You called the blind from an early position with A-Q unsuited. The flop came down:
Your aces look great. Top pair and a big kicker! You bet out and are called by three opponents.
The turn is the seven of diamonds; it doesn't help you. Now there are possible draws to a straight and a diamond flush. Of course you bet again. (Don't let them draw cheap!) Now only one opponent calls. The river is the ten of diamonds. You study the board: You have two-pair, aces and tens, with the queen kicker. But there is a possible straight and a possible flush that your opponent could have, although those don't seem too likely. If he has a ten in the hole, he now has trip tens! You don't really have a good read on his hand.
You know he is a fairly tight player; he's been calling all the way, so he must have something reasonably good in the hole. Perhaps he has a small or medium pocket pair. Like many hold'em players, he might have called the flop with ace-rag -- so the flop would have given him a pair of aces with a poor kicker. Could be that he flopped second pair, a pair of tens, and was concerned about the ace out there on the board. And well he should. . . Maybe he has two pair, tens and eights; but he is a tight player and would not have called the flop with a 10-8. It's not likely that he flopped a set of eights; certainly he would have raised you on the turn if he had that good a hand. Maybe he made a diamond flush; but that's not likely since he called on the flop with only one diamond on the board. Indeed, it's more likely he would have folded on the flop with only one diamond on the board. You ponder the situation. You ask yourself: Should I bet or check?
By all means, just check. Here's why: He probably has you figured for a pair of aces based on how you have been betting out every round since the flop. Consider the most likely hands he might be holding. It is possible that the ten on the river gave him trip tens, making your hand second-best. In that case, he may raise you if you bet out; then it will cost you two big bets - and you lose! In short, it is not likely he would call your bet on the river unless he has a better hand than yours; and, then, he probably will raise you.
In summary, if there is just as good a chance that his hand has yours beaten, you have more to lose than to gain by betting into to him. At most you will gain one more big bet if he calls and your aces hold up; at worst, it will cost you two big bets if he raises and beats you with his trips.
So, readers, what's YOUR opinion?
