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The turn is different from the two previous rounds and thus requires a different set of poker strategies. Let's understand what makes the turn unique.
Characteristic No. 1: An advantage is more significant. Being ahead on the turn is a much bigger advantage than being ahead on the flop. With only one card to come, any hand that trails on the turn has about half the chance of drawing out as the same hand on the flop. Here's a few common situations with the associated chances for the flop and the turn:
| After the Flop | After the Turn | |
| Low pair versus high pair | 10% | 5% |
| Two overcards versus underpair | 24% | 13% |
| Two low cards versus two high cards | 26% | 14% |
| Flush draw versus high pair | 38% | 20% |
| Open-ended straight draw versus high pair | 34% | 18% |
Characteristic No. 2: It's hard to get the pot odds to draw.
From the table above, it's obvious that getting the proper expressed pot odds needed to draw at a hand on the turn is very difficult. If you know you're trailing, almost any reasonably-sized bet will price you out of the pot unless you believe you have substantial implied odds.
Characteristic No. 3: If on a draw, the texture of the board determines your willingness to call a turn bet. Since you need implied odds to make draws playable, your willingness to call with a draw depends on just how hidden the draw is. If you have
and the board is
the arrival of a fourth diamond on the river will probably freeze all action.
But if your hand is
and the board is
the arrival of a ten or five on the river usually won't he taken very seriously; your straight is too well concealed. If you're against a set of aces or nines, you may very well win his entire stack when you make your straight.
When you're drawing to a well-concealed straight, and you think your opponent is betting a made hand, you still need to pay attention to any flush draws, as they can limit your implied odds. In the previous example, for instance, your straight is much stronger if the flop was A
9
6
and the 2 came on the turn; in that case you won't be given credit for a flush draw. But if the flop was A92 and the 6 came on the turn, your implied odds go down. If the T hits on the river, your opponent may think you just hit a flush rather than a straight and refuse to pay you off!
Characteristic No. 4: Value bets have higher equity. Since your opponent has less chance to catch up when behind, it follows that value bets on the turn are inherently stronger than similar bets on the flop. That doesn't necessarily imply that you want to bet the turn with a strong hand. Depending on how you read the situation, you may want to check the turn and bet the river if you feel a river bet has a significantly better chance of being called.
Characteristic No. 5: Pot commitment starts to play a role. If you made large bets (approximately pot-sized) both preflop and on the flop, another large bet on the turn may commit you to the pot. This is especially true if either you or your main opponent in the hand started with a stack less than 100 big blinds.
