The River
The River Card.
Showdown!! It’s time to see who is
taking down the chips, and who is drowning
in the river. River play is fairly
simple. If you have the best hand
either by strength of good cards early, or
luck of the draw on the river, now is your
final chance to get a few more chips from
your opponents.
Some
“classy” players will check here, even
though they know they have the top hand,
and thus save their opponents a few dollars
to put back in their wallet. Unless it’s a
long time friend, I would advise taking his
wallet, emptying it of its contents and
then stuffing the wallet down his
throat. There are winners and there
are losers in poker. If you are
looking for “courtesy play”, then play with
family. The world of poker is like
Jack London's icy wastelands where only the
strong survive.
The
only real advice we can give on river play
is to
almost never
fold. If
you have been playing good cards up
to this point in the hand, then you
at least have a shot at holding the
winning cards. By now the pot
is large enough that it also makes
good money sense to stay
in.
Unless
you did not complete a pure draw hand, call
any bets. Don't get the reputation as
someone who can be bluffed off the
river. If this happens, you'll just
face more and more bluff bets on the
river. On the other hand, if you get
the reputation as someone who can't be
bluffed, then no one in their right mind
will attempt it.
The
only other times you should consider
folding is when an extremely conservative
player who never bluffs has been calling
towards a draw hand the entire hand and now
it looks like he has hit his card.
When there are two or more players who
start betting and raising on the river, you
can be sure that at least one of them holds
the goods. You can make a case for
folding here.
Pot
odds dictate that you bet or call on the
river, unless you are
practically positive you are
beat.
Play Online
Poker
|
