Frequently in poker there is an obvious right play and an obvious wrong play. If you were playing seven card stud and you saw your opponent make an exposed pair of aces and you had only a pair of tens, the right move would be to fold, the wrong move would be to call. In Hold’em, however, the only exposed cards are shared by everyone competing for the pot, and the cards which are most important are the ones which you cannot see in your opponents’ hands. If you could always know exactly what your opponents had at all times and were adept at calculating pot odds and knowing drawing percentages, you could quickly become the richest poker player ever. Anyway, the point is, you don’t always know if you’re beat or if your opponent is drawing dead, etc.
Rambling introductory paragraph aside, here is an example hand I played in which I made the wrong play on the river. I was playing in a $5/$10 ring game on ParadisePoker.com (my internet poker room of choice) and I played suited connectors on the button. I had 6♥5♥ and was able to limp into a multi-way pot*. The flop was a tricky one for me, it came down A♦5♣7♥. This is exactly the type of flop that can be bad news for suited connectors, but when an early position player bet and received multiple callers, I decided to take a cheap look at the turn. The turn was the 9♥. Obviously I was beaten on the flop and was still beaten on the turn (just a pair of fives with no kicker), but I had picked up a decent draw. Now all the remaining hearts in the deck would give me a low flush, the 8♥ would give me the nuts – a straight flush, and the other three 8’s would give me a straight. Also, a five or a six might be enough to win the pot for me. These prospects made a call on the turn easy, but an interesting change had taken place. On the turn, two people checked, the third player bet, and it was folded to me. I was concerned about a check-raise at this point, but both of the early positions opted to just call the bettor. So just to recap: going into the river I am seated fourth and last, the bettor was on third, and first and second had check-called the turn.
The river brought the Q♥ giving me the flush. Again the first two players checked and the third player bet. Here is where I made my mistake, I raised. There are a couple of reasons why raising in this spot is a mistake. The primary reason is that it will almost certainly drive out both of the early position players. They barely wanted to call a single bet on the turn, and a double bet on the river would scare off weaker hands like a low Ace. Then, if I had the original bettor beaten, I would gain one bet if he called the raise. By simply calling, at least one of the early players should have called, maybe both. If one calls, I am even to where I was by raising. If they both call I am ahead.
Here’s the real catcher, though. If one of the opponents did in fact have me beaten (A♥J♥, etc.) then my raise becomes catastrophic. The opponent who has me beaten will re-raise, and instead of just calling one $10 bet, now I have committed $30.
When my hand was best, by raising I gained one bet, by calling I gained one or two.
When my hand was beaten, by raising I lose $30, by calling I lose $10.
Raising here was a terrible play with no positive value, but it does teach a valuable lesson about correct play in poker. It is always important to analyze the results of various decisions you make at the table. In this case I raised on impulse when I hit my draw, without thinking of the potential outcomes. If you keep thinking analytically and playing securely, you will find that your bankroll goes through less fluctuation and experiences more gains.
*See “More on Limit Hold’em” for details about playing suited connectors.
