Poker: Betting to gain information.

While playing some 3/6 holdem this weekend, there was a gentleman sitting to my left who had some idea what he was doing. In fact, he was a better than average player, for the limit.

More than once, however, he did something that I considered to be a mistake. He checked the flop with a mediocre holding that was likely to be best given the action. Each time, I mentioned casually that it surprised me that he didn't bet or raise there. His response, each time, was the same, "well, I wanted to see where I stood."

Here's my problem with that line of reasoning: It's very difficult, if not impossible, to "see where you stand" by doing nothing. This is one of those situations where you need to put a bet or raise out there and force a reaction out of your opponents. Only from those reactions can you truly judge where you stand in the hand.

Here's an example:

He's in the big blind with Kx, and sees a free flop with three limpers. The flop is K-rag-rag. Considering the limit, and the lack of quality players at the table, you can lay odds that the limpers all have Ax type hands. Possibly, one of them has a random suited hand, or connecting cards like 78.

A vast majority of the time, your naked king will be best here, but you need to know whether it's best, in order to maximize the payoff for the long-run. So, you bet out. If you get raised, then you know you're likely up against a bigger king (like AK, or KQ) or a random Kx that flopped 2-pair, or even a small set. You have a lot more information and can decide (based on implied odds and your opponents' playing styles) whether it's worth it to chase 2-pair or trips, or whether you should just fold here.

But, if you check, and it checks around to someone in late position, who then bets, what does that really tell you? That guy could have some kind of hand, or it could just be a position bet. What do you do now? You've just put yourself in a position where you have a difficult decision to make. Poker is all about making the right decisions; the best possible decisions. Putting yourself in a position of having to make a difficult decision with as little information as possible is a losing proposition.

Alternately, suppose you check, and it gets checked around. Now the turn comes, and you think you know where you stand, because no one else bet either. So you bet out. It's likely one of two things will happen here:

1. Everyone folds and win a small pot (as little as you possibly could, as a matter of fact), or
2. You get raised, because someone just caught a freak monster for free (i.e., had 33, and would have folded to a bet on the flop, but hit his 2-outer on the turn when a 3 came; a 24:1 shot that you gave him infinate odds to hit).

Either one of these situations is a travesty. If you're gonna win the hand, you should be thinking about what to do to make the pot as big as possible. And you certainly should not be giving someone free looks when calling a bet for them would have been a statistical mistake.