The turn is a very interesting part of poker. Players usually pay a lot of attention to how they should approach pre-flop and flop bets. Ultimately, they often analyze what to do after the river as well.
Yet, the turn is somehow neglected as one of those unimportant bets that are just bridging the hand between the flop bet and the river.
One of the primary mistakes that many new players make is to neglect the turn betting round. It’s of vital importance to be 100 percent focused on the game all the time and consider the turn an equal betting round to other betting rounds.
The strategy that many poker players seem to hold as ultimately true is the following one.
Don’t Be Afraid To Fold On The Turn
When’s the time to assess the strength of your hand? The right answer is — at the start of every betting round. Therefore, once the turn card is face up, make sure to check whether you have some chances of winning the hand at all. If your answer is not positive, you must do what seems the most logical thing to do, and that’s folding.
The thing with this betting round is that many players feel that they already invested a lot by that point. Hence, they often jump the boat and call other bets, or even raise them, despite the fact that they don’t have an objective chance to win.
Before you do anything out of the ordinary, therefore, remember that folding is still a valid option and that losing less money is always better than losing more.
Possible Turn Scenarios and How to Handle Them
There are a couple of scenarios that you can face on the turn.
First of all, you can have a really strong hand, and the answer to this is rather straightforward — make that hand count. However, make sure to see how other players react to your bets and how ready they are to call or raise.
The other possible scenario is that you don’t have that strong of a hand but that you continued to bluff your way out. If you already made a continuation bet, now it’s the time to pull fire a second barrel.
This is a type of tactic which is mostly pulled off by poker professionals. If you’re not experienced enough to make this type of bluff, you might end up being exposed by other players.
One of the possible scenarios is just to call and have a medium hand on the turn. At this point, calling is more of a tool that would help you see how other players would react and what they would play.
Often, players waiting for a draw on the flop are eager to repeat the same strategy on the turn if the situation if good enough to do so. Therefore, if the stakes are still not too high, and you think there’s a good chance for a draw, you should do it.
Just remember to recalculate the odds in your head and see whether it’s worth the risk.
These were just some of the possible scenarios that could occur on the turn. What you need to remember is that the turn should never be neglected.
Every betting round is there to reveal additional information about other players and should be approached as such. Therefore, try to stay focused on the turn and make the most logical decision.
However, you need to remember that there’s almost always risk involved, so don’t forget about the element of luck while playing.