Jonathan Little
If you want to increase your poker skills and learn to crush the games, check out Jonathan Little’s elite training site at PokerCoaching.com/CardPlayer.
I recently went to the Bahamas to play a tournament series and as soon as I landed, I hopped into a fun-looking $10-$20 no-limit game. Thirty minutes into the session, I won $2,500 against an overly aggressive kid when he triple-barrel bluffed in a three-bet pot and I did not fold an overpair. He seemed to be tilted.
A few hands later, with $10,000 effective stacks, I raised to $60 with J-J from first position at the eight-handed table and the maniacal kid three-bet to $240 from second position. Everyone folded around to me.
While four-betting may have merit, I really don’t want to face a five-bet/get $10,000 in preflop, even if my opponent is a maniac. Calling will also make my range appear weaker, ideally inducing bluffs, which he may already be overly inclined to attempt.
I called. The flop came A-10-8. I checked and my opponent bet $360 into the $510 pot.
Even though the obviously scary ace came on the flop, my opponent’s range is far too wide for me to fold. Realize that your opponent will not have your decent pocket pair beat every time an overcard flops. Of course, he could have you beat, but you never want to allow your opponent to easily exploit you by making a continuation bet with 100% of his range. You must get comfortable with calling on the early betting rounds and navigating the turn and river.
I called. The turn was a Queen. I checked and my opponent checked behind.
It is difficult to know what this specific player’s turn check means because he may only check behind when he has absolutely nothing, or he may check with many marginal one pair hands that crush me, such as A-9 and K-Q. Going to the river, my plan was to likely fold to a bet if I failed to improve.
The river was a King, giving me a straight. That is lucky!
It is important to consider the opponent’s range and how he will proceed against my possible options.
If I bet, he will probably only call with two pair and better made hands. I doubt he would attempt to bluff since I could easily have the straight with hands like J-J, A-J, K-J, Q-J, and J-10.
If I check, he will probably value bet most two pair hands and may also bluff. By checking, I give him the option to put money in with his decently strong hands, but more importantly, when he has nothing.
Since I want him to put money in the pot with as wide a range as possible, checking makes the most sense.
Fortunately, my opponent bet $580 into the $1,230 pot. I check-raised to $1,300 and he quickly folded. In this spot, my river check probably won me $580 more than a bet, unless of course my opponent is an even more extreme maniac than I thought who would have raised if I bet the river!
If you want more resources to help you improve your game, I put together a course called Master the Fundamentals. This course covers the basics, preflop, post-flop, multiway, turn and river strategy, and much more. This course is completely free inside Card Player Poker School!
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Jonathan Little is a WSOP bracelet winner, two-time WPT winner, and the 2024 PokerGO Cup champion with nearly $9 million million in live tournament earnings, best-selling author of 15 educational poker books, and 2019 GPI Poker Personality of the Year. If you want to increase your poker skills and learn to crush the games, check out his training site at PokerCoaching.com/cardplayer.