A River Decision with K♠Q♥, what do you do here?
![A River Decision with KQ-optimzd.gif](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.learnwpt.com/images/A_River_Decision_with_KQ-optimzd.max-1280x720.gif)
DECISION POINT: In a live $1-2 game, a Middle Position player raises to $12 and you 3-bet to $30 from Hijack with K♠Q♥. It folds back around to Villain who calls. Villain check-calls your J♠J♣T♥ flop bet. The 6♦ turn goes check, check. Villain checks the 2♣ river and action is on you. What do you do here?
PRO ANSWER: Our 3-bet preflop may be a little too thin depending on the opponent. Against opponents that only raise limpers with a narrow premium range, we can simply fold KQ. If Villain is raising the limper with a wider range, then our 3-bet is appropriate.
On the flop, we can size down a bit on the c-bet. Around 1/3 pot is a better number here. Whether or not to continue firing on the turn is an important question.
Against tough opponents, we should mix our strategy between betting and checking on the turn. With this exact hand, GTO play would have us betting small (around 1/3 pot) around 25% of the time and checking around 75% of the time. Our check here is fine, but we could mix in some small barrels as part of our overall strategy in this spot.
Continued below...
On the river, we should basically always check behind after checking the turn. If we had bet the turn small and got called, and then missed the river, we could have this hand in our bluff shoving range on the river.
Overall, we should check behind on the river after choosing to check behind on the turn.
Checking is the best play.
How would you play it?
Share your answer in the comments below!
Start Improving Your Game!
Join LearnWPT.com and Get:
Think Like a Pro
- On-demand access to in-depth Strategy Episodes
- All of your poker questions answered with our popular Ask a Pro feature
- Expert analysis from LearnWPT Pros using The Hand Input Tool
- Downloadable Tools you can use at and away from the tables
- Exclusive access to interactive Q&A Webinars with LearnWPT Pros
Join (just $5 your first month) and start improving your game: