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Check calling post flop

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Saturday November, 14th 2009 by fullhouse

Check calling post flop is an art that only the best players truly understand. You will notice many players, particularly at the lower stakes, who love to make check calls. An occasional check call is OK, but it should be in a situation where you have a reasonable chance of being profitable. The temptation to make check calls is what really kills players. It is so easy to justify making a check call, if only because your other options don’t seem all that appealing. Maybe you have a weak middle pair type hand and it looks like the other player is value betting you. In your head you are probably wishing that you could check raise, but since you don’t have a strong enough hand the second best option is to simply call. More often than not it will be a better play to simply call or fold after checking post flop than it will be to check call. Check calls will look very weak if you are watching from the sidelines, and that is because they are.

When to check call post flop

The ideal time to check call post flop is in a raised pot. If you are in a raised pot it means that there is money worth battling for, check folding would be conceding defeat. This is not to say that you should check call every single time you are in a raised pot, but that there are certain situations where it would be acceptable. Even better than check calling any old raised pot is making the call when you were the initial raiser pre flop. This pre flop aggression will give you leverage over the other player(s) in the hand on later streets. Perhaps they won’t give you a whole lot of credit for the hand on the flop, but if you fire out on the turn they should reconsider making the call once they remember that you had started the action pre flop. The types of hands that you should be check calling with would be pocket pairs and flopped middle pairs. These are the types of hands that maintain some showdown value, but have the ability to improve. For example, if you raise pre flop with a hand like 77 and the flop comes 9 T K, it would be OK to check call the flop. Many players will fire out after you check even if they missed and then give up on the turn.

When not to check call post flop

If you have a very weak hand or a very strong hand it is probably not a good idea to check call. A weak hand should be looking for the exit doors. It is tough enough to make plays at a pot with a weak hand under normal circumstances, but when you check and then raise it will be even harder to push an opponent off of their hand. A strong hand is just giving up all of its value by check calling. It would be a much better idea to check raise or lead out with a strong hand. An exception to this rule would be when you are facing a spastic player who hates calling bets, but loves making them.