You take your seat and hunker down for a session of Texas hold ‘em and you are feeling good, your chip stack looks nice and tall. you start playing what you think are good hands queen king or jack queen, but some guys always got the ace, or the pair, and of course there is the river rat, a term for someone who has absolutly nothing untill a lucky river break.
Many a player has been burned by the river rat and there isn’t really much you can do to combat what is a game of chance, but you can improve your odds. The people who usually fluke a river are the people who check away and look for a break, so bet them out, and if they call and call again, then you may be in a bit of trouble, but atleast if you win you take a lot of their chips, and they might think twice before the head to head.
Another way to combat the river rat or anyone looking to play the game of chance, is to play really strong hands. King queen is good but not as good as a pair of 10‘s and its usually good practice to play your ace’s if you have a good kicker card, not a three or a two. The over bet is another tactic you can try, most of the time if you have a nice pair or some good picture cards, you may bet the pot or twice the pot. But if the guy oposite is keen to see a flop. make him put a lot more of his chips in the middle before giving him the easy run in.
As always poker is a game of chance and a lot of times you can try all these things and still end up all in, and out. So its always worth thinking about who you are playing, if you figure someone is just playing for the river, try another table. Not everyone plays this way, some people are more inclined to play what they have rather than what they might possibly get. But poker is a gambling game so, sometimes you just have to pay your money and take your chances, but hopefuly the odds will be in your favour.
