Double Barrelling the Turn
Double barrelling the turn is something that is butchered by most
players, but the biggest crime is the micro-stakes players who don’t
double barrel the turn enough.
99% of players will hide under their bed when their continuation bet
fails in the micro-stakes games because they lack the courage or
awareness of how to recover and continue playing the hand profitably.
Depending on the texture of the flop and how many opponents are in the
hand you may well be better off double barrelling the turn in another
attempt to take down the dead money and force your opponent to fold.
Why Both Double Barrelling?
The reality is, nowadays, even micro-stakes players will be adjusting to
the hyper-aggressive play that is becoming standard in online play.
They will be calling c-bets a lot more with hands such as over cards,
open-ended draws, Ax/Kx and low pocket pairs. This makes it more
important to play more aggressively; by double barrelling the turn and
bluffing a second street in a row you give yourself a much better chance
of winning the pot.
As I stated, when you c-bet the flop most experienced players will call
you down with anything that gives them equity such as open-ended draws,
over cards or even Ax. But when you double barrel the turn you manage
to fold a large percentage of these hand off the pot. Because the
stakes are considerably bigger, you’ll start folding hands such as Ax,
low pocket pairs and even mid-pair/bottom pairs.
Best Cards to Double Barrel
The best cards to double barrel are always over cards to the board (e.g.
A to Q84). The reason these are the most profitable to bluff is
because they raise your perceived hand equity and reduce your opponents.
If your opponent called your c-bet with top pair or mid-pair (standard
c-bet calling range) than an over card to the board will turn his top
pair in 2nd pair and mid-pair into 3rd pair i.e. his relative equity is
significantly reduced. Because your perceived hand range increases and
his decreases he’ll than be more likely to fold the hand.
The 2nd best cards to double barrel are cards that are higher than 2 of
the cards on the flop, for example Q on the board K69. The reason for
this is because it still reduces the relative equity of bottom and
mid-pair on the fop, but obviously this isn’t as good as a higher card
to the board.
The worst cards to double barrel are those that pair to the flop e.g. 7
to 710J. These are terrible situations to bluff an opponent because it
hits his c-bet calling range. By bluffing here you could end up being
far behind and you might not even have any “outs” that can win you the
pot by show down.
Other Factors to Take into Account when Double Barrelling the Turn
Whenever you’re c-betting or double barrelling the turn it’s always best
to have some “outs” or equity, in other words you are semi-bluffing.
Usually 2 over cards or some sort of combo draw is enough equity to do
this, but at the very least you should at one over card to the board.
That way you at least have a small chance of winning the hand in case
your get called.
The best opponents to double-barrel are those that have a high call to
continuation bet ratio. If you’re using a poker hud such as Holdem
Manager or Poker Office than you’ll be able to distinguish these types
of players. Also remember that calling stations are almost impossible
to double barrel.
