Getting Check-Raised on the River With Only Top Pair
Today I want to go back to that $5,000 buy-in, six-handed no-limit hold'em event from last summer's World Series of Poker and share another hand I played versus the very good, loose-aggressive U.K. pro Jack Salter.
We were still in the same level as last week's hand, with the blinds 1,000/2,000 and a 300 ante. In this one I had the larger stack between us with about 200,000 to Salter's 100,000, and with Salter waiting in the big blind I opened for 4,700 from the hijack seat with Q♣J♣. Salter called, and we both saw a flop come J♠7♦2♣.
Salter checked and with top pair, a backdoor flush draw, and an overcard, I bet 5,500. With the pot about 13,000 that's a relatively small continuation bet, which as I explain below stems both from the dry board and what should be a decent range advantage for me.
Salter called, the turn brought the 7♥ to pair the board, and Salter checked again. I chose to check behind, and the river 3♣ completed the board.
Salter checked a final time, and with just over 24,000 in the middle I bet 8,000 for value. That's when Salter check-raised to 18,000.
It was a tricky spot, for sure. Salter had given me good odds to call, which would suggest he wasn't bluffing. But again, as was the case in last week's hand, I found myself having to take into account my opponent's aggressive tendencies.
See what I chose to do and listen to further explanation of the hand:
As this hand again shows, it can be difficult to play against strong players because they consistently put you in tough spots.
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $6,500,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
