Decision Point: In a Cash Game, you raise Preflop from Early Position with A♠K♥ and get five callers. The Flop comes 9♣5♥K♠. The Big Blind checks, you check, and the remaining opponents check. The Turn is the 7♣. The Big Blind checks. Action is on you, what do you do here?

Pro Answer: A total of 5 opponents called to see this flop, despite the fact that we raised an amount preflop that typically thinned the field at this table. On the flop we checked due to the number of opponents and our poor position.

After the flop checks through, we have a decision of whether or not to bet this turn.

The same factors that caused us to check on the flop still apply here, although our chance of getting to showdown profitably has increased after all opponents check the flop. Our hand has a higher chance of being the best hand when the flop checks through.

However, betting out into the field in our position generally signifies a narrow hand range, which means when we get action it will often be from better hands than ours.

This makes betting a worse option than checking. Even though the turn may get checked through and our opponents may see a free river card, we would rather underplay top pair top kicker in this multiway pot than overplay it.

Checking with the intention of either calling or folding depending on the action behind us is the best play.

When you join LearnWPT for just $5 you'll get:

• On-demand access to in-depth Strategy Episodes
• All of your poker questions answered with Ask a Pro
• Sharper decision-making skills with Poker Hand scenarios

Everyone else is improving their game... are you?