If
not giving a free card is that important, it should
be clear how valuable it is to get a free card when
you don't have the best hand. That free card might
turn a hand you would have folded into a winner
or save you a bet on a hand with which you intended
to call anyway. Of course, getting a free card against
reasonably good players is not easy. One way is
to put in a small raise on an early round in the
hope that everyone still in the pot will check around
to you on the next round. Then you can also check.
To make this play you must be sure you will act
after your opponent (or opponents) on the next round,
so the play is used most commonly in a game like
hold 'em where the order of betting is fixed by
the position of the dealer.
Other ways of getting a free card fall under the
heading of tricks and ploys. For example, you can
bet out of turn to make your opponent check, which
is not quite ethical but usually legal. After being
reminded it's not your turn to act, you retrieve
your bet, and when your opponent checks, you also
check. You can take chips from your stack as though
you intend to raise, and then when your opponent
decides not to bet after all, you check. Sometimes
just getting your chips ready to call, as though
you're enthusiastic about calling, will prevent
your opponent from betting. However, against top
players such plays usually work only to create a
bad impression, and they rarely succeed more than
once or twice.
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