Use Probe Bets to find out where you are at

How many times have you heard players say that  people miss the flop 72 percent of the time. Well, it's true and if it is true for you then it is true for your opponent. However, that does not mean that you automatically give up on the hand. Playing poker and employing the correct table strategies for your poker game are all pieces of the puzzle that we all must put together.

Using the tools of the game as part of our poker strategy enables us to read and react to situations to maximize our opportunities to profit.



The probe bet is one of those tools. Too often you see weak players raise before the flop and then simply check their hand after missing on the flop. The problem with this is that the raise is intended to narrow down the number of players in the pot. So, now you are talking no more than four and more likely two or three players in the pot. Knowing this it is also likely that with two or three players in the pot and a bet of around one-third of the pot you will find out immediately if your opponent(s) has anything.

The one caveat to the use of the probe bet is that you want to primarily use this bet when you have position on your opponent. If not, then you open yourself up to a re-raise or re-steal from a player that has position on you and at that point you must release your hand.

The other advantage to the probe bet is that you will likely take down more pots with it than you will lose. Abandoned pots are free money and often times a probe bet of one-third to half the pot will take it down. Obviously, if you have a larger chip stack than the average then you bet what you believe will win the pot.

The point is to make the probe bet and either win the hand after the flop or get away from the hand with as small a loss as possible. Believe me if you plan on folding every time you miss the flop your are going to have a hard time winning in any form of poker.