Double barreling, an
introduction and implementation
Double barreling is when you make a bet on
the flop that gets called and then make another
bet on the turn in a second attempt to take a
pot away. It is called a barrel because you are
firing away with nothing hoping to take the pot
down with pure aggression. Double barrels are
seen more frequently as you move up in limits.
The reason that you don’t see many players
double barreling at lower limits is the
inability of other players to make a fold. Not
much point in making bluffs that are only going
to get called anyway.
So what is a good spot to double barrel?
The absolute first step in determining
whether you are in a good spot to double barrel
is deciding whether your opponents are able to
locate the fold button. Many players simply
despise folding, particularly at the lower
limits. These players should never be double
barreled. Trying to double barrel a calling
station is the equivalent of burning money.
The second step is to analyze what has
changed between the flop and the turn that you
can now take another shot and be successful.
An example of a good spot to double barrel
You have 10c Qc in late position and raise 3x
BB, we will say you are playing .50/1, so $3.
The big blind calls your raise and the pot is
$6.50.
The flop comes Jc 8s 7d.
He checks, you bet $4 and are called.
The pot is now $14.50.
The turn comes Ac.
He checks again.
This is a fantastic spot to double barrel. He
may have called your flop bet with an 8, 9, T,
or J, all of which are scared by the ace on the
turn. You can represent a pair of aces, a hand
that beats anything he had before. He folds some
pairs and most draws.
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An example of a bad spot to double barrel
Using the same example as above, pretend that
the turn is 4c. Now, if you bet the turn you
might fold some draws out, but if he called the
flop with any pair why would he now want to fold
the turn when a harmless card comes? Sure, he
will fold a small pair sometimes, but we need to
determine what the best choice is in the long
run. The majority of the time he will realize
that the 4c did not improve your hand and will
stick around to at least see what the river
brings. You can’t try to represent 44 there and
expect many people to fall for it. This is in
complete contrast to when the Ac came as you
could legitimately represent a random ace after
having made a pre-flop raise.
Taking the example of a good spot to double
barrel, how much should we bet?
When the ace comes and allows us an
opportunity to fire a double barrel we need to
decide how much to bet. The pot is $14.50 and
our mission is to push our opponent out. We need
to make a strong bet, but we don’t want to bet
more than necessary. A bet of $11 would be
sufficient in this hand. It is not quite a pot
bet but it is well over half the pot. He will
call small bets to see another card but he will
fold larger bets out of fear of being beat. The
reason you don’t want to bomb the turn is in
case he has improved his hand or flopped a very
strong hand. If he has AJ and raises us we saved
money by betting $11 instead of $17.
Summary of double barreling
It is more important to consider what the
board is in relation to the action in the hand
than it is to consider your hand. It is even
more important to consider what types of hands
your opponent likely has. Once you are able to
put your opponents on ranges of hands and know
what types of cards hurt that range you will be
able to successfully execute double barrels.
