One mistake that many newer players, and even some intermediate players, make when they first start playing tournament poker is they don't recognize what boards people do not want to fold on.
A good example is when you're deep in the tournament and are 30 to 50 big blinds deep. It's just before the money bubble bursts and the rebuy period has ended.
You raise from the button, and the big blind calls. The board comes with something like or , a bunch of low cards. The big blind checks to you, you bet, and the big blind calls.
Many intermediate players here give up on the turn, but they should fire again. They don't understand that many low-stakes and even middle-stakes players do not believe that you have hit anything on that board most of the time. They see that it's a low card type of board. They assume you're not opening with low cards.
Therefore, they call to see if you will check the turn. If you check the turn, they're going to lead the river. At that point, they think they'll get you to fold most of your hands, and they'll pick up the pot.
If you fire the turn instead, they will likely go, 'Okay, okay. I guess you do have it this time.ā Then they let their hand go.
But, in these situations, the turn bet is the true continuation bet. The flop bet is more of a formality. The other opponent is not taking your flop bet that seriously. Therefore, you can't give them credibility for a real hand.
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