I don’t normally play FR. But I like checking paired dry boards OOP into people and seeing what they do on the flop, because I can generally get a pretty good idea of what kind of hands they have, and people like to bluff on paired boards a lot.

iPoker – $1 NL – Holdem – 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 81.3 BB (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
UTG+1: 52.35 BB (VPIP: 60.00, PFR: 8.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)
MP: 113.5 BB (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 8.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)
MP+1: 316.94 BB (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 9.09, Hands: 25)
Hero (MP+2): 105.5 BB
CO: 54.8 BB (VPIP: 11.76, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 17)
BTN: 51.45 BB (VPIP: 14.00, PFR: 8.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)
SB: 92 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)
BB: 65.67 BB (VPIP: 24.00, PFR: 12.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T♣ T♦

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 3.5 BB, fold, BTN calls 3.5 BB, fold, fold
When I see this sizing, I instantly know I’m c/cing all 3 streets.

 

Turn: (25.5 BB, 2 players) 2♦
Hero checks, BTN bets 10 BB, Hero calls 10 BB

Smaller sizing by opponent to setup a bigger bluff sizing. If he had Kx and was worried about protecting his hand by betting so much on the flop, why not on the turn when a possible draw comes in? And if he has KQ or 6x, you think he’d want to make my river call a little easier by betting a little more on the turn. The second I saw that, I was about 99.2% positive he was setting up a river bluff size.

River: (45.5 BB, 2 players) 7♠
Hero checks, BTN bets 29.45 BB, Hero calls 29.45 BB

Hero wins 101.4 BB

Yeah, and I snap call.

So talk about balancing your checking range… here my opponent is super polarized to 6x. He likely doesn’t have AK, maybe with this stack size he looks to get 3 streets w/ KQ, but probably not KJ or less as often. But the key is the flop bet sizing of course. When someone bets pot when you check into them like this on a paired board, it generally means I have nothing and want you to fold. It’s rarely, I have a big hand and I’m trying to make sure I can get max value. So when the pot sized flop bet happens, I almost completely throw 6x out the window and heavily discount Kx.

Now some opponents on different textures will pot bet with top pair + hands of course, but just be aware of these kinds of paired board dry scenarios. They all come into play when maximizing value. Generally speaking, you want to be checking into aggressive opponents. Here, I really don’t know how aggressive my opponent is. It’s FR, players play pretty bad and don’t know how to bet their hands well, but you will open up even tight players bluffing ranges on paired boards like this. Don’t worry about leveling yourself in these kinds of spots.

Here, opponent had: Ac3c.