Manne wrote:
When you're working your way to the Main Event, you should take any free card that comes your way. How do you get one? A free card in poker is when you are able to see the next card in a hand without having to call a bet. This sort of play is very important in tournaments where every chip counts and can help you when it comes to post-flop play.
A free card play can prevent your opponent from betting to you on the turn, which will save you more money than if you were going to call a bet on the flop and another bet on the turn to see the river. These plays work best when you’re heads-up against an opponent and others aren’t going to interfere.
To do this properly, you should be the first to act and most importantly, you should have a strong drawing hand. Let's say you're holding As6s and the flop reads QsJc5s. You opt to check this flop to see if you can get the free card. If your opponent cheeks, great, it worked. If they bet, though, you should make it expensive for them and re-raise.
When you check-raise, it hides the true strength of your hand and gives you a chance to see that free card on the turn if your opponent calls the re-raise. When the turn card comes, and you check once again, your opponent is going to be less likely to place a bet because of your aggression on the flop. The more you do to disguise your hand strength, the more uncertainly you give the rest of the table about your play.
Of course, you should never give a free card to your opponent if you think they might have a better card than you. You'll have to practice this, but thankfully, Bovada has plenty of free and low-stakes cash games that let you play without much risk at all.
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