River checkraising

[Jezza]

Hi everyone,

This is definately a tricky play and one that should not be attempted without a very good read on your opponent, however it can maximise the return you get out of some hands when you are sure of your opponents holding. It is something I have been trying to get better at the past few months as I used to use it hardly ever at all and I thought I would post two hands up here where I tried it (one with success, one with absolute failure ) and see what you guys opinions are on it.

First hand
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I have Q9 spades in the big blind, in a 1/2 GBP (Crypto, so we were playing in pounds) cash game. Button limps with about 100 pounds in his stack, SB completes who is short and I check the big blind covering them both.

Flop 8spade 6spade 2heart

SB checks and I decide to lead at this board. It is unlikely the button has any of this and since the SB checked I think a bet here has a good chance of taking it down right now without having to hit any of my cards so I pot bet it. The button flat calls (hmm I think.....probably a flush draw, but is it higher than mine?) and the sb folds, not the greatest result but we get to see the turn......

Turn Adiamonds.

Great, I missed and am now out of position with a draw, although I think he probably has a flush draw as well. I am of course worried incase he has the nut flush draw. However, I realise, if he DOES have the nutflush draw then that ace must have hit him, so I check to see what he does. He checks right behind me....I pretty much figure if he had Axspades here he would definately have bet that turn so I dont think he has the nut draw.

River 10 spades.

Bingo! I hit the flush! Now how much to bet I think (pot size prob). I however reason with myself he has a flush as well and I want to get the max. He does not have the nuts I am sure but if he only has a baby flush he is prob just going to flat call me if I bet. Since I have the Q spades in my hand and the 10 is on the board, KQs and K10s are out of the question for him, the only hand I can conceivably see beating me is KJs and there are way more flushes he can have that I am beating. He will obv bet if I check so I weigh it all up and decide to river checkraise him all in. I check, he bets as planned, and I CR all in. He pretty much insta calls with....K7spades...urgh

Second hand
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This is ladbrokes 2/4 dollar NL shorthanded, all of us have over 400 infront 3 handed.

Button limps, I complete in the SB with 910o and BB checks.

Flop 9spade10spadeQclub

Great flop for me, although I could well be second best here (I am obv playing on this board tho). It is insanely draw heavy to the point that there is more likely a card going to come off that shuts me down and can freeze me than not, this and the fact that I am out of position for the whole hand lead me to check/call with the intention of potting a blank turn. I check, BB checks and button bets the min. I flat call it and BB folds.

Turn 9hearts
Bingo! I made my house! Now I Decide to slowplay and hope he makes something good (on the flop I hoped he had a queen and not some huge draw, now I hope he has a draw and gets there). I check (I prob could have bet a little here thinking about it but anyway, I checked) and he checks behind me (This shows me he has a draw and not a Q....if he had a Q he would bet the turn again)

River 2spades.
Mmmmm this is a good river. I am sure he was on a draw, it just depends if it was the straight draw or the flush draw. I think about betting but then realise this. If i bet he might only flat call me with a small flush - we are deep and he is not stupid, he knows his hand could well be second best and I doubt I would see a raise from him (unless he has the nut flush). He would also fold obv if he just had a jack and missed. I might, however, get a call out of a lone queen (but I think this is only a small chance, I am sure he would have bet the turn with a queen). However if I check....He will DEFINATELY bet any flush, and I can raise him... and he might well bluff the flush if he had missed the straight draw and I get extra equity that way as well. The downside of it is he will definately check a queen here (but as I said before I think this is the least likely of his holdings). After weighing it up I decide to check. He bets 24 and I CR to 100. He insta calls and mucks :drums :drums what i am sure was a flush.

Comments on both hands appreciated please

[mrmuzeman]

1st hand

I do as you do and pot the flop and a takedown is a result. When he calls I would think a flush is only one of many things he could have personally. He could have middle pair or bottom pair, hoping to hit a lucky turn or take it away from you if you check to him on the turn. Theres is many straight draws, open ended and gutshots and could have those easily as much as a flush, so its pretty hard to put him on a hand for me.

Id do as you do and check the turn cos my hand isnt exactly great now. Your thinking on the Ace is great and I would almost certainly have overlooked that entirely When he checks I now am thinking straight or flush draw and not a pair of some sort.

When you hit your flush youre perfectly entitled to think its good imo. The checkraise is interesting as it guarantees a bet from him, I cant see him not taking a stab at it even with a missed straight draw (and he may not have missed the 97 completes and id be looking at that incase he had it). The checkraise is good here although I probably would have just overlooked it and put a bet out there myself in truth like a gimp. I think its good though as its hard to lay down the flush there for him and most of the time youll have the better flush. I think it was just a cold deck.

This is getting stupidly tricky now but if you min re-raise here and he goes all in, can you lay it down?


Hand 2

I checkraise the flop here, one of them is big odds on to bet if I check and Ive no reason to expect my hands not good at this point in time. I go full pot checkraise and hoepfully take down the pot there. If not Id have got lucky and hit the 9 anyway I know its vulnerable with the draws so Ive gotta make them pay to hit altho I totally see the thinking that so many turn cards hurt me and I could perhaps do best to not devote so many chips out of position for that reason.

As he min bets it id put him on the flush draw. Im not even thinking about the top pair, surely hed bet more. Id check the beautiful turn and pray for the spade river. Lo and behold the poker Gods bless me!

Its an iron clad draw as he checked and id sway heavily for the flush being complete. The river check raise was perfection here imo and optimal as fcuk . As im pretty sure hes got the flush he 100% bets the river and calls a check raise too a lot of the time. As the boards paired he probably only calls if I bet. Theres no argument that the checkraise isnt good here for me.

Well played!