Say you’ve missed a flop, put in a continuation bet and then you got called. What now? Most of the time, you’d need to keep up the aggression. Double-barreling (betting a second bluff) is a move that is often found to be necessary in NL Holdem. It’s becoming essential even in the micro-stakes games and most knowledgeable online players have adapted to the robotic A x continuation bets.

In addition, most are playing more optimally and calling you off lighter. Simply put, if your continuation bet percentage is 80% or higher, the regulars at the $.25/1 stakes and above will notice and start floating your bluffs with a wider range of hands. This isn’t very good for your game since in effect, it reduces the profitability of bluffing while also ensuring that you won’t win as many pots.

What you’ve got to do to to defend against floaters is to start double-barreling the turn. When you do that, you give yourself a far better shot at winning an even bigger pot and folding your opponents. Even tight-aggressive players won’t be afraid to fold their A x / mid-pair and drawing hands to a half-pot continuation bet on the flop, but, antes are much higher when it comes to calling bets on the turn. Hands like A x / K x, mid-pairs, straight / flush draws and over cards are simply impossible to play out of position if you’re raised on the turn. Because of this, bluffing becomes far more profitable and gives you a good shot at folding mots players with just semi-decent hands.

One more reason that opponents will frequently fold to a double-barrel on the river is that after seeing you bet the flop (perhaps the pre-flop as well), they know that they’re probably going to see another value bet when on the river. Most mid-stack opponents will end up being pot committed and calling double-barrels, thus being more willing to let their hand go. In multi-table tournaments, the average stack is worth just 50BBs during the middle stages and as the antes kick in, the effectiveness of double-barreling rises even further.

The optimal cards to double barrel with on the turn are always over cards to the board. As an example, double barreling the A on K 10 6 or the Q on J 5 3. Over cards are the best because betting on them will improve your perceived hand strength, and at the same time, you’ll be dampening your opponent’s equity on the board. It makes it tougher for your opponents without the nuts to call you. If you’re called on the flop with top-pair then your opponent will have to call your turn bet with a 2nd pair. 2nd pair on the flop becomes 3rd pair, and so on. By betting two or maybe even three consecutive streets, you’re giving away plenty of information about the strength of your hand. This happens even more in micro-stakes games where you’ll be getting folds around the table.

Position is also crucial to good bluffs. In order to double-barrel with profit, you’ve got to have position. Bluffing becomes much more successful when you witness your opponent check and show his weaknesses. In advanced NL Holdem strategies, it’s also much harder for opponents to float your bet with semi-draws out of position. By double-barreling in particular situations, you’ll even be ale to fold semi-decent drawing hands like mid-pairs. You won’t believe how many will just fold over to you with better hands in micro-stakes ring games as well.