Texas Hold 'Em: The River
“I took a turn for the worst, but was rescued on the River!!”
No, this isn’t some exciting tale of rugged adventure, but what can happen in a game of Texas Hold ‘Em, where “The River” refers to the fifth (and final) community card (and the Turn, in case you didn’t know, is the fourth, but that’s for another article.)
Ok, let’s discuss “The River” in Texas Hold ‘Em.
Being the final community card, it’s likely made (or lost) more fortunes than any other card. But to understand the river’s place in Texas Hold ‘Em lets go over the other rounds first:
Texas Hold ‘Em starts with big and small blinds. The “Pre-flop” round is next, where two hole cards are dealt out. The “Flop” round follows and three community cards are dealt. The “Turn” (the fourth community card) follows the flop. Then, once we pass the turn, we arrive at the River (no, we’re not talking geography!)
During the River round, everyone gets a final community card before making their final bets. At this point, anyone still in the game will probably stay. There might be a few folds if bets get huge, but generally, anyone that ventured this far is usually willing to go just a little further. Of course, if you bet defensively, you can hopefully eliminate the pretenders.
Speaking of betting, the strategy at The River is a little different - we’re assuming at this round, you’ve stayed because you think you have a hand with a good chance of winning (bluffs usually don’t get this far.) With that in mind, the strategy at this point isn’t so much to merely win the hand, as it is to maximize your winnings. Sure it’s nice to win the hand, but we’re looking at an overall strategy to make your winnings matter over several hands. We do this by getting people to add to the pot.
This means you may want to check-raise if the bet falls to you first (although this could be risky with few players left, as everyone may just want a free round.) Or you could make a small bet, and hope someone else raises the bet (so you can raise again.) But regardless of how you do it, if you find yourself at the River with a hand worth Gamblin’ on, by all means, gamble (especially if you can beat a pair – that’s the golden rule in Hold ‘Em – have a hand that can beat a pair.)
Many games yield a winner at The River. However if more than two people have bet/called, then a showdown occurs where hole cards are shown and the best five card hand wins.
So now that you understand The River, you can send your opponents down it when you take their money. Good luck (and we promise, we’ll end the geography talk!)
