Professor Backwards

Professor Backwards now considers the problems with continuation betting.

A continuation bet is made after the flop by the player who took the lead in betting before the flop.

Most players discover continuation betting, realise the potential it has over weaker players, and start pursuing it with total abandon. The power of continuation betting is such that at times it can see that you should basically always fire out at any flop, but problems very quickly arise for players who start taking this technique too far.

Poker - like most things in the world - is primarily a game of balance. Although continuation betting is essential to winning a good amount of pots, it can prove very costly if you do not balance with a decent mix of check raises, check folds, and calling. Predictability is a very easy thing to take advantage of in poker, and predictability in betting patterns can soon lead to your opponents running rings around you.

Continuation betting should be based on a few basic factors. Firstly, if your opponent is a calling station you should be continuation betting much less frequently – just pick up a hand and extract as much value as possible from them. Conversely, if you are playing very tight players, you should be firing at a much higher frequency, simply because they will be folding the vast majority of the time.

Secondly, you want to try and consider the texture of the board. Continuation betting works much better on unconnected boards, and identifying which kinds of flop to fire at is crucial to long term success. A flop like 6h7h9c is a much more dangerous flop to fire at than one like Kc8h2s. Boards that contain a large number of possible draws usually induce calling much more often than boards with few options. Many players start habitually firing at connected boards, and pay the price when their opponent calls, the board deteriorates further (such as four to a straight or flush), and they end up facing very tough decisions later on in the hand.

Continuation betting is crucial to playing well, but taking it too far makes your play very predictable and easy to take advantage of. It needs to not only be balanced with a range of other actions, but also considered in terms of the key factors of the hand before you make these bets. The importance of balance is perhaps nowhere better illustrated than in the area of continuation betting, and making sure your continuation bets remains balanced and considered is crucial to long term success.