Playing the Turn

The turn card is the fourth card dealt face up and is common to everyone's hand. Some poker pundits have suggested that the turn plays itself. While you can't play the turn on autopilot, you shouldn't get yourself into too much trouble unless you've already made the mistake of seeing the turn when you shouldn't have. If that's the case, you've already thrown good money after bad. Much of the time you won't even see the turn. You'll have thrown away most of your hands before the flop and released others once you saw that the flop didn't fit. If there's no logical reason to be in the pot by the turn, you should have folded. It's very easy to squander your bankroll one bet at a time. Poor players do just that, calling one more bet and then another. While calling and one bet may be insignificant by itself, collectively it can break you. If you've made it to the turn you should be holding a good hand, a promising draw, or believe your bluff can pick up the pot.