How to play the river with a marginal hand

Live tourney, fairly deep stacked, I am on the button with A2s, utg+1 raises to 2 BB, i call, so does sb and bb, so we go 4 ways to the flop.
Flop - 9 7 2 rainbow, everyone checks and im sensing weakness, + with my tight image i try to steal the pot with a 3/4 pot sized bet. Utg+1 calls, sb and bb fold.
Turn - 10, he checks again and once again i feel hes weak so bet about 5/8th pot, villain calls.
River - 3, so the board is 9 7 2 10 3, no flushes possible and villain checks to me. At this point im wondering if my pair of 2s is any good for showdown or can i only win the pot by making him fold, in the end I check behind him as im thinking i have a marginal hand and he could be trapping me, as the flop was fairly dry and maybe he has a set or over pair as he is utg +1 so i dont think hands like 10 8 or 8 6 are in his range.
Let me know what you think of this river spot and what would you do, ill reveal what happened soon
As for my bets on the flop and turn it was because i sensed a lot of weakness so bluffed, normally i would not be betting in this situation

For me it looks so bad, if he called flop,turn He will call river too many times and your 2 is pretty bad, I would check

I'd avoid bluffing the river they have seen atleast 3 action from you. They have shown they have something (unless draws all missed.)....so bluffing on river is what not to do.

Also what you did is called a "suicide bluff" .best of luck mate

I think you even shouldn't bet the flop against 3 players. You need to have a strong hand to bet in multiway pots, imo. I've would just check-fold, if I won't improve on the turn or on the river.

Gaviria8 said:

For me it looks so bad, if he called flop,turn He will call river too many times and your 2 is pretty bad, I would check

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Yeah i felt the same but luckily he had AQ so my pair of 2s were good

playinggameswithu said:

I'd avoid bluffing the river they have seen atleast 3 action from you. They have shown they have something (unless draws all missed.)....so bluffing on river is what not to do.

Also what you did is called a "suicide bluff" .best of luck mate

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They showed AQo so my pair of 2s were good, got away with it that time!

flattershay said:

I think you even shouldn't bet the flop against 3 players. You need to have a strong hand to bet in multiway pots, imo. I've would just check-fold, if I won't improve on the turn or on the river.

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Yeah i did say i normally wouldnt bet the flop unless i was strong but i sensed a lot of weakness, either way the villain showed AQ so i won a nice pot with my pair of 2s, which probs would have been beaten if i had allowed free cards to the other 2 villains. I got away with it this time

HSmith said:

Yeah i did say i normally wouldnt bet the flop unless i was strong but i sensed a lot of weakness, either way the villain showed AQ so i won a nice pot with my pair of 2s, which probs would have been beaten if i had allowed free cards to the other 2 villains. I got away with it this time

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You are just being result-oriented. One of them also might have 78,T8, a lot of 9x, 7x, or some pairs like 66,55,44,33 etc. You won this pot, but in other situations they'll have a better hand to call off. Not being agressive or rude, just my opinion

(antes, level of tournament?)


i agree with the above comments... normally you have no business staying in this hand... but we said "normally"
your knowledge about the villains, and gut instincts are a very important components of your decision.

You call it gut instincts... i call it intuition, plays a huge part with many poker players - the mathematics orientated players, may disagree

the odds that A2 will lose in that situation are high... however that prediction is based on an infinite number of events
with A2s you at 57% to win against a random hand
with A2s against for 3 basic ranged hands you at about 25% chance to win

in poker a great number of other variables enter into a specific situation, making most poker situations unique

A2s is good against the Blind and does not quite fit against the opponent opening the game with UTG-1. Her strength lies in the further development of straight or flush, which in this case did not happen. Even with two pairs after a raise and two check-calls, it is not clear what to do next and you only have a pair of 22. Maybe you are playing against the set. Since A10s is unlikely and most likely a check-raise would follow on the turn. If your opponent is not an answering machine then it looks like you are trapped. However, Q ??? By making a long bet after the flop, he would save himself some chips or win the pot.

KristaK said:

(antes, level of tournament?)


i agree with the above comments... normally you have no business staying in this hand... but we said "normally"
your knowledge about the villains, and gut instincts are a very important components of your decision.

You call it gut instincts... i call it intuition, plays a huge part with many poker players - the mathematics orientated players, may disagree

the odds that A2 will lose in that situation are high... however that prediction is based on an infinite number of events
with A2s you at 57% to win against a random hand
with A2s against for 3 basic ranged hands you at about 25% chance to win

in poker a great number of other variables enter into a specific situation, making most poker situations unique

Click to expand...

The variables in the tournament is key. When you have a pair that is decent to have at showdown. When you have all those higher cards out you are losing to most hands. If you have the instincts that the other player will fold to a bet, then bet something he'll fold to. If you know you have them beat, bet something small to gather more chips and info.

yes yes I agree totally

You found your two good in the river lol. A bet not to see your hand? Check/ fold and smile