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betting

Check behind

Also: checking behind

To check when you are last to act, closing the betting round and taking a free card or a free showdown. It is the quiet decision that separates disciplined players from those who bet every time nobody else does.

Example. With third pair on a dangerous river he checked behind and won at showdown.

Checking behind is right in three broad situations: the hand is good enough to win at showdown but not good enough to be called by worse, the hand has showdown value that a bet would only turn into a bluff, or the board is such that betting would fold out everything you beat and keep in everything that beats you.

It also protects your range. A player who never checks behind has a betting range so wide that a single check gives the whole hand away.

Related terms

Full glossary

Pot control

Deliberately keeping the pot small with a medium-strength hand — checking back, calling instead of raising — s…

Showdown value

The quality of having a hand that can win at showdown without improving, but is not strong enough to bet for v…

Delayed continuation bet

Checking the flop as the preflop raiser and then betting the turn instead. It protects a checking range on boa…

Bluff-catcher

A hand that can only win at showdown if the opponent is bluffing — it beats their bluffs but loses to all thei…

Thin value

Betting a hand that is only slightly better than the hands the opponent will call with. Extracting thin value …

All-in

Betting every chip you have in front of you. You can't be forced out of the hand after that, but you can only …

Barrel

To keep betting on successive streets. The flop bet is the first barrel, a turn bet the second, a river bet th…

Open-raise

The first voluntary raise of a betting round, made when nobody has raised before you. Before the flop it is th…

Frequently asked questions

Is checking behind weak?

No. A player who bets every time it is checked to them is far easier to play against than one with a genuine checking range.