meaning that on dry boards you are repping a very slim value range so a 3bet bluff could be beneficial for him.

however keep in mind that most players will fold when they don't have anything, meaning that a dry board is even vs a regular better to c/r on. this rule nearly always stands, your opponent is more likely to fold with air then with a hit. so c/r dry boards and do it less with air on wet boards.

finally about your 4bet shoving. this is a nice theory but again it only applies vs a thinking player who is actually capable of making that play. so at the lower limits i would stay away from that more often. on a Kxx board a 3bet from villain could also just mean the guy has Kx and has 2 pair.

k gl at the tables.

It's not even about "kind of opponents". It's about individual opponents and how they think that you play (if they think at all), how they play their draws, how much they like their midpairs, and a bunch of dynamics-related factors.

well as has been said before, vs a regular its very dependent on dynamics and more read dependant. if you play vs a fish or a nit there are more general lines you can take cause in general those people do not adapt, so you don't need adapting and a set strategy is effective.

a SET strategy however is only effective if your opponent is incapable of adapting.

General lines don't really apply to CRing. There are fish who will peel the flop CR super light and fold to a turn bet a lot. Fish who will peel the flop light and never fold the turn. Fish who will fold the flop a lot and never fold the turn. Etc.

"Player types" are overrated.

some people fold a lot. c/r them a lot. some people float and give up on the turn a lot. c/r and barrel them a lot. some people float c/r and shove turn if your line makes no sense. sit out against them. ez game.