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What to Do When a Player Bets the Flop and Checks the Turn?
Many players routinely bet the flop with a good hand. Then, when the turn comes, they check. All the time.
They choose to call because they don't want to be raised by someone on the turn or river (when the bets are doubled).
Likewise, you can turn it on at any time during your game. Two paytables are positioned on the right side of the screen. Now, as explained in rules, you have two paytables since in Crazy 4 Poker you make the Queens Up side bet along with your ante bet. Players in a poker game act in turn, in clockwise rotation (acting out of turn can negatively affect other players). When it is a player's turn to act, the first verbal declaration or action they take binds them to their choice of action; this rule prevents a player from changing their action after seeing how other players react to their initial, verbal action.
I find this habit is prevalent in lower limit games. If you play mid-limit games, this flaw is not nearly as common.
In any case, it is worth considering, as some mid-limit and high-limit tables attract more than a few players who keep this behaviour in their game plan.
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Make Observations
As a PokerNews reader, I'm sure you know that looking at how your opponents play is of the best poker tips to follow if you intend to go far.
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In the following scenario, you are playing no-limit hold'em with a few regulars and a new face (we'll call him Player 'X').
You don't know much about Player 'X' — so you need to keep your eyes open and try to take mental notes on his style of play.
As the game develops, this hand happens:
- Player 'X' has and the flop is .
- Player 'X' bets the flop and two other players call.
- On the turn, a appears on the board.
- Player 'X' checks.
- As soon as one of the other players decides to bet, Player 'X' calls.
- On the river, Player 'X' checks and calls again.
- At the showdown, Player 'X' shows .
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Taking things out of context, Player 'X' would appear to be a 'weak' or 'weak-tight' player.
But — is this the correct assumption to make?
What if this was a recurring behaviour? What if more observation would help you recognise a pattern and give you precious insights on your opponent's hands and style of play?
To discover if this an isolated episode, lock on to Player 'X' and watch how he plays the same situation in future hands.
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If this behavioural pattern continues, it's time to implement the right poker strategy to exploit his weakness and use all this knowledge to your advantage.
SEE ALSO: I Played a Tournament Without Looking at the Cards. And This Happened
Why Does He Do That?
Keep in mind the motivation for this behaviour.
If he is weak and 'tight'ish', he is not betting the flop and checking the turn simply because he's given up on a bluff or thinks he has been outdrawn on the turn.
He is afraid of being raised on the turn or river when the bets are doubled.
As such, he checks with the intention of calling all the way to the showdown. It's usually that simple.
How to play Against This Sort of Opponent?
Whenever you find yourself at the table with a Player 'X', you should use your observations and findings to implement two important changes into your game plan.
First, you can call with more marginal hands preflop. In fact, you can do that on the flop as well when you are in a late position and he is sitting within two or three seats of your right.
READ ALSO: How to Play Marginal Hands in Poker
Let's look at an example.
If you have 6-7 off-suit in a late position, you should probably not play this hand unless a big multi-way pot is brewing.
However, if it is a medium-size pot and your Player 'X' calls preflop, you may want to call.
If you hit any sort of draw on the flop, there is a good chance that this opponent will give you a free card on the turn.
This is why you can play more drawing hands against this sort of opponent, even if your draw is not stunning.
Need another example?
Let's say that there are five callers (including yourself and this opponent) before the flop and you have 6-7 off-suit.
The flop is K-8-4 and it's checked to this opponent. He bets.
As a result, you must call one small bet to win the six small bets in the pot.
Additionally, one or two other opponents may call behind you on the flop. But let's say you are only getting pot odds of 6-1 on the flop.
Should you call?
The chances of hitting a 5 on the turn or river are approximately 5-1.
However, if you fail to hit the five on the turn, you will probably have to fold, even if you called the flop.
Your odds of hitting a 5 on the river are 10-1 against and you probably won't be getting those sorts of pot odds on the turn.
SEE ALSO: WPT GTO Trainer Hand Review: Three-Betting From the Big Blind
So in reality, you are only calling on the flop to see if you can spike a 5 on the turn, since you won't continue to the river if you miss.
Therefore, the only odds of significance are the odds against hitting a 5 on the turn only.
Since you are approximately 10-1 against hitting a 5 on the turn card, you are not really getting the correct price to call on the flop.
However, if you know that your opponent will bet the flop, then check the turn and give you a free card, you should call the flop by all means.
The odds of hitting a 5 on either the turn or river are approximately 5-1 and since you will be getting a look at both cards for the price of a call on the flop, you can take those 5-1 odds because you are getting 6-1 from the pot, not to mention the large implied odds on offer and the possibility that some other early position opponents will call the flop behind you thereby increasing your pot odds.
This approach comes with three caveats based on the same reasoning.
- If this particular opponent bets again on the turn, you must fold. If it seems that this opponent is unreliable, or becomes unreliable, at automatically 'betting the flop then checking the turn' you must abandon this strategy.
- If another player at the table picks up on this opponent's behavioural pattern as you have and starts messing up your plan by putting in fancy check-raises on the flop and betting our of position on the turn, stay away. Wait for the right time. This fancy player may soften up this opponent further, resulting in more free cards in subsequent pots.
- If this opponent is in an early position, this strategy won't be as effective. If he bets the flop and checks the turn, middle and late position players between you and him are probably going to bet the turn more often which disrupts your free card strategy.
Aside from the free card aspect of this sort of opponent, you should also never try to bluff or semi-bluff him on the turn.
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SEE ALSO: How to Play Pocket Aces in Poker
In my opinion and experience, I have won much more money from players giving me free cards (when they shouldn't) than I have won by semi-bluffing.
This comes back to the motivation for his behaviour: he has a good hand but checks the turn to avoid being raised when the bets are doubled.
Therefore, he intends to call to the showdown and probably has a good enough hand to do so. Don't bluff a caller.
When to Use This Approach
Finally, you should use this bet the flop and check the turn strategy yourself when you are heads-up against a maniac with a reasonably good hand.
Let's say you have A-Q. The maniac raises, you call and it's heads up.
The flop is A-8-6. If you bet here (which I think you should), he will probably raise. In this case, you should simply check and call the turn and river.
This way you avoid losing big bets when you are genuinely behind and avoid being moved off the winning hand.
This article was originally published by Matthew Rochman in July 2005. Last update: February 2020.
If you had always played poker online and never been to a casino or played any poker offline tournaments, then you wouldn’t have come across Burn and Turn in poker. Burning the cards is quite common when you play Texas Hold’em or some of the other poker variants.
Also, if you want to host a perfect poker game, then you need to know what is burn and turn mean in poker. In this article, I’ll explain in detail what is a burn card or when do you have to burn the cards when playing Texas Hold’em poker.
There are a total of three burn cards when you play Texas Hold’em poker. Basically, you take the top card of the deck and Burn(discard) it before you deal the flop, turn, or the river. The burned cards are never revealed to the players. Buring the cards are essential in order to prevent any unfair advantage to the gamblers who cheat using the marked cards. Burning cards is practiced not only in Texas Hold’em but other poker variants that involves play over multiple streets.
This video will help you understand even better what are the rules of Texas Hold’em as well as what is burn and turn in poker. Credit goes to TruePokerDealer.
Burn And Turn Related Questions
I’ll list some of the important questions related to burn and turn. If you have any questions related to them, please leave a comment below. Ok, let us get straight to the questions now.
What does burn mean in poker?
Burn in poker is a term used to discard the top card in the deck before you deal with a flop, turn, or river. The burned (Discarded) cards are not shown to the players sitting at the table. In fact, not even the dealer gets to see the burn card before or after burning it.
Burning the cards is not only practiced in Texas Hold’em but in all other poker variants involving multiple streets or poker variants with multiple community cards.
When do you burn in poker?
In Texas Hold’em poker, you burn one card from the top of the deck before you deal a flop, turn, or a river. I’ll explain what is a flop, turn, and a river below.
- Flop: Flop in Texas Hold’em are the first three community cards that are dealt after the initial betting round (First betting round). The community cards are displayed to all the players sitting at the table. So, before you deal with the first three community cards, you have to burn the top card from the deck and keep it aside.
- Turn: After the dealer deals the flop, a second betting round begins. Once that betting round finishes, the dealer then deals with another community card at the table. And this fourth community card in Texas Hold’em is known as the Turncard. And once again, before you deal with the turn card, you have to first discard the card at the top of the deck and keep it aside.
- River: After the dealer deals the turn card, a third betting round commences. And once the third betting round gets over, the fifth community card or also known as the River card is dealt at the table by the dealer. And once again, before you deal with the River, you have to first discard the card at the top of the deck and keep it aside.
So, in Texas Hold’em you have three burn cards before you deal the flop, turn, and the river. And this practice has to be done in some other poker variants as well.
Do you burn before the flop?
In Texas Hold’em you burn a card three times before dealing flop, Turn, and River. So, yes, you have to burn a card before the flop is dealt at the table by the dealer.
Even though you flop three cards, you burn only one card from the top of the deck. It is important to know that these burned cards are not shown to any of the players. But, you should make sure all the players can clearly see the burned cards.
Where do you keep the burned cards?
Firstly, when a dealer burns a card it is his responsibility that no one at the table sees the card in any way. If anyone does see what the card is, then the purpose of burning the card becomes useless.
Now, when a dealer burns a card he should keep it face-down beside him, in such a way that everyone at the table is able to see the burned cards. Usually, the burned cards are placed in the muck. But, if you don’t have a muck, then it can be placed near the deck where it is visible to everyone at the table. This way everyone at the table will know that you burned the cards as you should.
Now, keep in mind to never place the burned cards inside or below the deck. There isn’t any problem as such if you keep the burned cards in the deck. But, if a player at the table asks you where the burned cards are, then it might cause problems for you. Also, there are some other uses for the burned cards which I’ll explain further in the article. So, to avoid it, it is best to place the burned cards separately beside the deck or placed in the muck.
Why do poker dealers burn cards?
There are several reasons as to why a poker dealer burns a card. I’ll list the uses of burning the cards below.
- To prevent cheating: This is the main reason as to why the poker dealers burn the card. In casinos or cash games, the dealers burn the cards to prevent any participant to take advantage of the marked cards at the table. So that players who might have been able to read markings on that card during the previous round are less able to take advantage of that information during the current round.
- Prevent Second Dealing: Second dealing is the process of dealing with the second card at the top instead of the first card. Second dealing is usually performed when you know what the top card is and you want the second top card to increase your chance of winning. It is basically a form of cheating and can be easily prevented by burning a card before dealing with a flop, turn, or river.
- Extra cards when Irregularities occur: A common irregularity that happens in poker is when a dealer is dealing with the cards, he might accidentally flash the card and if others sitting at the table see the card, then the card has to be replaced. You can use one of the burned cards to replace the card that is exposed. And the exposed card is used as a burned card instead. But, this exposed card is kept face-up so that everyone at the table is able to look at the exposed card.
Is it necessary to Burn and turn when you play poker at your home?
The dealers usually burn card in order to prevent any cheating in Casinos or when poker tournaments are held. Since the burned cards are unknown cards and are not seen by any players, it doesn’t affect the probability in any way. Since burning a card doesn’t affect the game in any way, it is not necessary to burn a card when you play poker at your home for fun.
But, it is considered to be a good practice to burn the cards when you play Texas Hold’em poker. If you want to play poker professionally, then it is better to burn and turn the cards.
What happens when a dealer forgets to burn and turn a card?
When a dealer forgets to burn a card during the dealing of the flop and if a player sitting at the table notices it and asks for the burned card, then the following options can be done.
- If the burned card is present in one of the three flop cards and the dealer recognizes which of the three-card is the burned card, then the dealer re-constructs the flop by showing the burned card to everyone and replacing the burned card with the correct flop card from the deck. The exposed card is burned and kept aside with the other burned cards at the table.
- If the burned card is present in one of the three flop cards and the dealer isn’t %100 sure which card is the burned card, then in this case the flop stands. The next top card is burned and is used as the burned card for the flop so that proper burned cards can be used for Turn and River.
- If the dealer forgets to burn a card during the dealing of a flop, and a player notices only after the betting round finishes, then the flop stands. The next top card is burned just like in the previous case when the dealer isn’t 100% sure of the burned card. This way at least for the turn and river the right cards are burned.
These were some of the common questions related to burn and turn in poker. If you have any further questions related to it, then please leave a comment below. If you are interested, then you can take a look at my other blogs related to poker. Thanks for reading.
I am the owner of the site rohithebbar.com. I love playing poker and other card games.