Value Betting the River

The river is the most difficult street to play correctly in no limit holdem.  Contrary to popular belief, the difficulty in playing the river isn’t a result of the larger amounts of money involved.  What truly makes the river more difficult to play is that when two hands make it to the river, on average, there isn’t as big a difference between the values of both hands.

Both people in the hand have chosen to play the hand down to the river so they both obviously think their hands have some sort of showdown (or bluff) value.  The decisions on the river typically aren’t as cut and dry as they are before the flop and on the flop.

When you have a decent non-nut hand on the river, it’s often difficult to decide if you should go for value and make a bet or play it safe and check the river.  Hands like top pair top kicker can even be difficult to play in this situation against good players.

On one hand, you know you probably have the best hand and should bet again for value.  On the other hand, if you’re up against a halfway decent opponent and you’ll wonder if a bet has any merit because he will only call with stronger hands and fold with weaker hands, making your value bet a -EV play.

Take a Trip to Value Town

Aggression wins in poker.  If you’re on the fence, lean towards value-betting.  You’d be surprised at some of the junk people call with – even good players.  You’re not going to have the nuts on the river very often so you can’t just wait for the nuts to get full value for your hands.

Anyone can play the nuts; that’s the easy part of poker.  What separates the winners from the losers are all the other more difficult hands.  Play your strong hands for value.  They are referred to as “strong hands” for a reason: they are stronger than the average hand.

Don’t be afraid to value bet a single pair or an iffy two-pair on the river.  Most of the time you’ll be ahead but if you’re not ahead, they’ll let you know and you can fold.

Important note:  I’m not saying to go all out balls-to-the-wall with every decent hand you get.  You still need to think, take your reads into consideration and consider your table image.  What I am saying is that if you are on the fence, you should lean towards value betting.

One of the most common mistakes of small and medium stakes poker players is that they give away too many free showdowns.  Don’t make the same mistake!  If you have something solid, make your opponents pay to see it.

Sure, sometimes your opponents will have you beat but that’s OK.  That’s poker, baby.  They’ll let you know by either raising you on the river or just calling with a better hand.  Either way, you won’t lose any more money than that last bet.

Make it a habit to value bet the river often.  You’ll be glad you did.  Your profits will increase, you’ll look more aggressive and you’ll get paid off more often.  It’s a great way to improve your profits and your image.

Now go value bet some fish at Doyles Room or check out these related articles:

Value Bets
Pot Control