blonde poker forum

Eventually signed up here after railing for a while.

hello all!

just had some thoughts about gaps in my game.

I feel im clued up as to when to check back rivers against betting for value. But out of position are there specific boards you would check call vs donk folding?

What i mean are really wet boards where you make 2 pair or ugly trips. You have showdown value but there could be a lot beating you.

I know this is a fairly thin range. In most spots if youre ready to check call then why donk anyway. But is there an argument for making it cheaper. eg check calling 5k as opposed to donk folding 2k???

its half 4 in the morning and ive just had an evening of lutons finest so i hope this makes sense haha

Guessing you mean like  7d 8c or  7d 7c on  7s 8s 9h?

yeh exactly those kind of boards!

it's basically ALL down to his bluffing and calling frequencies.

Basically...

If you find yourself with a hand in a spot that you are quite likely to have the best hand but your opponent can very feasibly have a better hand then you need to base your decision on three judgements.

1) How much will he call with that you beat - this will prolly be MORE down to the player himself than the board, if he is quite a calling station etc or if he doesn't hero off to much and so on - but the board will be relevant as well, mostly how you hand is perceived by him, if you're able to make a value bet that looks a bit bluffy then he'd be more likely to call with some of his worse hands, and so on.

2) How much he bluffs - if he is or isn't the type of player to bluff with missed draws etc and ofc one of the most important things to consider when deciding between a bet fold or a chk/call line is how often he will turn the weaker part of his value range (basically the WORST hands he would consider calling you with) into bluffs - if he is capable of doing this then you can really get yourselfi into trouble bet/folding for value

3) How thin he will value-bet - I guess this will be mostly down to his perception of you, generally speaking the thinner you expect someone to V-Bet vs you then the better a chk/call line becomes as if he is value-betting worse all your work is done for you

So you need to consider all these points and sum up in your mind the likelihood of him CALLING with worse, BLUFFING/THIN VALUE BETTING and ofc the likelihood of him turning hands he might call with into bluffs. Generally speaking the WORSE players will bluff less and call lighter which often makes a bet/fold line the best. If you're against a weaker player is who quite aggressive you might want to consider trying to chk and induce a bluff. If you're vs a very good player it's ALWAYS going to be a tough decision as they are unlikely to call you too badly and are also capable of turning a weak showdown hand into a bluff, which will really set your money on fire if you bet fold too much. Vs this player is you don't have a very strong hand defo consider a chk/fold as chk/fold will often be the play that if you get it slightly wrong will cost you the least amount of money long term.

Hope this helps ;)

wow didnt reply a reply so in depth!

awesome! thanks mate