Middle Limit Texas Holdem Turn Strategy

Top Fixed Limit Texas Holdem Online Poker Room
	/	% Bonus up to &
	Full Tilt Poker is best online poker room to play fixed limit texas holdem. .... Read review

In Middle Limit Texas Holdem Poker how you play the turn will ultimately determine whether you are a winning middle limit player or a losing middle limit player. If you can learn to play the turn well you will dramatically improve your poker game.

On the turn the bets are doubled and this is what really affects how most players play this street. In a $30/$60 limit game all bets will be $60 on the turn. This is where you will learn just how good your opponent’s hands may be. Many players try to use the earlier (and cheaper) streets to mislead you about the true strength of their hand. You’ll see opponents with weak hands trying to act as is if they have a powerful hand and players with powerful hands trying to get you to believe that their hand is weak.

The turn is where you find out just what they might really have. If you see that a player that you are up against represents a different type of hand on the turn then on the flop, then most likely it is their turn play that shows the true strength of their hand. When a player slowplays the flop and then bets aggressively on the turn chances are they have a good hand. In fact, many players have a habit of slowplaying good hands on the flop.

In order to play the turn correctly you must be aggressive. Follow through on your bets especially on the turn. Not following through on bets can cause you lose quite a bit of money. Why give an opponent the chance to get a free card when they might fold if you bet. Your show of weakness may prompt your opponent to seize the initiative and bet back at you. Then it’s up to you to figure out if they have something that can beat you or not.

In general, Texas Holdem Poker rewards aggressive players and on the turn aggressiveness is more important than on any other street. You will find that most players will fold their marginal hands on the turn when faced with a bet. This is because the bet is twice the size of the flop. Many players play their marginal hands on the flop hoping to hit it. When they don’t hit the flop and you bet the majority of them will fold. If you don’t bet and allow them to see a free card on the turn, that free card could end up helping their hand and keeping them in the game and possibly beat you. When you’ve been aggressive on the flop you should usually be aggressive on the turn especially with hands like top pair or an overpair. Even on hands where you had a draw on the flop, bet the flop and ended up missing it can be a situation where you should be aggressive. Let’s take a look at an example:

You raised preflop with A-K suited on the flop and did not connect with the flop. Now on the turn you are up against one or two other players. A bet could win the pot right here. Of course, if you are up against a very tight player or a player that calls every hand I wouldn’t recommend this type of play. A tight player most likely played the flop with a good hand and if they bet back at you on the turn you can assume they have a good hand – better than you’re A-K suited that missed the flop. The calling station will call your hand no matter what and given that you only have two high cards that are probably not enough to keep playing through to the river and continue dumping more money into the pot.

The truth is that many of the cards on the turn will not help your hand. They may end up helping one of your opponents. But you can’t just take it easy on your opponents if the turn card doesn’t help you. You need to take a look at that card and decide just how bad was that card.

Deciding whether or not you should bet again on the flop means that you have to do a little analysis. You have to see what your position is. How many other players are in the hand. How could the turn card have helped them? Determining the answer to these will help you figure out whether another bet is in order or not.

If you are in early position and check that is a sign of weakness. Typically when you check the turn your opponent will bet and you will end up calling the bet. It ends up costing you the same if you were to bet and your opponent were to call. The difference is that you were the aggressor and did not tip the other player off that the turn card did not help you and it may have hurt you. Checking and calling also do not give you the chance win the pot on the turn. Being aggressive gives you the change for an instant win.

Being last to act and checking to an opponent that checked in early position will let you play the turn for free. But this strategy often backfires and leads to an aggressive play on the river by your opponent who will most likely see your check on the turn as a sign of weakness. A bet when acting last on the turn can lead to seeing a free showdown. Getting a free showdown on a marginal hand when you have position on an opponent is an important turn betting concept.

Top Fixed Limit Texas Holdem Online Poker Room
	/	% Bonus up to &
	Full Tilt Poker is best online poker room to play fixed limit texas holdem. .... Read review

Let’s revisit our earlier hand – A-K suited where you bet preflop, were called by your opponent and then you bet the flop. This bet was also called. Now you’re not sure if the other player has a good draw, a middle pair or even a huge hand. The turn card comes and it looks like something that helps no one and your opponent checks.  Bet the turn to hopefully get you opponent to check the river. If they do that you get a free showdown.

Now if you end up getting check-raised your opponent probably has a pretty good hand and folding here is not a big deal. As it is, checking decent hands and winning by getting free cards is not a common occurrence.

You can also use a raise to get a free showdown on the river as well. If you take our advice and play the starting hands that we recommend you will get a table image of a tight player. If the raise to get a free showdown is successful, when you reveal that your hand was a high or mid pair with a decent kicker the other players will have a difficult time reading you on later hands. The next time that you bet into them they won’t know what kind of hand you have.

Playing Scare Cards on the Turn

I’ll use an example to illustrate scare cards and how to play on the turn. You are holding Q-Q in late position and have been playing them aggressively both preflop and on the flop. The turn card is an A and you’re not sure if it helped someone else’s hand or not. All of the players have checked to you. Here’s a perfect time to put in a bet and play like the A helped your hand. Not betting shows your opponent that the A did not help your hand and will signal an opportunity for your opponent to bet into you at the River.

When a scare card shows up on the turn take into account how many players are in the hand. When you are up against two or more players there is a good chance that the scare card has helped someone. Against one opponent checking is not a good idea. If you get him to fold you win the pot. When you are in a heads up match like this and have a bad hand you use the bet to steal the pot, if you have a decent hand you bet to see if your opponent has a good hand or not. Checking would not get your opponent to fold nor will it tell you if he has any kind of a hand.

Of course you don’t want to play the same way all of the time. On occasion you would check or check raise. If you check and end up getting raised you can also fold. You do want to be aggressive but you also don’t want to be predictable. If your opponents’ betting on earlier play leads you to believe that they have good hand then folding is a smart option.

If you are up against two players getting one to fold won’t win you the hand but a bet may get you information on what type of hand they may have. If you are up against three or more players than I strongly recommend that you check. A bet would definitely not get all of the players to fold and it is very likely that the scare card helped at least one of them out.

Another key component in analyzing scare cards and how you should play them is to evaluate just how bad the card is and to also consider the type of players that you are up against as well. Are your opponents aggressive, do they like to check-raise etc…

So when a scare card comes on the turn, analyze it and plan your move from there. Typically one over card shouldn’t be enough to stop you from betting but as I said previously, do consider the number of opponents, their style of play…

Summary of Turn Play

One thing that I’m sure you’ve gotten is that aggression is the key when playing the turn in Middle Limit Texas Holdem. Use bets to force players out of hands, to find out how strong an opponent’s hand is and to put you into position to win the showdown. The turn is where you will learn the true nature of your opponents’ hands as well.

Most raisers on the turn can beat top pair or overpair on the turn especially with several players still in the hand. The more coordinated the board the more trouble you could be in. You need to make sure you have enough outs to play and you also can’t lay your hand down every time. A good player will see this and raise you every time.

There are many things to assess on the turn – the number of opponents, the texture of the board, the strength of your own hand, your reads on your opponents and the play of your opponents. Take all of these factors into account as you decide how to play the hand.

Site			US	Rating	Bonus	Review	Visit
1.		Bodog			$1100	Review	Play Now
2.		Party Poker			$500	Review	Play Now
3.		Carbon Poker			$600	Review	Play Now
4.		Pokerstars			$600	Review	Play Now
5.		Cake Poker			$600	Review	Play Now