A9s on A♥ 7♣ 2♦, checked to you — bet small, bet big or check?
The answer
Bet small
≈⅓ pot ($7), keep worse hands in
The math: A72 rainbow · your range owns the aces → bet small; worse Ax and pairs call, big folds them out.
Why
On a dry, ace-high flop your Button range holds nearly every strong ace and the big blind holds almost none. You’re miles ahead, but ahead with a wide, MERGED range, not a polarised one. So bet small: every worse ace, seven and floating overcard keeps paying, and nothing can draw out to punish the cheap price. A pot-size bet folds all of that out and gets called only by better. Small is the default. Bet it, and bet it often.
The spot
- Your seat
- BTN
- Stakes and stacks
- $1 / $2 · 100bb
- Your hand
- A♣ 9♣
- Board
- A♥ 7♣ 2♦
- Pot
- POT · $20
- Action on you
- BB checks
Every option
Bet small≈⅓ pot ($7), keep worse hands inCorrect
Bet bigpot-size ($20)
Why not: A pot-size bet folds out every worse ace, seven and floating overcard and gets called only by better. You bloat the pot and isolate yourself against the hands that beat you.
Checkgive a free card
Why not: You hold the best hand on a board that can’t hurt you. Checking wins the minimum and hands the worse aces and floats a free card.
The idea behind it
When your range dominates a static board, a small bet does all the work. Worse hands call, nothing draws out, and your whole range keeps betting. Save the big sizes for the flops where you’re polarised.
Concept: Small is default
Terms in this spot
Play it instead of reading it
The trainer deals this hand with hints, grading and spaced repetition — and randomized variations of it once you have seen it.