Quick answer: On a Crush Live Poker call-in segment, a player named Ben described holding ace-king in a $5/$5 game with a $25 straddle and about $3,000 effective stacks. The flop came ace-eight-four, all hearts. He bet the flop and turn and got called both times, then checked behind on a blank river. Bart Hanson said he'd have bet around $600 to $700 for value. The opponent showed ace-jack with no heart. "I think you're giving away some value here," Hanson told him.
Source: Crush Live Poker with Bart Hanson, clipped as a YouTube Short.
How the hand went
Ben raised to $135 before the flop after a limp and got calls from the cutoff and the straddle. The flop was the ace, eight and four of hearts. He held ace-king without a heart, so he had top pair, top kicker on a board where any single heart could already have him beaten or drawing live.
The straddle checked, Ben bet $175, the straddle called and the cutoff folded, leaving about $760 in the pot. The turn was the eight of spades, a card Hanson called a blank. Ben bet about $350 and got called again, so the pot was around $1,460. The river was the deuce of clubs. The straddle checked a third time, and Ben checked behind with roughly $2,300 to $2,400 still in his stack.
He explained his thinking: any hand with one heart wasn't going to pay him off, and he hoped weaker aces might bet into him. They didn't. His opponent turned over ace-jack offsuit.
Why Hanson would bet
Hanson's main point is about which boards call for thin value. "On an ace-high board, people are going to have weaker aces than in any other type of scenario," he said. Players love to call with suited aces like ace-five, so when the ace hits the flop, a lot of them are still around with a worse kicker.
He compared it with a king-high flop. On king-eight-four, he said, you don't usually find someone holding king-four or king-five suited, but on ace-eight-four you will find ace-five suited. That's why ace-king, the best ace, can try for three streets of value when the top card is an ace.
He also noted Ben had plenty of chips left to bet and still fold to a raise. If the straddle had check-raised the river, Hanson said, that would be the time to think about folding. A bet of six or seven hundred keeps worse aces in, and with about $2,300 behind it doesn't commit the stack.
What Ben took from it
Ben said he was annoyed at himself as soon as he checked. He called it "a huge mistake" and said he left the game shortly after. Hanson's verdict was simple: with the best ace on an ace-high board against a player who called twice, a river bet gets paid by exactly the kind of hand his opponent had.
Real-name note
Bart Hanson is the coach and host behind Crush Live Poker, a training site and podcast for live cash-game players. Bart Hanson is the name he plays and teaches under.
More on RealNameOf:
- Bart Hanson: he folded a full house to two all-ins
- Bart Hanson reacts to a $50 river donk bet
- Poker players' real names
FAQ
What hand did the opponent have? Ace-jack offsuit, with no heart, so a river bet from ace-king would likely have been called.
How much did Bart Hanson say to bet on the river? About $600 to $700 into a pot of roughly $1,460.
Why bet thin on ace-high boards? Hanson says players call with lots of weaker suited aces, so an ace on the flop leaves more worse hands that can pay off.