Riverplay part 1

» KOLUMNE

Riverplay part 1 - theory

from MiiWiin

Throughout the course of every hand, we have to survive a maximum of 4 streets to see a showdown. Every street has its own dynamics and problems, but the river poses the greatest difficulty.

We will start by looking at the special characteristics of the game on the river, and what you should be looking out for. In the next two parts, we'll deal with a couple of examples, where we put special emphasis on the different types of opponents, situations and especially on our own position.

As mentioned, every street is unique, but the river is often underestimated. Just as people can underestimate a river in real life and get carried away, the same can happen in poker!

The river has a number of special characteristics. The human brain remembers standard situations and tries to create a pattern. As poker players we know that this can be very dangerous. We therefore analyse our method of play, as well as the results. If we come to the conclusion that our move has a +EV, we can then be satisfied in making it.

This learning process is obviously very important, but it will only be beneficial if we apply it to similar situations in the future. Once we have developed these kind of dynamics, we'll arrive at the correct decisions more frequently and become better at the game. A lot of experience is therefore necessary.

If we analyse every street, we usually find ourselves in preflop situations where we've already adjusted our game to our different opponents, and so we should avoid making mistakes in the long run.

At the end, there is the river. It is logical that the last betting round occurs less frequently than any of the other streets. If you consider your VPIP and your "Went to showdown" value you will notice that you very rarely have to make a decision on the river, namely in a ratio of 1 to 25. In other words, we basically lack experience on the river.

It is obviously very frustrating when we have to make expensive decisions on the river. The pot has naturally become very big, and since the bets in no-limit holdem are generally not based on the size of the pot, we'll have to invest relatively a lot.

Furthermore, there is a large difference between the river and all the other streets, in that, the hands are already "made". There are no more cards to come, two hands are up against each other, one of which is usually the better one and which therefore has the right to claim the pot. Whether this hand actually wins, though, has not yet been decided.

Quite often, you'll think of the hand as already being complete - all you have to do is take it to a showdown. If you put villain on a draw, it either arrives on the river or it doesn't. Should your opponent miss his draw, it's most likely you'll still be ahead, but if he hits, you must act with caution.

You may have already decided on the turn whether you want to give up on the river, induce a bluff, or make a value bet, leaving you less focused on the river.

The odds obviously change as well. On the early streets, odds are basically a bet on the probability that a card which improves our hand hits on the following streets. We usually assume to be behind, but we can calculate the probability of making the best hand quite accurately. We have a tougher calculation with the pot odds due to possible implied odds, but we can estimate whether a call is profitable or not in the long run, with experience.

We get odds for a call on the river as well, but we cannot make use of any mathematics:

1.) PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6 handed) HandRecorder v0.9b

Stacks & Stats
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
UTG ($25)
BB ($25)
SB ($25)
Hero ($25)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A , K
UTG raises to $1.00 2 folds, Hero raises to $3.25, 2 folds, UTG calls $3.25

Flop: ($6.35) K, 3, 4 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $4.50, UTG calls $4.50

Turn: ($15.35) 5 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: ($15.35) 6 (2 players)
UTG bets $7.50, Hero ???

This is a standard hand until the turn. Hero decided to check behind on the turn, and then to to perhaps call on the river depending on the bet size and whether the river is a or not.

Obviously, villain bets. Hero has to pay 7.50$ to have the chance of winning 22.35$. This equates to pot odds of around 3 to 1. This means that hero has to be ahead in one of four cases to be able to call profitably.

Estimating these odds is difficult though. Are we really going to be ahead one in four times? It is not possible to calculate anything quickly here.

These situations require experience and in these situations, you inevitably have to make expensive decisions. So there is no harm in utilising the equilator and giving our opponents some ranges in order to judge whether we ahead enough times.

You should retain an open-mind at this point, and consider all options. The size of the bet influences our odds immensely and can turn a profitable call into a bad call.

It is very clear in the example above though. Villain checked on the turn and induced a bluff. His small bet and the probability of villain bluffing, make this a definite call with top pair and top kicker.

It would be wrong to play the following line every time: check behind the turn / call any river without looking at the odds. If your opponent makes a potsize bet, you could think about this even further, but you should definitely not call a push.

More about this next time.

Basically we have three different options on how we want to play the river.

1.) The Bluff
We don't think we are ahead on the river and want to try to make our opponent fold a better hand. Apart from the development of the hand and the board, some background knowledge about our opponent and our image are also important. Obviously a pure bluff is the only option - since the hand is already finished, we cannot attempt a semi-bluff. Our goal: Making a better hand fold!

2.) The Showdown
If we have the opportunity, we want to see a showdown as cheaply as possible. We do have showdown value, but we don't think that we are very far ahead and we therefore don't want to invest more money than we have to.

Our goal: See a showdown cheaply.

3.) The Valuebet
We think that we are ahead, either because the river helped us or because we had a strong hand before. Our main focus should be on how to extract the most value from villain.

Our goal: We want to extract the most value for our strong hand.

The strength of our hand and the goals we want to achieve with it are important as well. We can also provide some classifications here:

1.) Weak Hand
Our hand is weak and doesn't have any showdown value. This would be possible if you have a busted flush draw, unimproved over-cards, or after a call with a middle pair which has lost its strength because more over cards have followed on the turn and river.

2.) Made Hand
We have a made hand which is good and possesses some showdown value, but isn't necessarily the best hand. Possible hands are over-pairs or top pair / top kicker. Furthermore, hands which could have been drawn out on, for example a set on a board with four connected cards, or a strong two pair with 3 cards of one suit on the board.

3.) Strong made hand
We have a very strong hand on the river. We think that we are ahead most of the time so that we want to get paid off. We basically assume that we have the nuts and only see a small chance that villain is actually holding a better hand.

Comparing our three options with our possible hands we can merge the three points.

If we are holding a weak hand, a bluff is much more suitable than with a made hand. If we are holding a made hand, we shouldn't try to make our hand too expensive. Finally, we shouldn't try to miss any value bets with our strong made hands.

As already mentioned, we will address implementing these options in position, depending on the villain.

In two weeks we will deal with playing out of position, which is a little harder than playing in position.

To finish the theory, one important thing is missing, which gains added importance when talking about river play: Bluff induce.

The bluff induce gains in importance on the later streets. Frequently this is employed on the turn, where you can check behind in position, in order to induce a bluff on the river.

Inducing a bluff, on the river, out of position, is of similar value. You can often try to induce a bluff by checking, in which case you could see a showdown cheaply, but the expected bet on the river increases the expected value.

The bluff induce will also be discussed in the next two parts.