Raised on the turn and river in limit hold'em

Getting raised in limit hold'em on the turn or river when you have top pair or an overpair is a tricky spot. At low stakes against generally loose passive players it's usually correct to fold. However a tricky player can exploit someone who is capable of bet/fold so at times it is good to call down. In a raised pot postflop the pot odds will be tempting to call down since you only have to be good a fraction of the time for the calldown to be profitable.

Here's a sequence of a couple of hands at a table I was playing recently. This was the first hand shortly after I sat at the table.


PokerStars 0.50/1.00 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Qd, Qs.
2 folds, Hero raises, 4 folds, BB calls.

Flop: (4.50 SB) Js, 4h, 7s (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls.

Turn: (3.25 BB) 9d (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB raises, Hero calls.

River: (7.25 BB) Ac (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: 7.25 BB

Results below:
BB has 8d Jd (one pair, jacks).
Hero has Qd Qs (one pair, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins 7.25 BB.


I considered folding the turn to the checkraise. I had a read from watching earlier hands that BB was a bit tricky. It wasn't a bad play by BB on the turn, he had the gutshot plus 8x plus Jx as outs and some fold equity. Plus he might have the best hand on the turn if I'm double barreling AQ-AK. I'm glad I won the hand but I think it may have been a marginal calldown.


Shortly after that this hand happened.


PokerStars 0.50/1.00 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Kc, Ad.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, 4 folds, Hero raises, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls.

Flop: (6.50 SB) 6d, Kd, 7s (3 players)
Hero bets, UTG+1 folds, MP1 raises, Hero 3-bets, MP1 calls.

Turn: (6.25 BB) 4s (2 players)
Hero bets, MP1 calls.

River: (8.25 BB) Qs (2 players)
Hero bets, MP1 raises, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 12.25 BB

Results below:
Hero has Kc Ad (one pair, kings).
MP1 has 7c 7h (three of a kind, sevens).
Outcome: MP1 wins 12.25 BB.

This I think I probably should have folded on the river, despite the pot odds. The board is three flush, he raised the flop and then raised the river. This is not a bluff. Villain knows from a few hands earlier that I will call down a raise with an overpair so he's not raising me with less than a one pair hand because he's seen me call down with one pair. The board plus all the postflop action indicates top pair is no good on the river and the best play is to fold.