LearnModule T1 · Betting again
T1-L4
The turn after a checked flop
How to play the turn after both players checked the flop: leading out of position, betting in position, and defending against both.
In this lesson
- Explain how a checked flop caps both ranges in different ways.
- Explain why Rail's solve rarely leads the turn out of position, even after the flop checks through.
- Bet the turn in position after the flop checks through.
- Defend sensibly against turn leads and delayed bets.
Two capped ranges
When the big blind checks and the button checks back, both ranges have lost something. The button bets most of its strong hands on the flop, so its checking range holds fewer of them. The big blind checked first with everything, so its range is wide, but it did not lead with its best hands either.
Who gains from that depends on the next card, and on what each range still hides. The button's checks still hold some strong hands kept back on purpose; the big blind's range is uncapped but full of weak hands.
Betting in position after the check
When the big blind checks again on the turn, Rail's solve has the button bet often: more often than on many turns after a called flop bet. Its range is capped, but the big blind's has shown two checks and holds a lot of hands that cannot stand a bet.
The price is the flop's: a bet of three quarters of the 5.5 bb pot is about 4.1 bb, and as a pure bluff it needs about 42.7% folds. Against a range that checked twice, it often gets them.
- Alpha: folds needed
- 42.7%
- EV if it never wins when called
- +0.22 bbProfitable
Leading out of position
A lead on the turn after the flop checks through is called a probe. In Rail's turn solves, the big blind leads rarely, even here: the hands that lead most often are made straights and strong draws, and the rest of its range checks and lets the button bet.
Facing the button's bet, the big blind defends as usual: against 4.1 bb into 5.5 bb, minimum defence is 5.5 / 9.6, about 57%, of the range that checked.
Rules of thumb
- After the flop checks through, bet the turn in position often when checked to again.
- A bluff of three quarters of the pot still needs about 43% folds; two checks often supply them.
- Out of position, lead only with hands that want a big pot now; check the rest.
- Defend a turn bet with at least the share minimum defence asks.
When they break
- Against a big blind who check-raises the turn a lot, check back more medium hands.
- Against a button who never bets when checked to twice, lead your thin value yourself.
Example hands
Examples come from two places only: your own analysed hands in this lesson's spots, and a hand Rail deals and grades itself. Never a hand from outside Rail.
Sign in, with analysed hands, to see examples from your own play here.
Rail scripts this hand from the lesson's own practice, always the same one, and grades it with the analysis. Decide first, then read Rail's verdict.
Practice
The lesson is mastered when every exercise below that Rail can grade is passed. Missed items come back later as review cards.
Exercise 1
Pass: 2 of 4 rightFour turns after the flop checked through and the big blind checked again: bet or check, graded by Rail's turn solve.
Exercise 2
Pass: 2 of 2 rightTwo turns as the big blind after the flop checked through: put each hand class into check or bet, graded class by class.
Exercise 3
OptionalYour own first turn decisions after a checked flop in single-raised pots, the costliest first.
Sign in to practise on your own hands.
Module T1 review · Betting again
6 items mixed across this module's lessons: a spot from one lesson, a sum from another. Telling which idea a spot asks for is half of it. Missed items join your review cards; the score is not kept.