Top Pair Facing Three Small Bets From a Tight Opponent
The 2019 World Series of Poker is about six weeks away. As the series draws nearer, I'm reviewing another hand from a previous WSOP event I played, this time a $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold'em event in which I flop top pair out of position and my opponent keeps making small bets on every postflop street.
The blinds were 400/800 with a 100 ante, and action began with a (seemingly) tight player with about 22,000 to start opening from early position for 1,600. It folded to me in the big blind where I had 30,000 to begin and had been dealt 9♦8♠.
As I talk about in the video below, I could either fold or call here, but with the great pot odds (note the antes), I chose to call. The flop was good for me, coming 9♠7♣5♥ to give me top pair and a gutshot straight draw.
I checked, and my opponent bet small — 1,200 into the 4,400 pot. I called, then checked again after the 4♣ turn. My opponent bet once more, and once again he bet small — just 2,000 into 6,800.
I'm getting increasingly uncomfortable here, but I called once more to push the pot up to 10,800. The river was the 4♥, I checked again, and for a third time my opponent made a small bet, this time for 2,100.
What do you do against a tight opponent making small bets like this? Would you have folded your hand at any point? See how things turned out, and listen to my explanation of my thought process both in this hand and when facing this situation, generally speaking.
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $6,800,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. Sign up to learn poker from Jonathan for free at PokerCoaching.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
