Value Betting River Card

Recently live poker has taken a bit of a backseat in my life and I have started grinding the online scene a lot more once again. However I have managed to get a few trips in which I have learnt some new skills which I will share in this blog.

In a recent interview Randy Lew (Nananoko) discussed what he thought the biggest mistakes players made at the 1/2 $ blind level were. He said that players often bet money on the end incorrectly. I have found that this also happens in casinos and in live games too. Players do not often consider the actual reason why they are betting on the last card. They are effectively saying that they think they have the best hand. However even if they do have the best hand they cannot get paid unless their opponent also thinks that they themselves have the best hand and will in fact call their bet. This means that if the player bets thinking he has the best hand and the other play is pretty damn sure that he is beat, he will often fold. Whereas if the player had checked the action to the opponent and this player still in the same situation before who believes his hand is no good and is probably sensing weakness from  the fact that the first player checked may actually fire a bluff bet out which the first player could call easily which if he had led out would not of had the chance at getting. This bluff inducing strategy is best applied in cash games when the stacks are deep or in the early stages at tournaments. The reason why this strategy looses effectiveness in the later stages of tournaments is as stack sizes shrink the bluff bet from opponents can often be an all in shove which are a lot harder to justify calling.

Another problem some players have with value betting on the river is that they do it too thinly. What is meant by this term exactly is that players bet on the end thinking they have the best hand when their hand is very marginal. The value they are looking to squeeze from their opponent just isn't there. A hand which is weaker than them would never call and only a hand which is stronger would call (or even raise)meaning that the player is intentionally building a pot in which they are quite unlikely to win. This situation occurs so many times in casinos and players can become very frustrated and angry when they make a bet on the river and find them selves facing an all in shove for their tournament. This is a strategy i like to apply when i think that my opponent is value betting far too thinly on the river. I don't always need a good hand to re raise with either as it is quite unlikely that they will be willing to put everything on the line. Having a tight and a very aggressive image also helps these steals to get through uncalled.