The River Min-Raise

The river min-raise [minimum-raise] for value is a play I use with some frequency. I most typically try it when I'm heads up with position on the river, and I have a hand that I was planning to bet for value if checked to. But instead of checking, my opponent bets. And given the way the hand has been played, I think my opponent's range consists of a number of relatively weak made hands that he could be betting for value or making a blocking-bet. Here's an example from a hand I played a few months back:

It's a five-handed online 50¢-$1 game. I have a $100 stack, and everyone has me covered. I'm first to act and raise to $3.50 with the K Q. Only the small blind calls, making a pot of $8.

The flop is Q 5 3. The small blind checks, and I bet $8. The small blind calls.

The turn is the 8. The small blind checks, and I check.

The river is the 4. The small blind bets $10, into the $24 pot, and I min-raise to $20.

The small blind calls and shows the J J. My queens are good.

My opponent is a regular in the game and a tight, aggressive player. After cold-calling preflop in the small blind and check-calling this ragged flop, I thought unimproved pocket pairs would represent a large portion of my opponent's range on the turn. Since he's a tight player, I wouldn't expect him to call with many hands containing a 5 or a 3. I also wouldn't expect him to call preflop with hands containing a queen weaker than about Q-J suited. And no flush draws or high straight draws are possible on this flop. Thus, after calling preflop and on the flop, I expect him frequently to hold a pocket pair.

I didn't think I could get him to pay off three streets with a pocket pair smaller than queens (or with most of the rest of his range that I'm ahead of), so I figured I'd check it back on the turn and represent missed big cards, like A-J. Then I could go for some value on the river.

This check is not one I would always make with top pair on the turn. In fact, I usually bet the turn when I have a good top pair. I checked because the board is very dry - no flush draws or high straight draws - so I can't get value from (and protect my hand against) those hands.

And my opponent is tight. If I have him beat and I bet the turn, he'll probably give me credit for at least top pair and fold. Unfortunately for me, that's what he should do in this situation. I want my opponent to make a mistake, and I think I can trick him into paying me off on the river by feigning weakness on the turn. If the board were more coordinated, providing many drawing-hand possibilities, or if my opponent were looser and more likely to take a weak pair too far, I likely would have bet the turn.

On the river, he bets $10 into the $24 pot, and I read that bet size (combined with the action throughout the hand) as a thin value-bet or blocking-bet with a modest made hand. With a big hand like a set, I would expect him to bet bigger.

Since my hand beats most modest made hands he could have, I want to raise for value. But I don't want to raise so much that he'll fold. That's why I like the river min-raise. It squeezes extra value out of a player with a weak hand without putting too much at risk on the off chance that he has me beat. I thought he would likely call with many of the hands he would bet, and I thought a reraise-bluff was extremely unlikely (so I intended to fold to a reraise).

I use this min-raise play against likely blocking-bets relatively frequently, and overall, it's quite successful.

I also sometimes min-raise the river against larger bet sizes, and in those situations, I'll do it for value occasionally but also frequently as a bluff. When someone bets the pot on the river and is out of position, it tends to polarize his range. Either he has a really strong hand or he's bluffing. How polarized the range is depends on the player and the pot size (in smaller pots, people will tend to bet the pot with weaker hands). But frequently, players will make large river bets with hand ranges that contain a high percentage of bluffs.

If the hand has gone down in such a way that I think my opponent is a pretty good favorite to be bluffing (because the range isn't balanced correctly), I'll sometimes min-raise a pot-sized bet. Usually it doesn't make sense to raise more than the minimum, because either the opponent has a big hand and will call a raise of any size, or it's a bluff and a min-raise will get the job done. Although, by the same token, if I'm legitimately raising for value, I'll tend to shove all in when in these situations, because I now want to get called for as much money as possible. (Obviously, this strategy is exploitable by a player who can figure out that I'm bluffing when I'm min-raising and not when I'm shoving, but few of my opponents know my play well enough to catch on and exploit me in the heat of the moment. And I do min-raise the river for value, even against bigger bets, so my opponent would really have to be in my head to decode my bet size correctly. Even so, against better players, I don't take full advantage of exploitative bet-sizing to avoid leaking too much information.)

Min-raising the river can be a powerful play, and I hope I've given you some food for thought, so that the next time your opponent throws out a blocking-bet, you'll squeeze out just a little more value.

Ed is a featured coach at StoxPoker.com. Also check out his online poker advice column, NotedPokerAuthority.com. He has authored four books on poker, most recently, Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume 1.