Bloggers / Matthew Pitt / 20 May 2009 / Leave a comment

There have been a number of articles on this site recently relating to heads-up games but a topic that has not yet appeared is betting the flop when the action has not been raised preflop.

When a player has raised preflop it is natural to check the action to the preflop aggressor so he or she can make a continuation bet as they see the pot as theirs. However, if the action is unraised, neither player "owns" the pot and neither player is representing a big hand, so you can claim more than your fair share of pots in the correct circumstances.

An important factor in betting to win an unraised pot is your position. If you are in position in an unraised pot then your opponent has essentially checked both pre and post flop, so you should be inclined to bet a higher percentage of time than you usually would be inclined to do so.

Secondly, you need to take into consideration the playing style of your opponent in that are they loose or tight players. Loose-aggressive players are more likely to call bets with holdings such as King-high whereas a tight-passive player is much more likely to give up with such a hand, which depending on the texture of the flop, could actually be the best hand right now.

The most obvious factor should be your hand strength although you should not be sat waiting to flop a pair before betting in an unraised pot, instead you should be willing to take numerous shots with relatively weak holdings when the pot has not been raised preflop.

High-card hands come in two varieties, weak and good. Weak high-card hands, such as T7 are rarely going to win the pot at showdown, so it can be worth taking a stab at the pot early in the hand and giving up to any resistance.

Good high-card hands include any ace of picture card as these are often good enough to win at showdown unimproved. Unfortunately, despite this fact they are rarely strong enough to bet for value so again you should be prepared to make a bet early in the hand but be inclined to check the hand down if possible.

Middle or even bottom pair is usually good enough heads-up but you do not want to be playing for a large pot unless your opponent is particularly loose. Any hand that equates to top pair or better is more than strong enough to bet each street for value on. When you flop a vulnerable top pair, such as when you have a weak kicker on a drawy or wet board you should still be prepared to bet for value but tend to make your early bets on the larger side to put off your opponent from calling you down.

The last of the hands to mention are draws, which you should almost always bet aggressively, basically for the fact your hand will often be good even if you miss your draw. For example, you may have a nut flush draw but even if you do not make your flush your bare ace will win a good percentage of the time.

Heads-up poker is all about aggression so you need a very good reason not to go on the offensive and attack your opponents and by doing so in unraised, often weakly contested pots, you can add to your stack allowing you to take more risks later in the game.

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