The turn is one of the more difficult rounds to play in Hold’em. The bets are doubled, so the true strength of everyone’s hands is usually communicated. Many players will often call a cheap bet on the flop hoping to hit over cards, gut-shot straights, two pair, etc., but will often fold these hands on the turn when the betting becomes more expensive. Since bets are doubled, any mistakes on this round of betting can become very costly. This is why much attention must be paid in order to lose much money!
A common situation in Hold’em is that you raise pre flop and then either bet or raise on the flop. Generally, you should continue to be the aggressor on the turn with a strong hand, although there are a few exceptions. For purposes of this section, a strong hand is one that you are relatively confident is currently the best hand. When acting early with a strong hand, your two options are betting out or trying for a check-raise. Generally continue to bet when you are unsure that an opponent will bet and giving a free card would be dangerous. Against several opponents with a large pot, you might consider checking, hoping that a late position opponent will bet so that you can check-raise to drive out your remaining opponents. If a free card would not be too dangerous, a check-raise can sometimes be a good strategy to gain extra bets against your opponents. You gain extra bets by either inducing your opponents to bet a weak hand that they would have folded or by them calling a check-raise.
In this respect, it can be said that the preferred strategy in poker is generally to raise or to fold, but there are times when calling is correct, especially with your strong draws and little chance of winning the pot on a semi-bluff raise. Calling bets on the turn is much different than calling bets on the flop. Because flop bets are small, you are generally getting decent odds to see one more card to try and improve your hand. There are many styles of playing it but all require practice and a lot of exercises!
