Making the Effective Nuts with Ace-King... and Getting Raised!
Welcome, all. I have another interesting tournament hand to share this week, one in which I start with a premium hand, make what appears to be the effective nuts postflop, and still somehow get raised on the river!
With the blinds 75/150 I had about 40,000 in my stack when I picked up A?K? in the hijack seat. I raised to 400 and was called by both the button and big blind.
The flop came K?7?2?, giving me top pair, and after the big blind checked I bet 500 into a pot of just under 1,300. As I explain in the video below, having a big range advantage here as I do, I can usually bet small on a board like this (dry with one big card). Only the button who had about 25,000 to start the hand called my bet.
The turn brought the K?, improving me to trips. This time I bet bigger �� 2,000 into almost 2,300 �� and my opponent called again.
The river was the J?, and I bet 5,000 or about 80 percent of the pot. Then my opponent raised to 12,000.
What to do?
Watch below as I go through the various hands in my opponent's range and the combos available, and explain further my thinking when deciding how to respond to his river raise:
What a nasty spot this was. My opponent slow played a flopped set and earned good value from me. Sometimes they get you.
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $6,700,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
