· Raj
Should I bet top pair on the river when he checks?
Usually yes. And small. Top pair beats most of his hands here. But that is not why you bet. You bet because weaker pairs will pay a small bet to see if they are good.
$2/$5 live cash. Both players started with $600.
You have K♠ Q♦ on the button.
You raise to $20. The big blind calls.
Flop K♥ 8♣ 3♦. He checks. You bet $25. He calls.
Turn 2♠. He checks. You check behind.
River 7♥. He checks. The pot is $92.
This is one of the hands in PokerThink. Top pair, good kicker, last card. And he checks to you.
I used to check this back a lot. I was more worried about getting raised than getting value from a worse hand.
So here is how I work through it now. Same two questions, every street.
What can the villain have here, and why?
He called a raise from the big blind. So his range starts wide. Lots of pairs. Lots of suited stuff.
Then he called my flop bet on a king-high board. So he has something he likes. A king. An eight. A three. Maybe a draw. Maybe he just did not want to fold yet.
Then the turn checked through. And now he checks the river.
So what is in there? Weaker kings, like king-jack and king-nine. Pairs that hit the eight, the seven, the three or the deuce. Ace-eight. Queen-seven. That kind of hand.
And a few hands that beat me. Two pair, mostly. Eight-seven. King-three. Plus ace-king, which has me outkicked.
Is his range capped? Mostly. With two pair he might have bet the turn himself. Not always. But a lot of the time.
So what do you do here, and why?
Top pair beats almost everything he has. So it feels like an easy bet. Maybe even a big one.
But being ahead is not the same as getting paid. A lot of the hands I beat missed the board completely. They fold to any bet. My bet makes nothing off them.
The hands that pay me are the weak pairs. The eights. The sevens. The threes. Those players look down and think, maybe he is bluffing. And they call a small bet. They do not call a big one.
And the hands that beat me do not just call. Two pair raises. Then I fold, and my bet is gone.
So I bet small. About a third of the pot. Around $30.
Checking is fine too. It is close. Check and you never lose a big pot. But you also never get the weak pair to pay you.
His range now
Wide and mostly capped. Weaker kings and small pairs, with a little two pair.
The habit I practice from this one is simple. Before I bet the river, I name one worse hand that calls. If I cannot name one, I check.
Questions
Should you bet top pair on the river when your opponent checks?
Usually yes, and small. Top pair beats most of his hands here, but that is not the reason to bet. The reason is that weaker pairs will often pay a small bet to see if they are good.
Is it a mistake to check top pair back on the river?
No. It is close. Checking means you never lose a big pot. It also means the weak pairs never pay you.
How big should a thin value bet be on the river?
Small. Somewhere around a third of the pot. The hands you want a call from are weak pairs, and weak pairs call small bets, not big ones.
What if he raises my small river bet?
Then he usually has two pair or better. Most of the hands that beat you here are two pair, and two pair raises instead of calling.
Practice this spot with a coach.
Two questions every street. What can the villain have, and what do you do. Talk or type, and the coach tells you what you got right and what you missed.
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