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.
