The Worst Bet in Poker
Let's close out the chapter with one of the worst bets in limit poker: betting into a
lone opponent on the river when there is a made hand on the board that is not the
nuts. For example, the board shows 87654 and you decide to bet without a 9 in
your hand. Another example would be betting into a board with five suits without
another suit in your hand. This bet gains nothing because a lone opponent will
almost never fold in this situation. The best thing that can happen is that you split
the pot; however, if your opponent has a higher straight or flush and raises, you
lose two bets.
I can't tell you how many times I see players make this mistake even at $20-$40,
only to lose two big bets. I doubt that anyone who buys a poker book would make
this kind of mistake, but I have seen it enough times that I though it was worth
mentioning. Note that this scenario is different if there are several players in the
hand. In this case, sometimes you can get one or two players to fold if they are
worried that someone might have the nuts.
NEXT...Review
