River pairs the board

[piratemike]

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Played fine, check behind.

Depends on villains W$SD%. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

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How, specifically, would this change your play? Could you explain this stat to me? Thanks.

[ThePortuguee]

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The boated up on the river, a PERFECT time to go for a river check-raise.

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I don't know if you believe this to be true, or believe this to be true in the eyes of most low-limit hold 'em players, but I'd like to say taht I think there may not ever be a PERFECT time to check-raise a river with the best hand, and there is very rarely even a good time to check-raise the river. Bet the river for value becasue a lot, I mean a lot, of people are goign to check behind with a scared ten in that situation (which is what I think OP should do, but I'll get to that). If YOUVE boated in that situation, and think your opponent might have a straight, then he's going to call your river bet, but with a paired board he very well might check a straight behind, a little iffy about your flat call on the turn. I know I would. The only reason you'd be checking that river with a full house is if you think your opponent has a missed flush draw and will bet, but you need a really good reason to beleive that. So many people throw away money by not value betting the river.

That general discussion aside, I think the play for OP, the hero here, is to check behind, because while the above are MY opinions about check-raising a river, I realize that there area world of people out there who are 100% in disgreement. You called the flop, showed aggression on the turn. Maybe he's planning to check call another bet, but what do we put him on here?

He could have a missed flush draw, in which case betting accomplishes nothing.

He could have top pair, in which a bad, loose player might payoff a small river bet.

He could have a set. This line is very possible for a set. He makes his hand on on a draw-heavy board on the flop, and bets. You call. On the turn one draw hits, so he check calls. He improves on the river and expects you to show aggression again, so he checks.

The reason I like checking behind is this: in the above situations, when you're ahead and you bet, only one possible holding (that's top pair), is really going to put money in the pot and pay you off. Hands worse than top pair fold instantly. So when you're ahead, every now and then, you win a small bet.

When the Villain doesn't just call, he's either going to fold (covered already) or he's going to pop you. When you get poppped you have a problem, because you can really only take teh whole pot from a bluff or a dumbass with top pair (dont count on that). On a paired, draw-heavy board, you're very, very rarely going to get check-raised big as a blfuf, so you can almost rule that out. So when you get popped you're in a very, very tough and very, very marginal spot where if oyu call correclty, you split and get your money back (minus rake), and if you call incorrectly, you lose your small bet and another big one.

This is because the villain only raises with a hand that kills or ties you here, so why put yourself in that spot? To recap: most worse hands fold, occassionally a single worse hand calls a small bet, and a bunch of times you're going to have to decide between losing that small bet and paying off a huge one. No reason for that. Easy, easy check.