I'm willing to bet that you just dread the idea of
dealing with scare cards on the river. It's a major
pain in the behind of every poker player but it happens to
us all. A big part of the fear comes from the simple fact
that most of us aren't adequately prepared to deal with the
situation.
Scare cards come in a variety of forms. It could be the
third or fourth flush card; it could be a small card that
pairs the board and counterfeits your two-pair or it could
be any number of cards you didn't want to see. For the sake
of making this article digestible, we'll just assume today's
scare card is a flush card.
It's ten times easier to deal with scare cards when you have
the power of position so remember that before you even get
into the situation in the first place. We're not going to
worry about that today. Instead, this article is going to
tackle the most difficult situation of all: dealing with
scare cards on the river when you are playing from out of
position.
There are four lines you can take when a scare cards hits on
the river:
1) Check and call
2) Check and fold
3) Continue betting as if nothing happened
4) Blocking bet
Check and call
This line is best used against smart, aggressive players. It
works against these guys the best because they won't call
with a weaker hand if you bet but if you check it gives them
a chance to bluff the scare card. If you bet in this
situation, a smart, aggressive player would fold his weaker
hands and only call with stronger hands - a bad outcome for
you.
The biggest weakness to this line is that it's the most
passive option you can take. By checking and calling, you
give control of the hand to your opponent. You don't want to
check and call every time against good players because
eventually they'll just value bet you to death when they
have good hands. Sometimes, you'll have to check and fold.
Check and fold
Folding is never fun if you had a strong hand on earlier
streets but folding is a part of the game. This option is
best used against tight, predictable opponents and passive
calling stations. These types of opponents are the least
likely to bluff and are therefore the most likely types of
players to actually have a hand when they bet. This is
especially true if you're up against a fishy draw chaser.
Another good time to check and fold is when the scare card
is just ridiculous. If it puts 4 to the straight or 4 to the
flush on the board, don't even waste your time. Yes, this is
a great time for your opponents to bluff you but there's no
reliable way for you to tell whether or not they're
bluffing. Luckily this situation doesn't come up often so if
you get bluffed out once in a while it's not a big deal.
Continue betting as if nothing happened
This is the most aggressive and most underutilized option
out of them all. Just because someone called your two bets
on the flop and turn when there was a possible flush draw
out there doesn't mean they had a flush draw. If you
continue betting, you have the chance to get value from
weaker hands. If you bet on the flop and turn, people with
weaker hands won't put you on the flush draw so they'll be
more likely to call you with hands you can beat.
This option is best used against passive opponents and when
you really don't want to fold your hand. When you don't want
to fold your hand, you continue betting so that it makes it
extra expensive for them to try and bluff you. Pot sized
river bets are usually pretty large so it takes a big
commitment to raise them. If an opponent is willing to put
most of his stack in to raise your river bet, you can fold
your hand knowing that he probably wasn't bluffing. This is
especially true if you showed strength earlier when your
hand was the best one.
Blocking bet
This is my least favorite option because it's the most
obvious. Blocking bets do have their places, however. A
blocking bet is a smaller bet on the river that's used to
discourage opponents from bluffing you. It's not as powerful
as a regular, pot-sized bet but it's a lot cheaper if your
opponent has the hand you're worried about.
You're going to have to get inside the head of your opponent
to know when the blocking bet is a good idea. Some opponents
raise all blocking bets on principle and others will fear
it's a small value bet. If the scare card is a flush card,
I'd be hesitant to use the blocking bet because flush cards
are so easily recognizable as scare cards.
Conclusion
A big part of no limit strategy is learning how to handle
difficult situations. Anyone can play a flopped full house.
What separates the great poker players from the average ones
is the ability to handle difficult situations. Don't shy
away from these situations, meet them head on. Save your
hand histories and review some of the harder spots you get
stuck in. I'll bet you can find an acceptable solution every
time.
This poker strategy article
will hopefully help you improve your
online poker
game.
