Fold hands that likely can’t survive to river

A lot of players make themistake of calling too often with hands that have little chance of winning by the river. To illustrate this, let’s take a look at a hand from a $1/$2 cash game that a recreational player recently told me about.

A player in early position raised to $6 out of his $200 stack, two other players called, and our Hero called on the button with 6h 6c.

So far, so good. A call was by far Hero’s best option. If he flops three of a kind, he can play a large pot. If he doesn’t flop a set, he can safely fold since the pot will be multi-way.

The small blind and big blind both called to make the action six-handed. The flop came Js 5s 2d. The blinds checked, and the initial raiser bet $20 into a pot of $36. Only Hero called.

While 6- 6 is normally a good hand when there is only one overcard on the flop, the initial raiser was probably betting for value, given that he was betting into five opponents. Even if he was bluffing, the initial raiser would still have a decent chance to outdraw Hero on a later street. So even though Hero might have had the best hand, folding would have made sense. If Hero was already behind, he would have only two outs that could win him the pot.

The turn was the 2h. The initial raiser bet $35 into the $76 pot. Hero called once again.

As on the flop, folding was Hero’s best option. While all possible draws failed to improve on the turn, there are still numerous made hands that the opponent would have been value-betting. In a small-stakes game, when someone bets into five opponents on the flop and keeps betting on the turn, there is an excellent chance he is value-betting. SinceHero would be behind against value bets (and since his opponent’s bluffs would still have a chance to improve on the river), folding was the proper move.

The river was the 2c, andHero’s opponent went all in.

The river improved Hero to a full house, but it’s important to recognize that not all full houses have equal value. A high-ranking hand isn’t necessarily unfoldable.

It’s important to take your opponent’s range into consideration when deciding whether to call. Hero’s opponent had al- ready fired twice, and now he was firing a third time for all his money. While a full house is normally a terrific hand, this time it should have been an easy fold.

Hero decided to call and lost to Ad Ac. He couldn’t believe that he made a full house and still lost. He should have simply folded on the flop, in which case he would have lost only $6.