PokerCoaching.com Quiz: How Much To Bet On The River

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You are playing in the World Series of Poker main event with a stack of 62,000 and the blinds at 100-200. The under-the-gun (UTG) player with a stack of 61,400 raises to 600 and it folds around to you on the button holding 7 7.

Question 1: Do you fold, call, three-bet to 1,800, or three-bet to 2,600?

Answer: Do not three-bet facing an under-the-gun (UTG) raise because if you get four-bet it is a disaster. With small and medium pairs in position against the preflop raiser, call to try and flop well. 

You call and both blinds fold making it heads-up heading to the flop. The flop comes A 6 4 and your opponent bets 800 (47% pot).

Question 2: Do you fold, call, raise to 2,400, or raise to 3,600?

Answer: While folding is reasonable, calling is the better play. Whenever you are playing deep stacked in position, it is fine to splash around and stay in the pot. Facing an opponent who continuation bets with too wide of a range, you should call more often compared to if they check using the GTO strategy. 

You call. The turn is the 7 and your opponent checks.

Question 3: Do you check, bet 1,000, bet 2,000, or bet 3,000?

Answer: Even though flush draws got there, you definitely want to bet. You have the best hand almost every time, but you are still vulnerable to getting outdrawn if another diamond arrives on the river. Your opponent will always call with a paired ace or a diamond, so bet big for value and then reassess on the river if you are called. 

You bet 2,000 and are called. The river is the 3 and your opponent checks. 

Question 4: Do you check, bet 2,500, bet 5,000, or bet 7,500?

Answer: On this relatively safe river card, you should value bet. If you get check-raised you can easily fold, but it is important to note that you should have a lot of flushes in your range. When your range contains many flushes, you can bet for value with a wider range because it is unlikely you will be check-raised.

Considering your bet size, note that the likeliest hand you are targeting is an ace. With a flush draw on the board, to get value from an ace, a small bet is ideal. Betting 5,000 or pot is too greedy considering the hand you are trying to target.

GTO solvers advise betting at least half pot when value betting from in position on the river, but exploitatively you can often get away with betting a smaller size.

Attempting to get additional value for your set, you bet 5,000 and your opponent folds. While you still got some value for your hand, you may have missed out on even more by betting too large on the river. ♠

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