Re: River bet - AK unimproved
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If you take the intiative, you're going to win all the pots like this that you would normally lose:
You: 6 6
Opp: 7 9
flop: A K T
Are you checkraising flops like these?
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This is a misleading example because you showed us the 97. Let's pretend we don't know what he has for a moment. Your hand is 66 and the flop is AKJ.
Scenario 1: You 3-bet preflop, autobet the flop, and bet the turn. This is an investment of 2.5 BB and if he has 97 he probably folded the flop, while if he has Q8 he probably folded the turn. Of course if he has something good this may not be going so well.
Scenario 2: You called preflop and he autobets the flop. You have invested 0.5 BB and you now have the option of investing the other 2 BB by checkraising the flop and betting the turn.
Scenario 2 has not given up anything. Go ahead and bluff if you think it's a good play and you'll be right back with scenario 1, winning or dying depending on what he has.
The difference in Scenario 2 is you have options here because your money isn't already in the pot. You can use your poker skill to evaluate Villain's range and postflop play. You're not stuck bluffing your money away against the wrong Villain. You can throw your hand away against a tight raiser and save 2 BB. You can call down against a wild man who will fire three barrels with 97 unimproved. You can call the flop and donk the turn as a cheaper bluff that works just as well against some players. You can call the flop and checkfold twice against a timid player who won't fire again without an ace.
If you do choose to fold your hand for sensible reasons and he turns out to have 97 that would be unfortunate. But it's no different than making a good fold on the river only to discover you've been bluffed. It's part of playing winning poker and you can't let it bother you. Similarly making an all-out assult on the AKJ flop is going to win some pots. But if your poker judgment is that it's a negative EV bluff versus this villain then you don't do it and you accept the end result with grace when he turns up with 97.
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