Emotions At The River

It is so easy to lose a huge chunk of your bankroll at the river. I used to do it myself many a time when I first started to play poker.

What happens is that you get a couple of pretty good hole cards and you start betting. The flop comes and it’s looking really good. The river comes and it’s still looking really good. So good, that you’re ignoring the possibility that the community cards look pretty good for the others too (possibilities of a flush, maybe some connectors).

The river comes and you realise that whilst the going is still really good for yourself, it could also be good for the other guy left playing. Everyone else has folded and you and him are locked in a war of raises.

Could he be bluffing or could he really have “the nuts”. You figure that you are so heavily invested already that you call his raise and go to the showdown where you promptly lose.

How Can You Avoid This Happening In Future?

Almost always, people underestimate the probabilities involved in the game of poker. To play poker without understanding probabilities is like going to sea without a life jacket. You can learn more about basic probabilities here - poker probabilities.

The other thing to note is that at the river, your emotions take over and despite doubting the strength of your cards versus your opponent, you decide to go ahead anyway and risk a huge amount of your bankroll when you are most in doubt. In fact, you should risk more bankroll when you have less doubt about your position or that of your opponent’s instead.

If you learn from your game, understand basic poker probabilities and think about your bankroll, then in future you not take such emotional risks against good opponents and you will risk an appropriate amount of your bankroll depending on the reward versus the risk for the situation.