The Freecard Play in Hold'em Poker

Before we get into the mechanics of the freecard play, I'd like to mention that the type of notation I'll be using in this article to denote cards is pretty standard. For example, Ks would denote the king of spades. In this notation, the first character represents the card value, 2-9 and T-A (T is for ten), while the second character represents the suit, s for spade, c for club, d for diamond, and h for heart. Now that we have a notation to use for the cards, let's begin.

Suppose we have a 10-seated no limit hold'em game with $200 stacks and blinds at $1/2. You hold 7c 6c from late position. A player in early position open raises to $6, there is one caller, then you call, and big blind calls. The flop comes Ah Jc 2c and the pot is $25. The big blind leads out for $15, the preflop raiser and caller fold, and it's $15 to you with a pot of $40.

Let's say you call this bet to draw to your flush. The turn comes a blank, the 3s, and the pot is now $55. The big blind leads out again, this time with $35. The pot is $90, and you have to call $35 if you want to see one more card. You figure you have the implied odds so you make the call. The river comes another blank, the big blind bets, and you fold. This is the path that calling the flop bet leads you down more or less, and you end up spending $15 on the flop and $35 on the turn ($50 combined) to see both the turn and river cards hoping to make your flush.

An alternate way to play would be the following: on the flop, when it's $15 to you with a pot of $40, what if instead of calling, you make a raise to $40? Unless your opponent has a set or top two pair, they will probably just call. They may also occasionally fold if they were bluffing themselves. So if they call, the pot is now $115 on the turn, which is a blank. Your opponent checks to you because of your raise on the flop, and now you check behind, getting your "free" river card. This is the essence of the freecard play, making a small raise on the flop to induce a lead check on the turn. The point is that if you play it this way then you have spent only $40 to see both the turn and river cards, in comparison to $50 by calling the flop and turn bets.