Ahhhhh the River…

It’s only one card however it can drastically change the outcome of a hand, not to mention there’s usually a pretty sizable pot at stake.

The world’s best players know how powerful the River can be. They are masters at analyzing key factors, including preflop hand ranges, stack sizes, and how an opponent’s actions through the hand can help figure out what kind of story they are trying to tell us.

They have an arsenal of moves designed to maximize value and cause doubt in an opponent when there are no more outs to come.

Do YOU have trouble making raises, calling big bets, or folding big hands on the River?

Put your decision-making skills to the test against our Pros using the scenarios below and be ready to make the best decision possible the next time you are on the River:

• Top Pair on the River vs an All-in
• 2-Pair vs a Straight Draw
• Trip Aces on the River
• A River Decision with K♠Q♥
• Q♣Q♠ vs a River All-in

Deliberate application of key concepts at the table and consistent practice of your decision-making skills is essential for success in No-Limit Hold’em.

Remember… Amateurs play, Pros practice!

That’s why we ask that you read these scenarios and keep practicing… even if you don’t always agree with our analysis.

See you online,
-LearnWPT

PS: a Membership with LearnWPT is the easiest and fastest way to add more levels of complexity and nuance to your game. Members have access to over 250+ scenarios like this to practice their decision-making skills!

When we created LearnWPT.com our goal was to provide a place that empowers players to ask questions, help get them focused, and provide a solid game-plan to bring to the table every time they sit down.

Some of the ways we accomplish this is by:

• Teaching and presenting examples of proven, winning concepts through our Strategy Episodes (short 10-15 minute instructional videos)
• Providing a place where Members can send questions to receive answers and guidance with the Ask a Pro feature and LearnWPT Community Forums
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DECISION POINT: Tournament final table where blinds are 25,000/50,000 and you are 6-handed, it folds to you on the Button. You raise to 110,000 and the Big Blind calls. BB checks the T♣7♦6♥ Flop, you c-bet and get called. Your opponent bets the 8♥ Turn and action is on you. What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: This is a tough spot on the turn. When our opponent check calls the flop, they have many 9x and 8x hands in their range. When the 8 comes on the turn, it improves the equity of Villian’s overall range quite a bit. It is simply a much better card for our opponent than it is for us.

Given that fact, Villain can very logically construct a turn leading range that includes many straights, some other made hands and some semi-bluffs. This puts us in a very difficult spot with a one pair hand with few outs to improve. With our particular hand, we should fold in this spot the majority of the time.

However, we cannot simply fold all of our one pair hands to this bet or we would be very exploitable. Hands such as AT and overpairs like KK and AA should continue in this spot. Since there are so few remaining chips left in stacks we should shove with those hands.

In this scenario we should fold against a default opponent when we hold QT.

Folding is the best play.

DECISION POINT: In a Tournament you are 6-handed and blinds are 1000/2000. The MP2 player limps and Hijack raises. Action is on you from the Small Blind with A♠J♠. What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We have about 17 big blinds total and are facing a limp from a 16 big blind stack and a min-raise from a 5 big blind stack. The short stack’s range is too wide to ever fold our hand.

Given these stack size and range considerations shorthanded we must continue and we should move all-in over the minraise. This would deny equity to the remaining players in the hand, especially MP2, who would not be able to call with many hands in their range given the now worse pot odds we are giving them after a shove.

Getting the pot heads-up against the short stack is the ideal outcome in this hand, so maximizing our fold equity with our range and shoving instead of raising smaller will be the most profitable line to take.

Moving all-in is the best play.

When we created LearnWPT.com our goal was to provide a place that empowers players to ask questions, help get them focused, and provide a solid game-plan to bring to the table every time they sit down.

Some of the ways we accomplish this is by:

• Teaching and presenting examples of proven, winning concepts through our Strategy Episodes (short 10-15 minute instructional videos)
• Providing a place where Members can send questions to receive answers and guidance with the Ask a Pro feature
• Giving Members the ability to record, save, and send real hands they’ve played to receive expert analysis of their play using the Hand Input Tool
  

Not a Member? Click below to join and start improving your game today:

Thank you for all the feedback about the Poker Hand emails!

Our purpose of these emails is to get students of poker to practice your decision-making skills and understand why Pros make the moves they make for long-term results.

Here's a collection of our most talked about Poker Hands of last month:

1. 2♠2♥ vs a Raise
2. A♥3♥ on the Turn
3. 5♠6♠ vs a Raise and a Call
4. 9♥8♥ on the Flop
   

Deliberate application of key concepts at the table and constant practice of your decision-making skills is essential for success in No-Limit Hold'em.

Amateurs play, Pros practice!

That's why we ask that you read these articles to keep you thinking, practicing, and learning about poker... be sure to let us know how you would have played it using the comments section below each Pro answer.

We'll see you online,
-LearnWPT

PS: a Membership with LearnWPT is the easiest and fastest way to add more levels of complexity and nuance to your game.

Thank you for all the feedback about the Poker Hand emails!

Our purpose of these emails is to get students of poker to put your thinking caps on, test your decision-making skills, and understand why our Pros make the moves they make for long-term results.

Here's a collection of our most thought-provoking Poker Hands of the month:

1. Big Draw in a Multiway Pot
2. Flopped Trips with K♦J♦
3. Check-Raise on the Turn
4. Missed the Flop in a Multiway Pot
   

Building a habit of thinking about poker away from the table will improve your game and how you will Learn to Think Like a Pro!

That's why we ask that you read these articles to keep you thinking and learning about poker... be sure to let us know how you would have played it using the comments section below each Pro answer.

We'll see you online,
-LearnWPT

PS: a Membership with LearnWPT is the easiest and fastest way to add more levels of complexity and nuance to your game.

We've been listening to all the feedback from everyone and love hearing how you're using the "Poker Hands" emails to practice your decision making and improve your game.

We'll keep sending them, but here's a collection of your favorite and most discussed Poker Hands of the month.

1. Q♥Q♣ vs a 3-Bet
2. Big Draw vs a C-Bet
3. A♠Q♠ in the Big Blind
4. Under the Gun with A♠T♥
   

Amateurs play, Pros practice!

​​Deliberate application of key concepts at the table and constant practice of your decision-making skills is essential for success in No-Limit Hold'em.

That's why we ask that you read these articles and keep practicing your decision making skills... even if you don't always agree with our analysis (keep those comments coming)!

-LearnWPT

PS: a Membership with LearnWPT is the easiest and fastest way to start adding more levels of complexity and nuance to your game.