When Check/Raise Is Ideal: Advice by Jonathan Little

Situation #1: Facing Automatic C-Bettor

Little claims that an abundance of players think that if they raise a preflop, they have to follow up with a continuation bet on every flop — and you can take advantage of that:

“This mindset creates a significant vulnerability that can be taken advantage of. So, how do you take advantage? By using CHECK/RAISES!”

The size of your check/raise depends on the strength of the connection between the flop and opponent’s range:

• On flops where their range is strong, opt for a BIG check/raise.
• On flops where their range is weak, go for a SMALL check/raise.

Here’s an example of when check/raising is highly effective… 👇 pic.twitter.com/Agj0mQeBeW

— Jonathan Little (@JonathanLittle) September 27, 2024

Jonathan also reminds us that regular c-bettors often play wide range, so it won’t be profitable not to exploit that by refusing folding hands like K5s:

“It is crucial to fight for these pots or these players will keep steamrolling you with their approach!”

Situation #2: Realizing Strength Of Opponent’s Hand

The next notable mistake that you can exploit with check/raising is weak bet sizing that, as Little states, eloquently points to strengths of player’s hand:

“Many players choose their bet sizes based solely on the strength of their hand, rather than considering their entire range. This opens up huge opportunities to exploit. And how do you take advantage? You guessed it… by check/raising more FREQUENTLY!”

You can often use patterns of a person’s decision-making in respect to bet sizing, for example:

• They might bet small on the turn to check back the river
• They’ll bet big with strong hands
• They’ll bet small with marginal or weak hands

To understand how to use a check/raise strategy with this knowledge, check out another video example from Little’s X page:

For instance, they might bet small on the turn to check back the river.

They'll bet big with strong hands and small with marginal or weak hands.

Use these betting patterns to your advantage by increasing your check/raises!

Let’s go through an example… 👇 pic.twitter.com/5zteonRUX5

— Jonathan Little (@JonathanLittle) September 27, 2024

Situation #3: Hitting The Board Unlike Your Opponent

Finally, you can check/raise to get maximum value when the board heavily favors your range but not your opponent’s range. Little advises to focus on the details and use them to your advantage:

“When you have many strong hands in your range and your opponent doesn’t, it is time to ramp up the aggression. Pay attention to offsuit combos; if you can represent effective nut hands containing those, your story becomes much more convincing.

Try to keep your aggressive bet sizes consistent with what you would do with value hands to stay balanced and believable.”

If you want understand this better, watch Little’s video example from X:

Here are some examples where you hold all the strong hands and your opponent does not… 👇 pic.twitter.com/lbQvRIpsjw

— Jonathan Little (@JonathanLittle) September 27, 2024

Want to gather more knowledge from Jonathan Little? Read PokerListings articles featuring him, for example:

1. Three Important Things We’ve Learned From Jonathan Little’s Stream
2. Jonathan Little: “Too Much Rake is Going to Badly Hurt the Game”
3. Jonathan Little on Next Generation Poker Coaching

You can also follow Jonathan on X.