Continuation Bet

This poker strategy is definitely one of the most used advanced table actions in poker. Dan Harrington, winner of the 1995 WSOP writes about it in his books, and approximately 90-95% of the poker players online use it. Technically spoken it's a bluff, so it's wise not to overuse it and keep your moves credible.

The continuation bet or c-bet is used when you miss the flop, but pretend to have hit it, after your bet, or pre flop raise. Most likely, the person who has called your raise has missed the flop as well, unless he is slow playing you with a premium pocket pair.

Let's assume you hold AK suited in middle position, and make a regular bet of 3 or 4 times the big blind. There's just one caller. The flop comes with no face cards on the table, and you're first to act. You didn't hit, but if your opponent just called to see the flop holding two face cards, he missed as well. He might also have called with Ax, and hit a lower pair. (More on this soon.)

By raising AK suited you hope to either pick up the blinds straight away, or hitting the flop so you can follow up with a value bet. In case you miss the flop, you still have a chance to win the pot by executing a continuation.

By continuing your bet, you try to convince the other player that you opened the pot with a higher pocket pair, or that you have hit a set on the flop. Your bet size will be about 40-50% of the pot to force your opponent to fold out of the hand. When you get called you know he probably holds a stronger hand than your Ace high, but poker tells might come in very handy here to determine your next move. If he raises you, he most likely has you beat and a fold is probably the best case, unless you want to jeopardize a big portion of your stack. ;)