Two Terrible River Bets

For most players, heads-up play on the river is one of the more straightforward situations in limit hold'em. With no more cards to come, you either have the best hand or don't. Sometimes you don't know, of course, but your river decisions, though they can be thought-provoking, are usually easier than those on the flop or turn.

I was involved in two hands in which I thought, for totally different reasons, my opponent made a demonstrably awful river decision. Even though such egregious errors are rare in my $30-$60 game, I decided to present them here.

Hand No. 1: I hold the A J in middle position and open-raise. Everyone folds to the big blind, who three-bets.

The strength of this bet depends on who is making it. Some players three-bet when heads up and out of position only with a super-premium hand, typically aces or kings. This big blind is much more aggressive, and even though I have not seen him reraise from one of the blinds before, his general actions have shown, shall we say, an optimism that's well beyond what most texts recommend.

Sometimes I'll reraise here with a wide range of hands, using my position to take control of the hand, and perhaps paint a false picture of my holding. In this case, my opponent is not one who appears to think much about my holding, so I call.

The flop is the 9 6 3, so I have nothing but a backdoor draw and two overcards. Of course, the big blind bets. You could make a case for folding, calling, or even raising here. Most of the time, I would fold, as my opponent has shown considerable strength, and I have very little. I consider raising for a free card, or to see how he responds. I reject this because he is unpredictable, and his call or reraise (I am sure that he won't fold) will not give me any information for the price I am paying.

I decide to call, see what hits the turn, and then decide whether to give up (much of the time), represent a real hand, or raise or call if I actually make something. The turn card is the J. Good for me! He bets again. I'm definitely not folding now, but should I raise or call? He may have me beat with a traditional overpair, and a raise may scare him off a silly hand with which he just decided to mess around. Of course, he may have a hand like 10-10, which could pay off a raise. I like raising at least as much as most people, but I still play passively against overly aggressive guys like this one, and I call.

The river is the 2, which is unlikely to change anything. He bets. I am not happy about this, but if he had checked, I certainly would have bet my top pair, top kicker. I see no value in raising, and I have seen him bluff hands on the river already, so I call. He turns over the A Q.

Certainly, I should have folded on the flop if I knew what he had. I drew out, which never makes me really happy. But I was struck by the utter futility of his A-Q river bet. I generally advocate betting the river, but this may be among the most futile bets I have ever seen.

With a better hand than A-Q, I will not fold. With a worse one, I cannot call. There is almost no chance that his bet can win anything. You could argue that I may fold A-K or A-Q. In general, I would have folded A-Q on the turn (or on the flop to a tighter opponent), and if I went that far with A-K, I would be planning to call the river. Simply put, betting A-Q has no positive expectation at all.

If he checks his A-Q, planning to call, at least he picks off an occasional bluff that I would have folded had he bet. It costs him the same bet, and will generally lose, but at least it wins sometimes.



Hand No. 2: The next hand is totally different. I am heads up and out of position to a late-position raiser who has a wide range of hands. I call from the big blind with the Q 6. The flop gives me top pair when it comes Q 8 2. I check, and he bets. I generally check-raise here to establish my likely hand and see how he responds. However, against extremely aggressive players who pretty much always bet the turn after they bet the flop, my flop check-raise is less important. I decide to let him continue to bet, so I call. (I seem to be calling often in this column, but that is not my typical game.)

The turn is the Q, a great card. I check, and he bets again. Once again, I have to decide between calling and check-raising. I wrote about this turn check-raise in 2004 ("Is Check-Raising Costing You Money?" Card Player, Vol. 17/No. 18), and noted that sometimes, disclosing your likely unbeatable hand here can convince your opponent to fold. I decide to follow my own advice, planning to call the turn and bet the river, making sure that I get at least one bet on the river. My opponent is quite aggressive, but still may check many hands that I could get to call by betting.

The river is the 4, but before I can gather up a handful of chips to complete my plan of betting the river, my opponent bets immediately. Thanks. I quietly check, and put in my check-raise.

"Do you really have a queen?" he asks, while putting in his call.

"Yes," I respond, while turning over my winner.

I collect one extra bet because my opponent was impatient, betting on his rhythm rather than taking his time and courteously allowing me to act in turn. While not as terrible as the last error, it still cost him a bet that he need not have lost.

Conclusion: Each of these errors was easily avoidable. There was no reason to bet a hand that could not possibly win if called, and to bet a hand before I acted. Nevertheless, they happened within an hour of each other, and were perpetrated by two different, experienced players in a middle-limit hold'em game.

The message here is simple: Do not get carried away by the rhythm of betting. Take your time, think about your river bets, and act judiciously.

Barry Tanenbaum is the author of Advanced Limit Hold'em Strategy, and collaborator on Limit Hold'em: Winning Short-Handed Strategies, both available at www.CardPlayer.com. Barry offers private lessons tailored to the individual student. Please see his website, www.barrytanenbaum.com, or write to him at [email protected].