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Exclusive Netbettor Texas Hold'em Article: "Yes, you'll feel like a clown when you miss the river. Learn to deal with it. "
Texas Hold'em Hand Analysis One play that intermediate players often miss is raising a draw for value on the turn. It isn't a situation that comes up every day, so most players never develop this skill, and more importantly there can be psychological consequences to making this kind of move: i.e., you'll feel dumb if you miss the draw (and, of course, you will miss the draw most of the time). Nevertheless, we here at Netbettor are on a ceaseless quest to extract maximum value out of all Texas hold em hands- and if that means raising the turn with a draw, then damnit that's what we're going to do! Here are a couple examples of this kind of play. • This hand took place at the $5-$10 at True Poker two weeks ago. I was in the big blind with the 7 Whuh? Three bet? Absolutely! The flop wasn't capped, so I assume nobody's sitting on a set. Thus, I figure trip fives will be good, a six will be good, a heart will very likely be good and a seven may be good. This leaves me with 17 cards that may give me a winner. Since there are 46 unseen cards left I'm better than 2:1 to complete my hand. True, none of my outs are to the stone nuts, but most of them are close enough. Also, A three bet here may be enough to get someone off a six, which would free up my outs to two-pair. In any event I'm making money if at least one player behind me calls, but if they fold it's not a disaster either, since I'll very likely get a free showdown if I miss the river and check (note: there is a tiny chance that my hand is currently best—if, for instance, the button just picked up a heart draw holding something like A This turn three-bet accomplishes a couple different things. First, it may get some hands to fold that I would like to see fold. This includes hands like A 5, or any hand with a six, or any hand with a seven. Second, I might be protecting the best hand with this three bet. And third, I'm extracting maximum value from my fairly strong drawing hand. Any one of these factors alone may not be enough to persuade me to three-bet, but taken in concert a three-bet here is absolutely mandatory. • This second hand took place in a six max $3-$6 at Interpoker three nights ago (it was actually a pounds sterling game, not a US dollar game). I had the Ac Jc under the gun and raised. All called (God I love playing those Europeans!). The flop came Q This is a pure value raise. I have twelve outs to either the nut flush or a Broadway straight, another three outs to the second nut straight, and three possible outs with the three remaining aces. All told I've probably got about a 25% chance of winning this pot, yet I've still got everyone and their brother in there with me. If everyone calls (and it was that type of game, believe me) I'm getting 5:1 on a hand that's about 3:1 to drag the barley. When you're getting this kind of overlay you have to take advantage of it. Note also that by raising here I've built a pot so frickin' big that everyone is going to have to call on the river if I make my hand and they have anything at all, which menas my implied odds have increased. As I said in the intro, these opportunities don't come around every day. But they do pop up from time to time, and you need to be on the lookout for them. Yes, you'll feel like a clown when you miss on the river. Learn to deal with it. Texas hold em is all about value, and you can't afford to miss these kinds of overlays when they happen to present themselves.
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5
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. I checked, the next player bet, the next two called and the button raises. The small blind folds, I call and all call. Turn: the 3