[friscosardines]

I was watching poker on TV last night and this little question just popped into my mind. Say you are sittting down at a game (doesn't matter stakes, hold em, omaha, any game you like so long as it is a 'flop' game ) and the river card is dealt. Your opponent places in a medium sized bet into a pretty good sized pot. The pot is offering you the right odds to call, but you KNOW that you are beat. Something about the way that last bet was put in just gives you tha gut feeling of holding on to the second best hand. Do you (or can you) lay this hand down? I have read many times over, and heard more times than I can count people say "I had to call because of pot odds". Now I know that they are a big part of the game, but is it better to maybe lay down the hand if you just know that you are beat and save yourself that bet, or are the odds 'forcing' a call? What if the bet is on the turn and you feel you are drawing dead?

[jhasper]

If you have a dead read that you are beaten, you never call. Since you mention "medium size bet" I guess you are refering to P/L or N/L. A player making a medium size bet on the river in this game always wants to be payed off, hence the rational size bet. I think that river bet is as much an art form as anything else in this game. Too big and you don't get anything, too small and you don't get as much as you could have. And of course you have to vary it, occasionally pushing with a lock hand for the one time in twelve you'll get called.


In limit, well, I make calls like this all the time. Sometimes when I know I'm beaten, just to see what cards my opponent turns over. I might snap off a bluff like this one time in twenty-five and then I'm as surprised as anyone. But it's about seeing cards more than anything. Then, once I see what cards a person plays, I stop making those calls, most of the time.