When you have mastered a good set of starting hands in No Limit Texas Hold’em the next skill to master is what you do after the flop, known as post flop play. This is where you are facing off against the players who have put chips into the pot showing they have an interest in winning the pot. There are a variety of ways that you can dissuade them from continuing in the pot, but you must now start to consider various factors relating to the position of your opponent, their chip stack and likely hole cards in relation to the three community cards dealt. You will also have some idea over the current and potential strength of your own hand.

If you are faced with one opponent, hopefully they will be in the blinds and it will be checked to you. This normally means that the player holds a card like AJ or AQ and has missed the flop. In Baseball terms they took a swing and missed. They are checking to you probably expecting a continuation bet, and then they will fold. Against one opponent, you should make the continuation bet most of the time. Obviously you should check the flop sometimes to avoid becoming predictable. In any poker games, becoming predictable is very bad news as a good player will use that against you. Against more than one opponent, your chances of being called are increased so bluff continuation bet less frequently.

Flop texture is of great importance post flop. If the flop is all one suit then a pot with three or more players in is likely to hold one of more flush draws, even the made flush on occasion. If, for example, you hold KQ both hearts and the flop comes down 7h-8h-3h then only a player holding the Ah could be beating you, but only if they hold another heart. (You can consider yourself very unlucky if your second nut flush walks straight into the nuts here). If a heart were to fall on the turn or river this makes you slow down a little. Should your opponent make a big re-raise on the river they may have the Ah that beats you. Any knowledge of how your opponent plays would come into force here. How likely would this particular player re-raise without the nut hand? Decide and proceed accordingly.

You need to be aware of the pre flop action and contrast that against the post flop action to decide if you are beat. When faced with a re-raise on the flop your thought process should go something like this; “The player limped in before the flop and called my raise. He is now re-raising on a relatively draw free board, therefore a likely hand of his could be two pair, or a set. This beats my Ace high and I should let go after making the continuation bet, which did not get the fold I hoped for”. You would fold in this spot as his range is far higher than yours. Note how the continuation bet gave you good information. You may have lost these chips but you could have lost a lot more if you checked and invested more chips on the turn and river, believing they were weak.

If you flop a draw you can try and buy a free card. You make your continuation bet in the hope that you hit on the turn. If you do not, your opponent called your flop bet and unless he has hit a big hand he will check to you. Most of the time, a player knowing you are firing plays tricky in this spot and looks to extract value from you by check calling all the way to the showdown. But you do not bet on the turn, you check and have a free look at the river. This means that after the flop bet where you are buying your turn and river cards, you invest no more money into the pot unless you hit your hand. For maximum value you should have a very strong draw when making this play. You should read many of the other poker strategy articles on the Internet that further improve your post flop poker play. This is where the big money gets put into pots, so getting better at post flop situations helps your bankroll grow rather than shrink.

By Malcolm Clarke