Turn and River Strategy

As a hand progresses through the turn and river in Texas Holdem, the decisions you make become increasingly important. The pot grows larger, the bets become bigger and your hand becomes finalized. Errors are more costly on the turn and river but you also have access to more information such as the cards on the board and your opponents’ betting patterns.

Turn Strategy

With only one card to come, you need to have a strong hand to continue putting money in the pot on the turn. Not only are the bets more expensive but your odds of hitting any draws are now half what they were on the flop. Keep those things in mind as you decide how to play your non-made hands.

Made hands are fairly simple to play on the turn. If you slow played on the flop, you should usually start betting on the turn. You need to get more money in the pot now so you can place a larger bet on the river. Any of your opponents who call your bets on the turn will be that much more tied to the pot.

Bluffs become more powerful on the turn but they are also more expensive. Everyone bluffs on the flop but bluffs on the turn occur less often. You have to be careful when bluffing the turn, though, because it costs more and your opponents have seen one extra card that could have helped them.

Drawing hands aren’t as valuable on the turn but they can still be played if you receive the correct drawing odds. Remember that when there is only one card remaining, your draws all become less likely to complete. That means you’ll need greater pot odds for every draw. Semi-bluffs work well on the turn but they carry the same increased risks described above.

River Strategy

The river can be a difficult street to play but the good news is that all hands are now finalized. You don’t have to worry about hands changing value and scare cards killing all the action. All you need to do is determine if your hand is the best and act accordingly. You’ll rarely know for sure if your hand is the best but you can get a pretty good idea by analyzing your opponents’ betting patterns up to this point.

With strong hands, your best option is to bet them when the action comes to you. River checkraises are very risky but they can be attempted every once in a while. For the most part, though, river play with strong hands is fairly straightforward. Just place your bets and let your opponents make mistakes by calling those bets.

Hands such as top pair, top kicker can be a little tricky to play on the river. On one hand, you want to get value for your hand but on the other hand, you don’t want to play a huge pot. Sometimes check/calling on the river with hands like TPTK is the best play. It makes you look weaker than you actually are, which in turn makes it more likely your opponents will bet with a wider range of hands. It also gives them a chance to bluff with missed draws.

Weak hands are a little more difficult to play on the river, especially from early position. With your weakest hands, the best strategy is to simply check and fold. With slightly stronger hands, you can check and then call if the bet is reasonable. You can also try blocking bets, which are small bets you place from early position in an attempt to dissuade your opponent from placing an even larger bet.

There’s no single way to play a marginal hand on the river. You’ll have to judge the best play by studying your opponent and estimating how much he likes his hand. Sometimes you can get a cheap showdown but other times you’ll be forced to fold. There’s nothing wrong with folding on the river so don’t feel like you need to see the showdown just because you’ve made it this far.

Bluffing is much riskier on the river so river bluffs should be attempted very sparingly. Not only do you have to deal with bigger pots, which require bigger bets, but your opponents now have all five cards on the board helping them out. In addition to that, there is a reason why your opponent has stayed in the hand all the way down to the river.

If you play in a tough game or against the same players on a regular basis, you should bluff occasionally on the river. You don’t have to do it often but it will keep your opponents guessing. A little deception goes a long ways to preventing your opponents from playing a perfect game against you. But remember – you only need to bluff the river in games where the opponents are observant regulars. And even then, you only need to do it every once in a while.