AKo on K♥ 9♦ 5♠, checked to you — bet or check?
The answer
Bet
bet for value
The math: Top pair, best kicker: worse kings, smaller pairs and floats all still call.
Why
You hold top pair with the best possible kicker on a dry board, so you almost certainly have the best hand. Plenty of worse ones will still pay: weaker kings, middle and small pairs, and floats hoping to catch. Betting also charges the ace-high overcards and gutshots a price to keep drawing. Money only enters the pot if you put it there, so bet and let them call.
The spot
- Your seat
- BTN
- Stakes and stacks
- $1 / $2 · 100bb
- Your hand
- A♦ K♣
- Board
- K♥ 9♦ 5♠
- Pot
- POT · $12
- Action on you
- BB checks
Every option
Checkkeep it small
Why not: Checking wins the minimum and gifts a free card to the overcards and straight draws. All those worse kings and pairs would have happily paid a bet.
Betbet for valueCorrect
⅓ pot · $4 · ½ pot · $6 · ⅔ pot · $8
The idea behind it
A value bet wants worse hands to call. When you hold the best hand and many weaker ones will still pay, betting earns more than checking. A free card wins you nothing extra and only lets draws catch up for free.
Concept: Value bet
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.