Preflop to river: how one poker hand is played well

Everyone folds to you on the button, and you hold the queen and ten of hearts. With 100 big blinds each, the trainer's opening chart raises this hand 100% of the time, to 2.5 big blinds. The small blind folds and the big blind calls.

The button is the best seat at the table because it acts last on every street after the flop. That is what position means, and it is why the button can open so many hands: each one is easier to play when you see your opponent act first. The trainer's lesson who acts first shows the order on each street.

The pot is 5.5 bb going to the flop.

The flop comes K♠ 8♦ 3♥ and the big blind checks. You have no pair and no straight or flush draw, only two cards that could become one. The solved strategy mixes three plays with this hand:

All three are worth within 0.06 big blinds of each other. At equilibrium, actions used with positive frequency tie in value. Numerical solves can leave small differences, as the lesson a mix means the actions tie explains, so here any of the three is fine, and the trainer would grade each of them correct or better. The small bet is a continuation bet: the button raised before the flop and keeps the lead. On a king-high board the button's range holds more kings and strong hands than the big blind's, so it can bet small with much of it.

Say you bet 1.8 bb and the big blind calls. The pot is now 9.1 bb.

The turn is the J♣ and the big blind checks again. Now you have an open-ended straight draw: any ace or nine makes a straight. The solved strategy bets 6.0 bb, about 66% of the pot, every time.

This is a semi-bluff. The big blind may fold a better hand, such as a pair of eights, and when it calls you still have 17% to make the best hand. Checking keeps the chance to hit for free, but gives up the chance to win immediately by making a better hand fold. The big blind calls, and the pot grows to 21.2 bb.

The river is the 9♣, which completes your straight, king high. With no pair on the board and only two clubs, no full house or flush is possible, and no higher straight can be made: you have the best possible hand. The big blind checks.

The solved strategy bets 15.9 bb, about 75% of the pot, every time. It is a value bet: the aim is to be called by worse hands, such as a king or a jack. Checking would be worth 21.06 bb against 29.72 bb for the bet, so it gives up 8.66 big blinds and would be graded Blunder, far more than the flop decision could ever have cost.

The last two columns are the EV loss the trainer grades by: a decision is judged by what it gives up against the best play, not by whether the hand was won. The mixed flop cost little whichever way you played it, and the 75% bet there was fine too. Checking the river was the only alternative in this hand that would give up a large amount.

You can play hands like this one against the trainer's bots at the table, with each decision graded as you go, or study every flop the packs cover in the flop explorer.