Check-raising OOP on the turn after betting flop

Check-raising OOP on the turn after betting flop

I was reading NLH for advanced players by Matthew Janda and was confused by one example.

Hero: HJ open with 88
Villain: BTN call
Flop: Qh8h5d

Here, he c-bets OOP on the flop and then checks the turn, planning to check-raise if villain bets. Why do we check-raise the turn instead of continuing to bet with 88?

03 January 2026 at 02:44 PM
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8 Replies



Is this the suggested plan for every turn?


It’s hard to get value OOP

I’m guessing back in the day, button calls were wide, but if you checked and showed weakness, they would take a stab in his games

If you bet, it indicates that you can beat a queen and if villain can’t, he’ll likely nit fold.
If it checks thru, he was probably folding anyway.

You want him to think even a weak queen is good, and you discourage that story with a bet. Overall, you try to determine how strong villain is, because you don’t ever want him folding when you’re that strong.


Havent read the book so might be not what the author meant (am also a bad poker player so might be plain wrong).

In theory, you dont have to continue betting even your strongest value hands OOP, because you can check raise and get money that way - from hands that villain will value bet, but also from bluffs, that wouldnt have called another bet. Moreover, if you always continue betting your strong hands for value, your checking range becomes very weak and unprotected, making you check fold turn too often, which can be exploited by someone who plays with you for a while (note that just "protecting your x range" is not a reason to check on its own, the check has to not be worse than a bet, and in theory i believe it isnt) - and most of the microstakes population plays exactly like that, which in turn makes a lot of population bet too much after you check, making xr even better.

In reality, it depends on the oppponent - some people will bet any two (that they wouldnt necessarily have called if you bet) if you check to them in this position, some will check back anything but nuts, but would have called second pair if you bet again - against the first type, xr is better, against the latter just bet bet bet. But against an unknown or a strong opponent, i believe in theory both options are valid.


This is a bright question. If the book says X does that mean I have to do X?

No, it doesn't. Against the theoretical V in the book scenario maybe the play makes sense. But your table is not the one from the book. Be aware that the play is in the bag but don't become predictable by having a 1 page playbook.

Formerly KilgoreTrout


think about how the preflop affects flop, and how that affect turn.

BTN call is weak but has alot of queens on the flop. c betting flop i would say is nonstandard as theres no range advantage and oop (checking is standard), but it could get value out of queens and prevents the flop from checking through.

that means the turn is nonstandard because it was played nonstandard on the flop

most likely he trying to get more value out of a queen or flushdraw that calls on the flop. Button has a range advantage on the flop, a cbetting is a strong move and really shouldn't be a large cbet. He most likely doesn't want to double barrel and push too much fold equity on the turn with a good hand.


Which page is this on?
I recall check/raise strat with pair and draw type hands where villain check back and bet lines are both favourable, i.e. realising sdv, pressuring top pair and possibility to improve. But with a set oop i think we ought to double barrel.

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You didn't say what the turn was, but I'm guessing it has to do with range equity advantage. After we bet flop and button folds all their trash hands, they likely arrive to many turns with a range advantage. We still have some low equity hands in our range that chose to cbet, but all his lowest equity hands fold to the flop bet. This incentivizes us to check the turn a lot with our entire range. He often stabs when checked to with both made hands and draws/bluffs.

Edit: Not sure if this is Janda's reasoning, but it is one relevant factor.

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