We recently covered a complete strategy for c-betting on ace-high boards, and now we will dive deeper into high-card flops from KsQs9d to Jh6d2s.
Like before, we will use PeakGTO to analyze these examples. We will cover both connected and dry boards while being IP and OOP so you will fully understand how to play in these situations. Let’s jump straight into the hands.
C-Betting On High-Card Boards In Position – Jh6d2s vs Kh7c6c
While the strategy changes based on your position and opening ranges since you play more hands from the BTN than in earlier positions, many of the underlying principles work similarly.
Therefore, we will concentrate on examples with wide ranges and cover situations when we open from the BTN and get called by the big blind. Here are assumptions we will be using:
- The hand is played 100 bb deep
- We are opening from the button
- Big blind calls and checks to us on the flop
Let’s take an example of Jh6d2s and see how our strategy looks on this dry board.
In this situation, we should be c-betting with 74% of our range, usually picking the bigger size of 2/3rds of the pot. That said, we also use small sizing quite a bit so we will have to mix between these two options.
Increasing c-bet size helps deny your opponent’s equity and put him in much tougher situations with overcards and runner runner draws.
As you can see, the entire betting range uses a mixed strategy, but some of the highest-frequency bets are overpairs, strong top-pairs, and even second pairs with an overcard to the board. These bets are accompanied by gutshots and some runner-runner draws for balance.
Similar strategy applies for Kxx and Qxx boards. As a rule of thumb, the lower the highest card, the less often you will be c-betting.
If we take the example of a more connected board like Kh7c6c, we will have to make some adjustments.
The most obvious difference is that we will now be checking back more often, and our c-betting range is only 59% in this situation. We will also want to use smaller bet sizes more often than big ones, which might initially be counterintuitive.
Our betting range is fairly mixed here as well, but you want to be c-betting top pairs most of the time.
What is interesting is that a game theory optimal strategy is using your air hands such as Q9s, J5s, and even small Ax hands as a bluff. Since BB should be 3-betting most of the strong Kx hands preflop, we can get away with this strategy and get many folds.
Key takeaways
- You should be betting more often on dry boards (around 70% of the time vs 60% on connected ones)
- You should be using bigger bet sizing on dry boards more often than the small one, and vice versa on wet flops
- The lower the highest card is, the less often you need to be c-betting
C-Betting On High-Card Boards OOP – Kh6s2d vs KsQs9d
When you find yourself out of position, you will need to adjust your approach significantly and check more hands, so let’s analyze a few examples with these assumptions:
- We are playing 100bb deep
- We are opening from the CO
- BTN calls, and both of the blinds folds
Let’s firstly look at the dry board of Kh6s2d.
Even being OOP, the solver suggests betting around 60% of the time. It also clearly favors big bet sizes, picking a 2/3 pot size bet in almost all situations because of a significant range advantage.
With the mixed strategy across the board with the same hands betting some of the time and checking the rest, it is not easy to group specific hands that you want to play one way or another. One thing that we can distinguish is that you want to be c-betting your top-pairs a lot of the time, and add air hands with a runner runner potential as the bluffs.
If we go to more connected boards and take KsQs9d as an example, our c-betting % shrinks even further.
Here we end up c-betting around 46% of the time, this time almost always picking small sizing of around 1/3rd of the pot.
While we end up using a mixed strategy here as well, you should end up c-betting all of your strong hands around two-thirds of the time, followed with bluffs that do not have any showdown value.
It is worth noticing that in situations where there is no flush draw on the board you will need to c-bet much more frequently. For instance, if we take the same flop cards but make it KsQh9d, you need to c-bet over 80% of the time since your opponent will have significantly fewer hands with the right pot odds where they can profitably continue.
Key takeaways
- Use big bet sizing on dry boards and small bets on connected ones
- C-bet less often on wet flops to protect your entire range
- Bet more often if there is no flush draw
