Should you check to induce river bluffs?

Dara O'Kearney on whether to take the betting initiative to avoid check backs on the river when you have a big hand.

One area of poker where players will deviate wildly from GTO is the river.

More often than not, river aggression means strong value, and most players do not thin value bet enough either.

If you are out of position with a strong hand on the river, and perhaps your opponent has bet the flop and turn, do you check to induce or take the initiative and bet?

A good mental shortcut to trying to decide whether to check or bet when you have a very strong hand on the river is to ask yourself these questions:

• If I check, what hands will my opponent bet, and which ones will he check behind?
• If I bet, what hands will they call?

If in doubt, bet

Some opponents will bet all the hands they would call with, and throw in some bluffs if we allow them the opportunity, so generally we are better off checking to them (allowing them to bet more hands than they'd call with).

Other players are passive stations who will call a lot more hands than they'll bet themselves, so we are better off betting ourselves.

So it's good to ask yourself which of these categories your opponent is more likely to fall into. 

Most players are too passive on the river, so if in doubt, bet, especially if the board has brought out a lot of scare cards that would prompt a player to check back with any kind of showdown value.

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