Checking in the Dark???

smurph

I have noticed over the last few months that more and more people are using the check in the dark ploy before the flop has been dealt. This is in tournaments only as I have played only a handfull of cash games in the last 2 months or so, so im not sure if the frequency has increased aswell in cash games.

My question is

Would you use this as a way of getting out of being first to act......
does it make your opponent more wary.....
Do you just punish someone if they check in the dark, by betting more?

Personally I find it a little annoying but nothing too serious.

I find min-raising stupid and try (if possible) to punish min-raisers fully.

5starpool

I started a thread on this before. The general consensus was that it is stupid. I also see this a lot now as well though, more so than before. Here is the old thread.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055099049

BigCityBanker

Smurph,

Im pretty sure there was a thread on this recently enough. I cant recall who started it though. There were some strong (<== read STRONG) opinions on it at the time.

edit - balls. Dom got there ahead of me.

Killme00

smurph wrote:

I have noticed over the last few months that more and more people are using the check in the dark ploy before the flop has been dealt. This is in tournaments only as I have played only a handfull of cash games in the last 2 months or so, so im not sure if the frequency has increased aswell in cash games.

My question is

Would you use this as a way of getting out of being first to act......
does it make your opponent more wary.....
Do you just punish someone if they check in the dark, by betting more?

Personally I find it a little annoying but nothing too serious.

I find min-raising stupid and try (if possible) to punish min-raisers fully.

Personally from a cash game perspective i do check blind sometimes, because i think it negates your poor position and can give you positional advantage (but this only applies to the flop, not the turn). Perhaps i am playing too much from the SB.

Edit: Midweek spelling sucks

Theresalwaysone

It is stupid. Essentially all your doing is handing the initiative to your opponents and if your opponent is a good player they will use this to punish you.

It does have some merits though:

If used in the oop after calling a preflop raise, it negates your positional disadvantage while also putting your opponent on the back foot.

It works better against aggressive opponents who you are expecting to bet any flop.

I don't believe it helps you any more than it hurts you. It only really serves to confuse your opponent and as I have stated and many others have a confused opponent is not predictable and good poker players like to exploit predictability.

Overall though, it doesnt make you look cool, it is most often a mistake, your only missing a chance to bluff/value bet. It does not fall into the category of aggressive winning poker.

I don't like it and never use it.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

bops

smurph wrote:

Would you use this as a way of getting out of being first to act......

yes

smurph wrote:

does it make your opponent more wary......

usually/opponent dependent

smurph wrote:

Do you just punish someone if they check in the dark, by betting more?

i suppose if you had a good flop you could make it look like you are punishing them more by betting more...good idea! ...otherwise no

smurph wrote:

Personally I find it a little annoying but nothing too serious..

it's only annoying when people do it all the time... (ahem Boogyman)

smurph wrote:

I find min-raising stupid and try (if possible) to punish min-raisers fully.

if you want all my chips, min raise me!! i f**king hate that sh*t bet

you are right tho smurph, there is a lot of dark checking going on lately, but then again there's a lot of donkeys around at the moment

i still this it's a good move done at the right time imo

BobSloane

This hand may have a lot to answer for. 3 mins in

http://www.pokertube.com/ShowMovie.aspx?movieID=a381fac8-a6bd-4800-9eec-03ce9116b0a6&comeFrom=Search&StartPage=1&pIndex=1&PageView=0&KeyID=-1&PokerAccount=-1&UserId=-1&YourFilms=-1&FreeText=wsop%20-%202004%20main&OrderBy=Latest&pComIndex=1

The check in the dark didn't even really achieve anything here. But some people may have thought it looked very clever.
That said there is a place for checking in the dark. Just like there is a place for min-raising. I wouldn't agree that a certain action in poker is NEVER a good idea. I rarely check-raise but sometimes its good no..?

Edit : Dan Harringtons famous squeezeplay is towards the end of this vid. pretty cool

Ace2007

smurph wrote:

Personally I find it a little annoying

I'll make sure to do it everytime i'm on ur table from now on....