board straight

In a recent session the board looked like this at the river.

[3c 6d 5h] [4s] [7h]

There were two people still in the hand at the end. The players bet and raised the river and capped it.

Why not? It's a straight on the board, and therefore a chop, right? Well I bet one of the players was surprised at showdown when the opponent showed down an 8 to make the 4-8 straight, beating the 3-7 straight on the board and taking the pot.

A board straight is not too uncommon. Also sometimes you'll see a board flush or a board full house. These hands are most often just chops, splitting the pot among whoever hung around to showdown.

However you need to be careful at the river on these hands. Like the example above, most made hands on the board can be improved. It is not a guaranteed split.

So if the board is a straight and you can't improve that straight, then don't bet at it. It's an obvious bluffing situation and nobody is going to fold, especially in limit hold'em. Plus if an opponent has a better straight then he'll gladly raise you and you have no way to know if he is bluffing you back so you pretty much have to call. In the nanos where I play there's no rake due to the pot size. However at higher levels because of rake you'll lose money bluff betting the straight board when the best you can hope for is a split.