what to do when a scare card hits

peteski · Feb 19,2005, 03:58 PM

What do you do when a scary card hits? The situation I'm especially thinking about is when you're out of position on the river in no-limit.

For instance, suppose you make top pair and the board comes two to a suit. You bet and get called on both the flop and the turn and then the river brings the third suited card. If you're first to act, do you bet at this river card or check? If I check or bet less than I have been betting, that shows weakness and an astute player might raise in that spot regardless of what he has. On the other hand, I hate to flush away a bunch of chips by betting on the river only to get forced out by a big raise, especially when it will take a relatively sizable bet to not show weakness.

the_main · Feb 19,2005, 04:39 PM

this is to vauge a question to answer definitely - it depends on reads, chips stacks and other various factors

personnaly, I would have likely already taken this pot down before the scare card hit, or have all my chips in with what I believed to be the best hand

Dave Scharf · Feb 20,2005, 02:21 AM

Good question. A nice illustration of the power of position in a NL tournament. Don't you just HATE to have someone who has positon on you call? I do.

If I am still very deeply stacked then I will probably fire again. My bet looks dangerous. After all, I could have been betting the whole way with a semi-bluff that made it. At the very least this will tend to freeze up a player with a flush unless it's a big'un. Bet the amount that you would be willing to call.

That is...

Unless you have a very good read on your opponents and you know that one has hit a flush, then check and fold.

That is...

Unless you think one of them has top pair/worse kicker and you think that a check will induce a bet or a bluff.

themain is right, it is a very context dependent question. It will depend A LOT on stack size and my opinion of my opponent.

That is...

Unless I have been pushing a nut flush semi-bluff which just made the nuts in which case I really like to make a little "freeze the action" bet to LOOK like I am trying to freeze the action.

Sigh. Cocktail! Another martini here please, my head hurts.