A move that happens often in the course of a poker game is someone raising on the river. This is a strong move, and the player making it either has a strong hand or is trying to steal the pot with a bluff. Poker players must develop the ability to tell whether or not the raiser is bluffing. In this article, I will show you an example of how I defeated a river bluffer in a common hand.
While I was playing poker at Full Tilt Poker, I was dealt K7 offsuit and I raised from middle position. There were two callers and the flop came out Kc Qh 10d rainbow. I bet out with my top pair. The first caller immediately folded, while my second opponent immediately called. The turn was dealt and it was 2s. I bet out again, and there was another immediate call from my only remaining opponent. The river was 5c. I bet for a third time, confident I had the best hand.
To my surprise, my opponent raised, forcing me to determine what cards my opponent was holding. There were no flush possibilities, but there were straight possibilities from the moment the flop hit the felt. My opponent called me immediately throughout the hand, leading me to believe that he was on a draw, most likely with a J in his hand for an open ended straight draw. However, if he had flopped the straight, it is likely that he would have acted the exact same way, as there were no flush draws on the board.
At this point in my thought process, I believed that I had the best hand, but I wasn’t sure. My opponent did not reraise me preflop, so I knew it was unlikely that he had AJ for the nuts straight. It was possible for him to have J9 offsuit, but I doubted it. I doubted it because he only doubled my bet when he raised. I had been showing strength the whole time, so he knew he could have raised a lot more and expect me to call. This was the last clue in the case. I called the raise and he showed J10, for low pair or tens with the open ended straight draw.
Let’s analyze my opponent’s play in depth
By looking closer at the hand, we can figure out exactly what the thought process of my opponent was. I have illustrated these below.
- My opponent made immediate calls all the way through the hand. When this happens it is very likely that they are on a draw, although a shifty player could hold a very strong hand.
- There was no raise preflop. This made it less likely that my opponent was holding an Ace or two face cards, eliminating most of the marginally stronger hands as well as the “nuts” straight.
- The raise on the river was too small for a very strong hand, as my opponent had to believe that I would call a large raise, due to my strong betting throughout the hand.
With all of these clues combined, I knew I had the best hand. This is an excellent example of how to analyze a poker hand and decide whether or not your opponent is trying to bluff you out on the river. When you find yourself in this sort of situation, do what I did and analyze the hand from start to finish, examining the possibilities as well as understanding what your opponent may be thinking.
The key to the above example was that I understood the assumptions that my opponent should have been making. I exploited the inconsistencies in my opponent’s representations and took down the hand, something that you will be able to do when you train yourself to realize this.
