Texas Hold'em Shorthanded Part III: How the game plays on the turn and river

The turn is a critical part of the game because, at this point, we must be clear whether we are going all the way or not. No more half measures, no more "see a card, see what happens". That mentality is a looser's mentality. Either you go all the way or you leave the cards.

For "see a card, see what happens" there's the preflop and the flop. There, the bets are cheaper and it pays to try to get useful information. Not on the turn, where a bad move can be costly.

To play well on the turn, you need to be clear about a series of guidelines depending on the position you are in, so we are going to analyze what the turn is like in short, medium and late positions.

Turn in shorthanded poker: early and middle positions

The turn in 6-max poker can become a very dangerous game, especially with medium-strong hands. Raising has to be very justified. Doing it for the sake of doing it doesn't suit us at all, we will be exposing ourselves and our play will be going nowhere.

If we have strong hands, we can go all in and go all the way. But the question is whether we can finish our project and tie the hand.

It may be that we get to the turn having hit the flop, assuming our hand is the best; it may be that we are playing against someone who is project-focused, who never raises, or against a professional who is really messing with us.

It could also be that we hit on the flop and get raised. This would mean the end of our game.

Turn in Shorthanded Hold'em: late positions

The turn in shorthanded poker should be focused on a single objective: that the opponents check to us. If the pot is a multiplayer pot and we have a draft, we will be obliged to hit. And if, despite having played aggressively from late positions, they bet against us, it depends: you will have to call if you have calculated that you have the odds; if not, you have to fold.

But not everything is black and white, you may not see it clearly. In those cases, what do we choose: free card? free showdown? The free card or free showdown is a perfect resource for calling stations, those who don't discard during the turn, but throw their cards in on the river if they don't manage to hit the play they wanted.

Free showdowns are best for the "weak tights", the players who seem to always be playing with an instruction manual by their side, but always have the odds in their favour. These players will rarely see a big bet if they don't realize they have the best play.

In free showdown, you bet on the turn (giving everyone else a chance to fold) and don't bet on the showdown. It's a move that makes sense, as long as you have a project in the pipeline, but you're not convinced it's the best one. It's a bit like throwing a rock and hiding your hand, a move that may seem cowardly but makes sense because it allows you to go for the river and protect your stack at the last moment.

About the turn raise in a shorthanded game

If we talk about the free showdown in a 6-max poker game, we have to talk about the turn raise. It is a twist on the free showdown, a tool that takes us down the same path in search of seeing the showdown without costing us money, and at the same time avoiding making decisions that will harm us or leave us in a compromised position on the river.

Why make a turn raise? Because we can make better hands than ours give up if we can make them doubt themselves. If there is a dangerous combination on the table, we can play that trick to make them fold, paving the way for our game. We may be able to win with a weaker hand, but if we stay in the game, it will be ours.

If you have pairs, it is advisable to go all the way almost every time. Imagine you have the second best pair at the table and we reach the end. This is precisely the moment to play, because we can give the opponent the option to leave if we raise, which can be very good for us if he is not seeing his game clearly.

If we have a project, it is almost always best to bet the maximum on the turn, as projects are more profitable at this stage. Playing half bluffs can be a good move, since the game here is aggressive, and half bluffs are precisely aggressive plays.

We can also make our opponents fold by protecting our hand. Although in a full-ring game the turn raise is used to reduce the number of players in a hand and put the stats on our side, in 6-max poker we can make the best hands fold or play erratically, and either option is good for us.

The river in shorthanded poker: key points

The turn and river in shorthanded poker are two crucial moments. We've already talked about the turn, so let's move on to the last phase of the round. The river in 6-max poker is the moment when everything comes rushing in, so hold on. The pot is likely to be big enough to see almost any bet. Only the pot will have been small if the predominant play throughout the game has been passive.

Let's imagine that we are hitting and when we get to the river a blank falls. Blanks are irrelevant cards. If they appear, you have to bet. Obviously, if we manage to complete our project, we will bet. And we will also bet if the card that falls is potentially necessary to complete another player's project.

The key on the river is always to bet. Why? Because failing to bet on the river will mean that we end up losing many interesting opportunities to win a big blind. If we get raised, we will only lose that BB, but statistics work in your favour here, because the rule says that, by following this game, you will end up winning more BBs than you lose.

With this strategy you will also be able to mislead your opponents. Your speed of play will disorientate them, probably catching them off guard. You may be able to win one bigger blind with the check-raise technique, but with the check raise you won't get the respect that you will be gaining with your play, preventing them from raising lightly, and that benefits you more than adding one more blind.