Playing the best hand on the river with a scary board

[koolmoe]

Looking for some advice on this type of situation:

Often early in a NL, SnG tournament, I find myself in a situation where I'm pretty certain I have the best hand (say an overpair) heading into the river. I've bet aggressively enough that only a chronic chaser would still be trying to draw, but my opponent knows (or should know) I have a strong hand.

River card possibly completes a flush or a straight.

When I act first in this situation, I will typically lay down a decent bet, but when it is checked to me, I have a lot of trouble fearing the check-raise. I'm thinking that there's limited advantage to betting, because if my opponent has made his flush or straight, he'll raise, but if he has no hand, he'll fold, in which case I win the same amount as if I check.

I guess what I fear most is someone representing the flush with a check-raise and having to decide whether to lay down my best hand. Missing out on a small bet hardly seems worth opening the NL floodgates with a callable bet. I'll try to post a hand history - this happened to me last night.

Any general thoughts on the best course of action?

[Toasty]

For SnGs, I do exactly like you are doing, I won't bet on the river in last position unless I'm willing to call an all in from a check raise (I like to set my little traps

As you said they will only call if they have a good chance of having you beat and they also have a good opportunity to go all in with a bluff.

Take the pot and run as long as you have bet the pot on the flop and turn there will be plenty of chips in there already.

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[koolmoe]

BTW, Toasty, what's with the avatars lately? Are those drawings by your kid(s)?

This latest one looks like the love child of Ms. Potato Head and the Kool Aid man wearing a toadstool for a hat. Great stuff.

Once I got an e-mail with drawings done by kids accompanied by cynical remarks from an adult. I nearly pissed myself. If I can find it I'll post it.

[Ragingguitarist18]

i know what site that is, maddox.xmission.com

[Adam Bott]

sometiems in these situations,if your first to act, I'll check raise about 3 times his bet, that will scare them, and they will only call if they for sure think they got you beat, which means they did in the first place.
Also, what I found that works is if you either do one of two things:
vary your betting stronger or by checkign on the flop and turn.
or bet consistently the same amount the whole time
This will make it hard for your opponent to guess what you have. and theirfore when you go to check raise him on the river, he might also check...

[Toasty]

heh the pictures are actually drew by me, I used to work with a girl (who's now my GF, I know she wanted the Toasty ) who would ask to see photos of me in my younger years, so i would tell her i'll email one in, do one in paint and email it her.

hehe, i have an odd sense of humour, the mushroom man is a friday afternoon doodle . . .

they look like kids drew them cause I only spend about 1min doing them, personally i think they look pretty C 8) 8) L

[GDS223]

This might have something to do with EV. When you're looking at a scary board, and you're playing a hand such as the one you described, your best move is probably just to check in last position. As you said, if you have him beat, he'll fold to a bet, but if he has you beat, he'll call and/or raise. If you're in first position, it is a similar concept. You might want to check when the board reads flush or straight draw because you want your opponent to fear the check raise as well, while similarly, if he or she did hit the straight or flush, he'll bet the hand back to you. Basically what it comes down to is reading your opponents betting strategy over the course of the hand. Scenarios like this, I might check no the turn to see what kind of action my opponent takes. Does that mean, essentially giving him a free card? Yes. But at the same time, people are less likely to semi bluff after the turn misses, and this way, at least, you have a better idea of where you stand.

[doubleup]

If you're pretty certain you have the best hand, you shouldn't fear a check-raise. If you're first to act on the turn, checking could give that drawer a free card and allowing him to complete his flush/straight draw cheaply. If checked to you and the board does show a straight or flush possibility you should lay out a small sized bet to gain information. If they raise you then you have to go through the course of betting. Did they bet out pre-flop, did they call a bet pre-flop? If so, what size bet did they bet or call? How did the bet on the flop with the cards that were shown? What type of player are they? Do they play many Axs or 8/3s? If so, be cautious. I always bet out if checked to me just to gain information, as it's valuable. If they just call your bet and check the river, throw out a a small sized bet again and see what they do.

[johnnyawe]

check.

[koolmoe]

If you're pretty certain you have the best hand, you shouldn't fear a check-raise. If you're first to act on the turn, checking could give that drawer a free card and allowing him to complete his flush/straight draw cheaply.

In the scenario I'm talking about, I've bet strongly on the flop and turn to chase out the draws, but the draw hit on the river. There's no free card to give.

If checked to you and the board does show a straight or flush possibility you should lay out a small sized bet to gain information. If they raise you then you have to go through the course of betting. Did they bet out pre-flop, did they call a bet pre-flop? If so, what size bet did they bet or call? How did the bet on the flop with the cards that were shown? What type of player are they? Do they play many Axs or 8/3s? If so, be cautious. I always bet out if checked to me just to gain information, as it's valuable. If they just call your bet and check the river, throw out a a small sized bet again and see what they do.

Like I said, bet out strongly (4-6x BB PFR, 3/4 - pot size bets on the flop and turn after being checked to - both called).

As for knowing the player, I'm having trouble with this early in a tournament. A lot of times I don't have my opponent in my PT database, and I haven't seen enough hands in the tourney to know if he plays Axs.

I'm starting to write this off to chasing by weak players. Over the weekend, in a $30+3 SnG, I was dealt QQ in late position on about the fifth hand. I raised it to $90 (6xBB) and had one caller who was the small blind. Flop comes J-rag-rag rainbow, checked to me, I bet the pot (about $200). Opponent calls my bet. Turn is the 5c which isn't a whole lot of help to anything else on the board. Opponent goes all-in. With this action, I'm wondering what he called my 6xBB PFR and pot-sized flop bet with. 55? J5s? The only thing that makes sense (to me) is that he slowplayed JJ's, AA or KK. A smaller set would have been a possibility, but *I* wouldn't haved called preflop with, say, 77. I want to fold, but I sac up and call his all-in. He turns over AKo, and the river is no help to him. Doubling up so early put me in great position, and I won the tourney. In some ways, I think it was a bad call on my part.

I should mention that a big part of my tourney philosophy is to take down pots before the showdown, so I am cautious about calling someone else's all-in since I won't be able to get them to fold before the showdown. If anyone's gonna push, I want it to be me.