TT on 7♣ 4♦ 2♠, checked to you — bet or check?
The answer
Bet
bet for value
The math: Overpair on a dry board: worse pairs, sevens, and floats with two overcards all still call.
Why
Your tens are bigger than the whole board, so you beat every one-pair hand the big blind can call with, plus all their ace-high and two-overcard floats. Those hands only pay if you bet. This flop is low, dry and disconnected, so there is nothing to protect against except overcards on later streets. Bet for value now; a free card wins you nothing and only helps the hands that beat you improve.
The spot
- Your seat
- BTN
- Stakes and stacks
- $1 / $2 · 100bb
- Your hand
- T♥ T♦
- Board
- 7♣ 4♦ 2♠
- Pot
- POT · $12
- Action on you
- BB checks
Every option
Checkkeep the pot small
Why not: Checking hands out a free card, and the only cards that hurt you are the overcards that a free turn might bring. Meanwhile every worse pair and float that would have paid you gets in for nothing.
Betbet for valueCorrect
⅓ pot · $4 · ½ pot · $6 · ⅔ pot · $8
The idea behind it
A value bet wants worse hands to call. With an overpair beating the whole board, plenty of weaker pairs and floats will pay, so betting earns more than checking. A free card only lets overcards catch up.
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.