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in the dark?
Why do poker players sometimes check/bet/raise in the dark? It's not just a show-off move is it? What's the strategic purpose?
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- Check, bet, raise is often done by WSOP champions as a way to "trap" their opponent. In cases of , for example, the player has AA and A .10. J flops on the board. Ok now he has a set, he will call to get more players to play the hand and not suspect he has basically a quality hand. Now the turn. An Ace flops..he now has the quads and will raise generally 3 to 4 times the blind and he pretty well knows that he already has some of the players pot committed and will win the hand no matter what. The only exception is the suits, sometimes a straight flush can come up to mess it up but the odds are very high against such an occurrance and most players will read the board carefully before committing. Hope that helps.
- There is, actually, a strategic purpose to any action done "in the dark", and it's not just a show-off move. In most cases, any action done in the dark is designed to either, show strength or weakness in a hand, or in efforts to gain positional advantage. What I mean by this is, if I raise preflop with pocket aces from an early position, and I'm called by multiple players, I may choose to "check dark" to see if any of my players have gained strength from the flop. Also, this will tend to disquise the strength of my hand if I happen to spike another ace, or anything better. Aggressive action, such as betting or raising in the dark, is giving the appearance of a strong hand. Passive action, such as checking or calling in the dark, is most often situationally dependent and should be of more concern.
- The only purpose to make a move in the dark, is to disorientated your opponents. I'm talking about the post flop move. I don't like the pre-flop "in the dark" move. Doesn't make sense to me (exept for the check) Checking in the dark, and your opponent can't really put you on a hand. Betting in the dark, you put pressure on your opponent (the short stack) Betting (all-in) in the dark, you are the short stack and make a move, it doesn't matter what come an the flop. (can be a strong tool when playing Pot Limit)
- Other than the 'bravado' of it, the only real benefit to checking in the dark (pre or post-flop) is that you take away a possible read from your opponent. In a sense, you're taking part of his positional advantage, because he doesn't get to see you act first.
- You are forcing your opponent to make a decision. It can confuse them. Every time you make them make the decision, it benefits you.
- it's done mostly as a tactic to confuse, when there is very little chance that you would do something else while knowing the flop...for example, someone raises my big blind and i think they are just stealing, so i re-raise him with 7-2 offsuit, and he calls...is there a flop that i am not betting? i have to represent a hand and follow through on the flop with a bet no matter what, so i would probably bet in the dark here, knowing that i would have bet anyway and having the added component of confusing my opponent and showing additional strength that is an extreme example, something that i do much more commonly is check in the dark, and i do it from the other perspective...i raise with A-K and someone re-raises from the button, and i call...i will often check dark here because there isn't a flop that i have any reason to bet...if it comes A-9-4, there's no reason for me to bet and take the lead away from the pre-flop raiser, and if it comes Q-6-2, then i can just check and give up so there is a method to the madness when you see someone check or bet dark
