Continuation Bets in Poker: The Bet That Wins More Pots Than Your Hand
A continuation bet is the follow-up bet you make on the flop after raising preflop — whether or not you hit. Done well, it picks up two-thirds of the pots you contest. Done badly, it's the single biggest leak in no-limit Hold'em. This page is the difference.
Should you fire?
Five questions decide whether the c-bet prints money or burns it. Answer each one honestly — your score below adds up to a recommendation, with the math behind it.
How many opponents?
What's the board texture?
Position?
What's your image?
What kind of opponent?
Each question shifts whether the c-bet prints or burns. Decide them all before you fire.
Six flops. Six answers.
The single biggest factor in any c-bet decision is the board. Click a flop to see how your preflop-raiser range fits versus the field's calling range — and what that means for the bet.
Fire the c-bet.
When it works. When it doesn’t. When to fake it.
Three real hands — the textbook c-bet, the one you give up on, and the disguised monster. Same sizing, three different reasons.
Called on the flop. Now what?
The single hardest decision in continuation-bet poker isn't the c-bet itself — it's the turn after you're called. Here's the framework.
- You put villain on a flush draw that bricked.
- Turn card improves your range more than theirs (an overcard, the third spade).
- Villain is fit-or-fold — they’d have raised the flop with anything strong.
- You picked up real equity (now have a draw to go with the bluff).
- Villain is a calling station who never folds top pair.
- Turn is a brick that changes nothing about the texture.
- Villain is sticky online at low stakes — they call down with second pair.
- You’re not sure what they have — uncertainty is a fold cue, not a fire cue.
Spotting a c-bet, taking it back.
C-bets are the most-bluffed bet in the game. Four patterns that reveal one — and what to do about each.
~75% pot, then check turn
Raise the turnThe classic c-bet pattern. They blasted the flop with air, then ran out of bullets when called. Raise the turn if your hand has any showdown value — they fold almost universally.
Tiny flop bet (1/4 pot) on a wet board
Call, attack laterThey're trying to 'see where they're at' cheaply. The board crushes their preflop range — call wide, float in position, take it away on a brick turn.
Pot-sized c-bet on a dry board
Call with equityOver-protection. They have an overpair and are afraid of losing to a draw that doesn't exist. Calling stations crush this — call with anything that could improve.
Check flop, bet turn
Respect itOften a real hand — they checked to induce or trap. Different from a c-bet entirely. Treat as a value bet unless reads say otherwise.
Three rules. Every c-bet spot.
Heads-up + dry board.
The c-bet exists for this spot. One opponent missed two-thirds of the time. Fire 1/2 to 2/3 pot and collect.
Multiway or wet — check.
Three callers, a connected board, or both = somebody hit. Save the chips for a spot where the fold is real.
The turn is the test.
Anyone can c-bet. Knowing when to stop firing is what separates winners from spew. Default to giving up unless you can name your reason.