Q♠Q♥ on the River, what do you do here?

QQ on the River-optimized.gif


DECISION POINT:
In a Cash Game, it folds to a Middle Position player who raises, you reraise with Q♠Q♥. The Cutoff folds, the Button calls, the Blinds fold, and the MP player calls. The Flop comes 7♥4♣3♦. MP2 checks, you bet, and the Button and MP2 both call. The Turn is the T♣. MP2 checks, you bet, the Button calls, and MP2 folds. The River is the 8♠. You check, and the Button moves all-in. Action is on you, what do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: As played, we should call this river shove. We are getting close to 4-1 pot odds, so we only need our QQ to be the best hand a little more than 20% of the time to justify a call.

Our opponent can have several bluffs on this river. Hands like AcQc or AcJc are in their range (floating flop with Ace high and backdoor flush draw, turning the flush draw).

Continued below...


The fact that we don't hold the Qc makes QcX combos very live. It only takes a few combos of bluffs like this to make calling profitable.

Had stacks been deeper and if Villain shoved a pot sized bet on the river, this call would be much more questionable and we should fold against many opponents. But with these pot odds, just a few bluffs by Villain make this call a profitable one.

Calling is the best play.

How would you play it?
Share your answer in the comments below!


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