Playing Poker The Marginal Play Hands On The River
September 27th, 2009
In the discussion of beginners' strategy for the top ten hands on the river (Chapter 3), I advocated making a lot of calls on the river, because of the large size of the pots with the top ten hands. In other words, the "pot odds" are there for you to call on the end with a top ten hand. This thinking is still somewhat applicable here, but now we're dealing with some weaker hands. Often, in my advice to beginners, my examples would have you in the lead with a strong hand (you're the bettor), and it would be your opponents who were calling you down. Now, with the weaker marginal-play hands, you will often be calling your opponents' bets.
Sometimes, situations will come up where you're calling someone down with your A-3 (calling all the way to the end) and a board of 0-0-0-0, and then the last card is 0 and someone else bets into you as well. In this case you were calling just one opponent, whose hand probably had your pair of aces with a weak kicker beaten. Now, when a third party bets out into both of you when the flush card hits, folding your hand would seem to be the wise move.
But you may also end up with A-10 and a board of 0-0-0-0, and then see the river produce 0. Now what do you do? If there had been a lot of action on the flop here, then you were probably playing against either a spade flush draw, a straight draw, a pair of jacks, or an overpair. With 0 on the river, you can now beat only the flush draw, assuming that the flush draw didn't have a Q with it. The point is that you may have already been in trouble with the A-10, but with this last card and two other opponents still in the action, you shouldn't even think about calling on the river. Again, playing the marginal play hands, as opposed to the top ten hands, may put you into some bad situations when it's time to ponder calling on the river.
You're still getting pot odds to call someone on the river— the payoff could be huge—but if you can make four or five prudent and well-timed folds a night, that will add up to some serious money by the end of the year! Learning when to call with your marginal-play hands on the river, or fold them, will become clearer as you gain experience.
Whether or not you make a call on the river depends entirely on how you read the situation. Reads, reads, reads, and a little "pot odds" math should be your guide. (I showed you how to calculate the pot odds earlier, on pages 62-63.) Only through practice will you be able to make good decisions on the end. Pay attention to how often you're right and how often you're wrong with your calls on the river. Was there a good reason that you called? Did you read your opponents well? Keep in mind that the idea is to constantly improve your reading skills along the way.
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