Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (45 page)

Your opponent checks and you decide to pot-control by checking behind. The river is the 6
. Your opponent checks, you bet 10BBs for value and he raises to 28BBs. I will usually call in this spot because the cards after the flop are unlikely to have helped my opponent’s range and he could easily have missed a draw.

Most opponents will go for a raise when they hit on the river, especially if they think you will bet. If the river is the 8
instead of a blank in the above example and your opponent checks, value-betting is an option, as he could easily have a hand like Q-J. If you bet and he raises, be quick to fold. If your opponent makes a donk lead on this river, you should also strongly consider folding, as he almost always has what he represents. As always, it is good to have a decent read on your opponent before making a fairly large lay-down.

If a board is very dry, you should almost always assume your opponent has a monster hand when he raises the river, especially if you have shown decent aggression throughout the hand. Assume you raise from early position to 3BBs out of your 150BB stack with K
-K
and a player calls on the button. The flop comes 9
-7
-3
. You bet 4BBs and your opponent calls. The turn is the 3
.

You bet 8BBs and he calls. If he raises your value bet on any river besides a king or 3, you should fold because there isn’t much you can beat.

This all goes back to thinking about your opponent’s range constantly throughout the hand. In the last example you assumed your K-K was good, but once your opponent raised the river, his range drastically changed into a few stone bluffs and mostly hands that beat you. Be careful not to omit a hand from your opponent’s range only to find out you were wrong.

Raise-folding the River

There will be times on the river when you want to raise for value while realizing you will have to fold if your opponent pushes on you. For this to be the case, you must have a strong made hand, you have to think your opponent has a decent made hand that is weaker than yours, and you have to know your opponent will rarely re-raise as a bluff.

Suppose someone raises from middle position to 2.5BBs out of his 150BB stack and you call on the button with 5
-4
. The flop comes K
-8
-2
. Your opponent bets 4BBs and you call. The turn is the 3
. Your opponent bets 8BBs and you call. The river is the Q
. Your opponent bets 12BBs.