Don’t Let the River Screw You
I was at a poker game this week, and I saw a pretty interesting play. It was head’s up going into the flop, with the big blind and another opponent vying for the pot, and the big blind was not playing aggressively. The flop came out a 9-Ace-4 rainbow, and he checked to his opponent, who raised twice the big blind, and he called. The turn was a low card; the big blind checked again and called his opponent’s small raise. It got interesting on the river, however; it came out an 8, and he finally started betting. With an increase in the action, I looked at the table-it showed 9 of Hearts, Ace of Spades, 4 of Hearts, 2 of Clubs and 8 of Spades, and I guessed three things:
He didn’t have a flush or a straight; that was for sure.
I didn’t put him on an Ace, otherwise he would have tried to protect it from the flush draw with a bet after the flop.
He wasn’t a terribly deceptive poker player, so I put him on a paired 8 or less likely a low two pair.
After his opponent reraised and he called again, he turned over a King-8 of clubs, shaking his head and lamenting that he’d been enticed by the river. Don’t let the river trick you into throwing away your chips. If you draw a lower pair on the river, you’ve still only got low pair. Remember this when you play poker online.