check or bet the nuts at the river

[texasrattlers]

If first to act, do you check or bet the nuts made on the river? So if you are calling bets on the flop and turn (on a draw or with a piece of the board) and then you make your draw (flush or straight) on the river, is it better to check hoping to check-raise or to bet out? It seems every time I bet out I get no callers, and checking usually gets no action because of the scary river card.

[nuclear500]

I'd say it depends on how many players there are at the river and how eager they were to put money in the pot to get there.

If there was someone else who was doing some slow check-calling, they were probably drawing for the same suit card and you should definately bet.

I'd say its always a good idea to bet it unless there are a lot of players at the river, then the opportunity for someone else to have been playing a smaller flush is there as well as someone with a set who may bet it and you will get to check raise.

Unless the bets to get to the river are big and there are 3 or more players seeing the flop, bet your draw at least once. They can't put you on it then and will more then likely call you when you make it because majority of players would rather check-call their draws then bet it.

[captZEEbo1]

It really depends on a few factors. How obvious is your draw? If it's a flush draw, or a flop like JT8, and the river was a Q or 7, you are much better off betting, b/c reasonable players will see that there's a decent chance that you hit your draw, and will only bet a) a bluff, or b) a hand that beats your draw. But let's say you had a hand like A4s, and the flop was like K32 (two in your suit), If the river is a 5, they will probably value bet the river, not suspecting that you just made a straight, and then you can go for a check-raise. Or if you had an OESD with like T8, and the flop was like A97, and the river was a J or 6, they won't see a straight as easily. A check-raise here works better.

Another factor is the probability you think they're bluffing. If you think there's a decent chance they were bluffing, a check is the correctly play. If you bet, it's a clear fold for them.