LearnModule T2 · Defending the turn
T2-L2
Leading and check-raising the turn
How the caller attacks the turn out of position: leading after a checked flop, and check-raising a second barrel.
In this lesson
- Lead the turn rarely: only with hands that want a big pot now.
- Build a turn check-raise mostly from strong made hands, with a few of the strongest draws.
- Choose between check-call, check-raise and a lead by hand class.
- Size a turn lead for the stacks left behind.
Check-raising the turn
Out of position against a turn bet, the strongest move is the check-raise. It is also the most expensive one, and Rail's solves keep it narrow: the big blind raises mostly with straights, sets and two pairs, and only a few strong draws join them.
The reason is the stacks. A turn raise in a single-raised pot sets up a river all-in; a draw that raises and misses has to give up a big pot or bluff the rest. Strong made hands raise because they want all the money in, and they still win when called.
Leading the turn
Leading into the raiser on the turn — after calling the flop, or after the flop checked through — is a small part of a sound strategy. In Rail's solves it is rare in both lines, and the hands that lead are the ones that want a big pot at once: strong made hands that improved, and the strongest draws.
Everything else checks: the raiser bets often enough to do the work, and your medium hands keep their showdown value.
Size for the stacks behind
When you lead or raise to build a pot, size it so the stacks go in by the river. Say there are 20 bb in the pot and 40 bb behind. Two equal bets of f times the pot get it all in when (1 + 2f)² = 1 + 2 × 40 / 20 = 5, which is about 62% of the pot on each street.
The same count, with deeper stacks, says why a turn raise in a single-raised pot is so big a commitment: with nearly 100 bb behind, it is the only street left to grow the pot before the river shove.
- SPR
- 2
- Geometric bet each street
- 35.5% of the pot · 7.1 bb
- Called pot-sized bets the stacks hold
- 1.5
Rules of thumb
- Check-raise the turn mostly with strong made hands, plus a few of the strongest draws.
- Lead the turn rarely: only hands that want a big pot now.
- Check-call your medium hands; let the raiser bet.
- Size leads and raises so the stacks go in by the river.
When they break
- Against a raiser who barrels every turn, check-raise a few more draws.
- Against one who checks back too much, lead more of your thin value.
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 2 rightTwo turns out of position facing a bet: put each hand class into fold, call or raise, graded class by class against Rail's turn solve.
Exercise 2
Pass: 2 of 4 rightFour turns out of position as the preflop caller, first to act, dealt hands where the solve mixes: bet or check?
Exercise 3
OptionalYour own turn decisions out of position as the preflop caller, the costliest first.
Sign in to practise on your own hands.
Module T2 review · Defending the turn
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.