Flop Analysis
Auto-played to reach this drill spot — you didn't act here, so it isn't scored.
Avoid turning A-high into a multi-street bluff on paired boards when you have no real draw to back it up.
Auto-played to reach this drill spot — you didn't act here, so it isn't scored.
Facing a small c-bet, we have enough equity with two overcards and a backdoor straight possibility to peel one street.
Leading into the aggressor here is a significant error; we should check our entire range to let the button continue their bluffs. **Ranges:** The button still has all the Jx and overpairs, while our range is mostly capped at one-pair hands like 8x or 4x. By leading, we fold out their air and get called or raised by everything that beats us. **Board:** The board pairing the Jack is better for our range than the button's in theory, but A-high is not the hand to lead with as it has plenty of showdown value as a check-call. --- > **Takeaway:** Don't lead into the preflop aggressor on paired turns with marginal high-card hands; check to realize your equity.
Note: Leading (donking) the turn with A-high is a low-EV play that bloats the pot with a hand that prefers to check-call or check-fold.
Clicking it back after being raised is a massive overplay; we have zero fold equity against a range that just raised us on a paired board. **Math:** We are facing a raise that makes the SPR less than 1. By 3-betting small, we are essentially committing ourselves with A-high against a range that includes Jx, 88, and 44. **Blockers:** While we block some AJ/KJ combos, we don't block the value hands that are raising us for protection or value, such as pocket nines or tens. --- > **Takeaway:** When your turn lead gets raised, A-high is a pure fold; never re-raise without a nutted hand or a massive draw.
Note: 3-betting the turn with A-high is a spew; you are lighting money on fire against a range that is never folding better.
After the disastrous turn action, checking is the only option as we have no value left to target.
We are forced to call due to the extreme pot odds, even though we are almost certainly beaten by the button's value range. **Math:** Getting 11:1, we only need about 8% equity to call. Even though the button has flushes and straights, they might occasionally show up with a total air-ball like KQ that missed everything. **Board:** The river 7d completes both the flush and some straights (9T, 56), making our pair of Jacks with an Ace kicker extremely weak. --- > **Takeaway:** When the pot is this large and the bet is this small, you are priced in to call with almost anything, despite the poor turn play.