River bet - AK unimproved

[StellarWind]

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I dont see any A or K high hands hes taking to the river here betting if you check, that he wouldnt call a bet with.

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Who are these people that will call with less than an unpaired high card more often than they'd try to bluff + value bet with one? I believe you guys that they exist, I just don't run into them very often.

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If I know that Villain had Ax or a decent king then this is an easy river bet.

When you make a deceptive play you need to keep track of what you have represented.

No one expects me to showdown with AK or any similar hand. The natural assumption for Villain is that either I have a pair and I'm not folding or else I've busted my draw. If Villain is calling me down with a bluffcatcher like Ax he might as well check and see if his hand is good. Bluffing such a strong hand will rarely help him.

The flip side is that Ax is a bluffcatcher and I may have been drawing to the flush or small straight. Calling makes sense and is the only consistent followup to calling the turn with three outs versus top pair. Anyway people do make these calls all the time so it doesn't matter if it's right.