Extract Max Value. Poker Player

It’s still possible to ?extract maximum value even when the board conspires against you, says CardRunners pro Alvin ‘citizenwind’ Lau

Extracting maximum value is a key skill in cash games, but it’s difficult to do against thinking, aggressive opponents. You want to value bet when you have the best hand, but you also want your opponent to bluff when he has very little. A deft player knows how to balance these goals.
In this $1/$2 no-limit hand with $250 effective starting stacks, I have a tight, aggressive image and raise to $7 from late position with 9-9. The button – a tough, aggressive, thinking player – calls. In this spot I’d say his range includes pocket pairs, many Broadway hands, a few slow-played monsters and suited connectors.

The flop comes Js-9s-7h and I decide to fast-play my set. I bet $15 into the $17 pot. If the button has any piece of the board, he usually has top pair or a good draw. Therefore I think he’ll call a big bet as often as he will a medium-sized one. He calls the $15 and I can now pare down his range: he can have any Jack, a pair plus a gutshot, an open-ended straight draw, a small flush draw and a few busted hands he is floating with. If the button had the nut flush draw or a flush draw with a pair, he’d probably have raised the flop. On this co-ordinated board he would probably be worried about losing his action to a scare card on the turn if he had a monster, so I can eliminate A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, 7-7 and T-8 from his likely hands.

The turn is the Ah, and I should definitely bet this. I’m ahead of all Jacks and draws and I don’t want to give a free card. There is some merit to check-raising, but the risk of giving a free card is too high: if I do this, too many rivers will be difficult to play. I do the straightforward and correct thing, betting $38 into the $47 pot. The button calls again, so I can narrow his range to good draws, Jacks and an occasional Ace.

Getting Value

The river is the Tc, putting four to a straight on the board. There is $123 in the pot and $190 behind. When deciding how to proceed, there are a few variables to consider:

1. If I make a large bet, I will rarely be called by worse. The button will occasionally have two pair and make a crying call, but when he can call a big bet he will usually have a straight.

2. A small bet risks inducing a bluff, which is not desirable in this situation.

3. Much of the button’s range is busted flush draws and straight draws that made one bad pair. Neither kind of hand has showdown value after this action.

4. If I check, the button may thinly value bet a two pair hand like A-7 or J-T.

Therefore, I decide to get the most value by checking. He makes an overbet of $160, representing an eight or K-Q, but what straights are in his range? I already figured that T-8 would almost never play the hand so passively on the flop and turn. If he had Ks-Qs, 8s-7s or 8s-6s he again would have raised the flop very frequently. Js-8s is the hand that makes the most sense, but there are many more likely combinations of busted draws, so I call, winning when the button shows Qh-Th.