Texas Holdem Turn

Playing the turn card

The turn card is the fourth card dealt face up and is common to everyone’s hand. Some poker pundits have suggested that the turn plays itself. While you can’t play the turn on autopilot, you shouldn’t get yourself into too much trouble unless you’ve already made the mistake of seeing the turn when you shouldn’t have. If that’s the case, you’ve already thrown good money after bad.

Much of the time you won’t even see the turn. You’ll have thrown away most of your hands before the flop and released others once you saw that the flop didn’t fit. If there’s no logical reason to be in the pot by the turn, you should have folded. It’s very easy to squander your bankroll one bet at a time. Poor players do just that, calling one more bet and then another. While calling one bet may be insignificant by itself, collectively it can break you. If you’ve made it to the turn you should be holding a good hand, a promising draw, or believe your bluff can pick up the pot.

What to do when you improve on the turn

Your hand can improve on the turn in one of two ways. The first, and best, happens whenever the turn card improves your hand. But you’ll also benefit if you had a good hand going in, and the turn – while not helping your hand – did nothing to improve your opponent’s either. If you have top two pair on the turn and an opponent bets, you should usually raise. If you are in late position and none of your opponents have acted, go ahead and bet. If you’re in early position, check with the intention of raising if you are fairly certain one of your opponents will bet.

If you think your opponents might also check, forget about trying to checkraise and come out betting. If you have the best hand, betting gets more money into the pot and makes it expensive for anyone to draw-out on you. But it’s not a totally risk-free strategy. If your opponent has made a set or turned a straight, you can count on being raised or reraised.

What to do when you don’t improve on the turn
It’s unfortunate, but true: Most of the time the turn card will not help you.
What’s a player to do? If you have an open-ended straight or flush draw and you’re up against two or more opponents, you should usually call a bet on the turn. However, if the board is paired and there’s a bet and raise in front of you, be wary. You may be facing a full house. If you are, you’re drawing dead.

You may be facing a set or two pair. Once again, knowing your opponents will help you determine what they might be holding. If you’re up against someone who never raises a three-suited board unless he can beat that probable flush, release your hand. If the turn didn’t help and there is a bet in front of you, not only has the cost gone up, but the number of future betting rounds has decreased. You have less opportunity to punish your opponents if you make your hand. Moreover, many of them will probably fold on the turn too, leaving you with fewer opponents to punish, if indeed you were to get lucky on the river.

Should you continue with a draw? Flopping four-flush or an open-ended straight draw is a common situation. If it’s relatively inexpensive, you’ll invariably stay for the turn card – particularly when you’re certain yours will be the best hand if you make it. But most of the time the turn card will not help you. Players call that a stiff After all, if you’ve flopped a four-flush there are only nine remaining cards of your suit in the deck.

Even if you don’t complete your straight or flush on the turn, it usually pays to see the river card in hopes that deliverance is at hand, and you can reap the rewards.

Should you checkraise or come out betting?

Suppose you were dealt Q-J, flopped an open ended straight draw when 10-9-5 showed up on board and made your hand when an 8 appeared on the turn. If you’re really lucky, one of your opponents holds 7-6, or 5-7 and made a smaller straight. You’d love to see that, since they’d be drawing dead, absent flush possibilities.

If you try for a checkraise and your opponents all check behind you, you’ve cost yourself some money. Should you bet, hoping to get some more money into the pot? Or are you better off checkraising and trying for a bigger payday, bearing in mind you may not get any money into the pot at all if your opponents also check.

It’s time to put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and do some detective work by reconstructing the play of the hand. Was there a lot of action before the flop, suggesting that your opponents held big hands or big pairs? Did they raise on the flop, suggesting they might have been trying to force any straight draws to fold? Or did they just check and call, suggesting that they were also on the come, and have now made their hand -albeit a lesser one than yours.

But an opponent holding a single big pair might also check, since the turn showed straight possibilities. If you think this is the case, you’re better off leading with a bet, since she may call, but would throw her hand away if she were the bettor and you raised. If your opponent was also drawing, you might want to check, hoping she will try to steal the pot by bluffing. Another possibility is that she made a smaller straight than yours, and will bet from late position. If that’s the case, you can raise with the assurance she will not lay her hand down – even if she suspects you have the nut straight.