When to Double Barrel in Poker - A Pro's Guide

I wanted to write a bit about double barreling. When to do it and when not to. Something that I consistently see with the students that I work with is a tendency to bet the turn too much or in the wrong spots.

There is definitely a strong theme these days in poker literature, on forums etc about the benefits of being aggressive but I think the problem is that some people take that a little too far and end up causing even more problems for themselves. I call it betting for the sake of betting.

Aggression in itself is never a bad thing in poker but when you are being aggressive just because you don't know what else to do, it is very easy to see through and counter. Versus habitual barrelers I will sometimes just take a hand that has some equity, call the flop and raise them on the turn. You won't face this very often at the micros but much more often you will be barreling in a spot where your opponent can only continue with better (versus a nit for instance) and so you are burning money just the same.

I figured that I would just toss out a couple of examples here and try to generate some discussion on it in the comments. But before I do that I just want to list a few of the factors that I think we should be thinking about when choosing whether or not to double barrel:

• our hand value
• our position
• villain's player type
• the turn card

These are probably the most important factors to consider. Having a hand or at least some outs is important in poker no matter the limit. And especially at the micros where there are a lot of calling stations it is especially important to have something. If you have absolutely nothing you really should be just giving up most of the time. Always leave yourself with some outs because why wouldn't you?

Our position is important because when they check to us it tells us a lot about the strength of their hand. When we are out of position we are just kind of playing the guessing game.

Villain's player type and the turn card might be the most important factors of all though. Versus nits who have a very narrow continuance range on the flop we should really only be double barreling with strong hands most of the time because they almost always have a big hand themselves. Versus all other player types their range can be quite a bit wider. Although some moreso than others. Your 65/5 drooler fish can have half the deck for instance, all sorts of ace highs, totally ridiculous draws etc. A TAG won't have nearly as wide of a range.

And lastly, the turn card is a huge factor. In general big cards (broadways) will be good for us and low cards will be bad for us. And this is just because when we raise preflop big cards are what we are representing. So oftentimes barreling versus a stationy reg for instance on 9974 is bad because if he called the flop with his 88 why would he fold when the turn is a meaningless 4? If the turn was a T, J, Q, K or A it is a much more difficult spot for 88 to continue however.

So with all of that said I am going to list a bunch of examples and ask you to please leave your comments below. Double barrel or not? I won't leave my response for a few days.


1)

Hero is dealt K♥Q♦ in MP, raises and gets called by an SLP (semi-loose passive) in the SB.

The flop comes,

J♠A♣6♦

Villain check/calls our cbet.

The turn comes,

8♥

What should hero do?



2) 

Hero is dealt 4♦4♣ in EP, raises and gets called by a TAG in LP.

The flop comes,

8♣3♠Q♥

Villain check/calls our cbet. 

The turn comes,

A♣

What should hero do?


3)

Hero is dealt 8♥9♥ in LP, raises and gets called by a fish in the BB.

The flop comes,

6♦9♠3♥

Villain check/calls our cbet.

The turn comes,

 7♣

What should hero do?


4)

Hero is dealt 8♥9♥ in LP, raises and gets called by a nit in the BB.


The flop comes,


6♦9♠3♥

Villain check/calls our cbet.

The turn comes,

 7♣

What should hero do?


5)

Hero is dealt A♠K♠ in LP, raises and gets called by a fish in the SB.

The flop comes,

8♠5♣6♥

Villain check/calls our cbet.

The turn comes,

Q♦

What should hero do?

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