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So just call and preserve the option value of position by mucking to a paired board.

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Exactly! At it played out the in the OP hand. Your villian would have pushed the turn and you would have called with the same number of outs that you had on the flop and taken down a nice pot. Giving yourself the option of saving that half-buyin when you know your behind on the flop and drawing dead on the turn is a good thing.