PokerCoaching.com Quiz: A Rivered Full House

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You are seven-handed in a $300 online tournament. The blinds are 350-700 with a 70 ante. You are second to act with 10 9 and 20,767 chips. You raise to 1,400 and only the big blind calls with a stack of 17,596. The flop comes K K 9.

Question 1: Should you check, bet 1,200, or bet 3,000?

Answer: On this flop texture where you have lots of strong trips in your range, you should bet every time using a small size. Betting large is not ideal because when you happen to be against trips, you lose far more than is necessary with the bottom portion of your range that is drawing thin or dead.

You bet 1,200 and your opponent calls. The turn is the 7 and your opponent checks.

Question 2: Should you check, bet 1,500, or bet 4,000?

Answer: At this point, you need to consider which worse hands are going to call if you continue betting. While various draws such as A X and gutshots may call again, you will find that mostly hands better than yours stick around.

When most better hands will continue and most worse hands will fold, checking is usually the best play. 

You check. The river is the 9, giving you a full house. Your opponent checks.

Question 3: Should you check, bet 1,500, bet 3,500, or bet 5,000?

Answer: As on the turn, consider how your opponent will proceed against a bet. A king will never fold, so you are not concerned with those. An underpair to the nine will always fold, so you also don’t care about those. So, you need to target hands like A-X, Q-J, and Q-10.

While it may seem difficult to extract value from such a weak range, it is possible if you bet small enough. Usually in position on the river, you want to bet 50% pot or more because there is a cost of re-opening the action (you may get check-raised), but in this case, a small bet of 1,500 is probably ideal.

You bet 1,500 into a pot of 5,470. The big blind calls with A-8 offsuit. You win the pot with your full house. ♠

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