betting and checking in the dark

[Mr Monkey 0]

if i am the first person to act on the turn can i bet or check before the dealer actually exposes the turn card? i am having an argument with my brother. he says i cant do that. he says i have to wait untill the card is dealt. someone please tell him he is wrong

[Specs 0]

Your allowed to bet or check in the dark if your first to act. Your not allowed to do it if your say..second to act because your action can have an effect on the action of the player before you.

[Nikki_N 17]

Why would you want to? It's a serious question. I've always wondered why this is done.

[Suited_Up 2]

Yes you are allowed to.But there isn't much reason to do it.

[dapokerbum 0]

But there isn't much reason to do it.

Are you kidding me??? Maybe that is because most of the time you play online, but i have to say that I have had numerous times when I bet in the dark. This is to throw off your opponent. Lets say you have AA and you raise and there are 4 callers (happens all the time in B&M 3/6 games) you bet on the flop and there is a draw and someone raises you, I will usually call them and if i was first to act I just bet in the dark to let them know I don't care what the turn is I'm coming after them. Sometimes it works perfectly because then they won't try to chase to the river but sometimes they think that gives them more reason to call you. So either way I think it is fun to do every once in a while...especially if there are some players that play ABC poker and will go on tilt because of that.JMO 8)

[Socrates 0]

There is a very limited amount of situations where this MAY be a good strategic move. When someone is drawing to the nuts and you bet in the dark, you are saying "I don't care what comes" - but when his card comes he's thinking "what an idiot" and raises you. Then what? You put in a bet that you have no recourse to get back and you knew that he was able to draw out on you. Yeah, David Williams got really lucky with it last year and voiced "how great it worked" etc...he flat out got lucky. Continue to do it though and count the bets you lose in comparison to those you get people to lay down. I think you'd be surprised at the negative outcome.

[Guest XXEddie]

Yes you are allowed to.But there isn't much reason to do it.

i do it when im playing a certain friendI just do it randomly...he thinks way to hard about it....i just sit there and laugh

[princeof56k 0]

I would only try things like checking or betting in the dark if I throughly uderstood the players I was playing against. The vast mojority of the time you're not going to gain a significant edge by doing this. Most people will just ignore it (this goes for experienced and inexperienced players. If you think you can rattle the other players by doing this, then go ahead, but most players arent affected.If you're trying this ALL the time, you're doing it way too often.

[mebraun 0]

if im just playing with my friends ill just play hands in the dark sometimes just for the hell of it.. its not really poker but its just fun to see if you can out play someone without even knowing what you have

[SabaAba 0]

Checking in the dark is good when you have a "second best" hand but you don't think your opp has a better hand. Example. you are in the BB with Q8suited. Folded around to the button who raises. You call. Flop is J82 rainbow. You check he bets you call. Since now you know he is going to bet the turn no matter what, I would check in the dark with the intention of raising him if a card 8 or smaller a Q hits. Normally, the check in the dark will get him to check the turn. Now, you can also mix it up and bet the turn in the dark after you called the flop. The reason for this is that you really don't know what your opp has. He raised trying to steal the blind most likely, and your 8's are probably good. Betting on the expensive street in the dark tells him you have two pair or better. There are other situations as well, but it's shouldn't be done very often."It's disrespecting the game" LMAO

[brian67 0]

Better idea in a stud game than hold em.

[TraptSteve 0]

According to Marcel Luske, the person who I think made checking in the dark popular, he does this to gain a position on his opponent. He bets in the dark when he wants to get paid off.I've seen betting in the dark when people have high pocket pairs in NLHE. Works sometimes if the person you are against is a short stack.Check out BLUFF magazine issue May-June. There is an article with Luske where he explains these things. =

[21gambit 0]

exactly...I feel checking in the dark in multiway pots sort of makes you last to act. People have no idea where you are at in the hand or what you will do, its a great way to throw others off and allieveate(mispelled) alot of the pains of playing in early pos.

[jimjoachim 0]

I love to check in the dark in multiway pots when I have s*** in the big blind and am 1st to act. I do it to shift the position and no one has seemed to realise it is always when I have junk and I often see the turn for free.I did it last week with 93o and flopped a full house!!I tried it in a home game once in a 3way pot and both other players followed me by checking blind too.I think its a really good tactic but would never try it with a proper hand.Ps - Keep it to urself that I always have s*** when I do it btw!!

[sloshr 0]

I occasionally check or bet in the dark. It is not a tactic to be used often, but I do it when I don't want my opponent(s) to know if the flop (or turn) helped me. A check in the dark is good if you cannot beat the hand your opponent is representing, but are not convinced he has it, and you want a cheap showdown. If a scare card comes, the opponent probably would bet if you checked, but might back off, afraid of your draw. Also, if you hit your kicker/pair, it probably will not look like a scare card, the opponent will likely bet, and you can raise.I bet in the dark when it would put me all-in, which will almost always get called, or when I know I will bet any card and want to send a message of strength. I imagine this tactic is useless in NL, since if you are betting in the dark, you could have just bet more on the previous round.Another time to bet in the dark, with or without a hand is when the flop checks around, and you want to give the impression that you would have check-raised and are upset about missing a bet there.These situations can work occasionally, but it is important to remember that when you act in the dark, you are acting with incomplete information, which puts you at a disadvantage. You could get a giant tell that an opponent hit his hand, but you have already wasted a bet. It doesn't take too many of these to make you stop betting in the dark.