Part: Part Eight - Making Moves

The continuation-bet bluff

Flop
Heads-upPot 2,200 (5.5 BB)A♦7♣2♥COK♠Q♠● 16,000 (40 BB)YOUmissed - ace-high board favors youBB● 16,000 (40 BB)Big blindchecksD

Mid-stage, ~40 BB deep. You opened the cutoff with K♠Q♠ and the big blind called. Flop A♦ 7♣ 2♥ - you missed, but the board favors your range. He checks.

A dry, ace-high board, heads-up, and he checks. Best?

WhyThat ace connects with your cutoff opening range - AK, AQ, AJ, AT - far more than the hands a big blind flats with, so he rarely holds one. Heads-up against a check, a single bet folds out all his misses; you're attacking the range, not betting your king-high.
What happensYou bet 1,200 and he lets it go. Notice what won the pot: not K-Q, but the fact that the ace was yours to represent and his to fear.
You will hold air on most flops you take the lead into. Heads-up on a board that belongs to your range, against a check, betting that air is a profit center - the spot does the work, not the cards.

One opponent, a board your raising range owns, and a check that reeks of nothing - those three conditions, not the strength of your hand, decide whether a c-bet prints.