Don't Wait Until the River to Raise

I recently got an E-mail from my friend Ken, who sent me the history of a hold'em hand he'd played online. He was quite tickled because he'd made a strong hand – a big flush – which turned out to be third best, and it didn't cost him a single bet on the turn or river.

Here's what happened: Ken limped in early with Q-J offsuit. Now, as he admitted later in his E-mail, that in itself was a mistake. Q-J offsuit is a very marginal hand, and it's just a bad idea to play it from early position. But, there he was. Then, there was a late-position raise, and Ken and three others called. Now, there were five big bets in the pot before the flop, which came 10 5 3. Well, Ken had the Q. Everybody checked to the preflop raiser, who bet. Ken and two others called.

Before going further, this might be a perfect example of an early mistake compounding itself. Ken is drawing to the third-nut one-card flush. With a bet and call in front of him (and as it turned out, a call behind him), he might be well-advised to dump his hand and write off his losses. But, again, let's push onward with our hero.

The turn was the 4, making Ken's flush (and, I should note, three possible straight flushes). The first player to act checked, as did Ken. Look at Ken's dilemma here: He made his hand, but can't bet it. This is not the kind of draw you want to make. But now, an interesting thing happened – the two other players (including the preflop raiser, who had the button) checked, as well!

The river was a completely uninteresting card – the 9. Again, the big blind and Ken checked, the third player bet, and the preflop raiser raised! Ken correctly realized that he wasn't in the running and folded. The original bettor called. The bettor had the singleton K and the raiser had A-K offsuit with the A! Barring only two specific hands (6 2 and 7 6), he had the nuts.

Well, Ken was fortunate that his opponent had made a much bigger mistake than any he had made, and it saved him a bunch of money. The fellow with the A, last to act, had checked the turn, forfeiting a bet to the second- and third-best flushes. And, in fact, it's possible that the king-high flush was planning to check-raise the turn. The fellow who won the pot cost himself between two and four big bets with his tactic. This is an egregious error by any measure.

I can't imagine what he was hoping to accomplish with that huge slow play. Even discounting the fact that there were two other strong hands around, checking the turn has almost nothing to commend it. Anybody who's going to call any bet anywhere will call it here. Somebody who has two pair or a set may feel obliged to draw to the full house – when the board doesn't pair on the river, even a big set can be laid down to a four-flush on the board.

I see this kind of behavior all the time. I think perhaps the player's ego gets the best of him, and he wants to string his opponents along as far as possible. That is silly – your job is to win the most money, not show your opponents how clever you are.

In a situation like this, get your bets and raises in on the turn and not the river – and (as an aside to Ken) don't call from early position with Q-J offsuit.

Thank you for reading.