Common Mistakes: Raising on the River
written by BeatTheFish.com
...Fishy says, "If the board looks
fishy, just show 'em down. Hey, are those new tropical-flavored
flakes? Whoops, gotta go."
A common mistake that I see players
make in online no-limit hold’em cash games and tournaments is
raising on the river with a medium-strong hand. This usually takes
place when the player in question has position and has taken the
lead on a previous betting round and is up against just one
opponent. Often, players will raise on the river for what they think
is a value bet with the best hand. Unfortunately, their opponent is
often laying a trap that could’ve been avoided by just checking or
calling on the end. Let me show a couple of example hands that I
recently watched play out online.
The following hand is from a $2/4 no-limit hold’em cash game. Put
yourself in the position of our player here and think to yourself
with you would do in each betting situation. Our player is holding:
 
You’re on the button and there are two other callers ahead of you.
You just call the minimum bet of $4. The big blinds just checks to
see the flop. 4 of you stay in to see:
  
You’ve hit top pair with a strong kicker without a big draw on the
board. The other players check around to you and you make a nice bet
of $16 – the size of the pot. The big blind sticks around to make
the call but the other players fold. The two of you watch the turn
fall:
Making a value bet with what should be the best hand, you bet
another $40 into the $48 pot. The big blinds curiously calls. The
river is a:
This time, the big blind bets out $16 into a $128 pot. You put the
big blind on a busted flush draw or a raggedy Ace so you make
another “value” bet and raise him to $50. The big blind just calls
your raise and turns over 5h-8h:
 
Where did this player go wrong in the hand? While it may be a topic
for another column, one can argue that he should’ve raised to 3 or 4
times the big blind with a suited A-Q from the button. This might
drive out trash hands (such as the 5-8) and give you leverage on the
flop in position. However, his call is reasonable if he just wants
to take a flop and he doesn’t believe that he can thin the field
with a raise. Continuing with such a hand is tough on the flop if
you don’t hit a pair or a draw and you raised preflop.
On the flop and turn, I like his decisions. To discourage a cheap
draw and build a pot on the flop, this player bet out about the size
of the pot. On the turn, there were two hearts showing and he gets
checked to again. He makes a nice bet of $40. When his opponent
check-calls this decent-sized bet, alarms should’ve been going off
in his head. On the river, his passive opponent suddenly makes a
bet. Our player has top pair with a great kicker, but the board has
now paired. His opponent is on the big blind and could have
anything: A-K, A-2, or maybe even a 5. Our hero only has one pair
and his raise will usually only get called by a hand that has him
beat. I recommend that in a similar situation (even with A-K) that
players just call on the river and showdown their hand. A lot of
players play Ace-trash or worse… especially online.
Let’s give one more example from a $1/2 no-limit cash game. The big
blind checks to see a flop against 2 limpers and holds:
 
On the flop, he hits the absolute nuts when he watches this fall:
 
Hoping to trap one of the limpers who might have hit an Ace, he just
checks. The two players behind him also check. The turn card is:
Fearing a possible flush and a draw to the straight, the big blinds
bets out $10 into the $6 pot. Only one player makes the call and 2
of them see a river of:
The big blind bets out another $15 and his opponent raises to $45.
The big blind quickly calls and watched his opponent turn over
 
for the winner. Again, the first
mistake was on the flop by slowplaying the nuts on the flop, but the
biggest mistake was calling on the river. He had the “idiot end” of
the straight and anyone with a 7 has him dominated. If you find
yourself in a similar situation where the nuts went wrong, just
check and/or release your hand to a big raise.
A lot of players get attached to their hands and make the mistake of
betting and/or raising on the river when they’re only holding a
medium-strong hand like top pair. Also, suited connectors that make
flushes and straights should be played very strongly because another
suited card or connector will often cripple the hand. If you have
the absolute nuts (or close to it) on the river, feel free to
continue value betting and raising. However, if you’re looking at a
dangerous board and a suddenly aggressive opponent, tend to just
showdown the hand. This is especially true when an opponent appears
to be chasing a draw from his calling patterns and the draw is
completed on the river. In this instance, there is no reason to bet
on the river if your opponent checks to you.
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