I talked about this before but I just want to reiterate this point. When you get raised on the turn at the micros (assuming you bet the flop), it is almost always a nut hand. By nut hand I just mean two pair or better. So if you can’t beat two pair or better you should strongly consider folding. Micro players are passive. Very few of them are capable of turning a draw or a mediocre hand into a bluff on the turn. That is an advanced play that you will not see until higher stakes.
There are a few situations where you will need to use some discretion. These will be spots where a specific dynamic is in play against a bad player and especially if you have been pounding on them with pot or oversized bets. You have to be aware that they will flip out and do irrational things eventually and you will need to call. However for the most part, with no real history, against a standard passive opponent at the micros you need to give these raises a lot of credit.
River Raises are Always the Nuts
Yes always. I said it. I think it was Patrick Antonius who said that early on in his poker career he discovered this and made a point to stop calling them. And who am I to argue with the great PA? He is absolutely right of course though. And especially at the micros, where again, players are passive, you just won’t see many bluffs in this spot. River raises are simply always the nuts.
I see a lot of people throwing away money to make that “crying call” even when they absolutely know that they are beat. There is no such thing as a crying call in poker. There is such a thing as a bad call though. If you want to take your poker game to the next level, you need to develop the discipline to make these folds when you know that there is no way that you are good. Don’t moan and complain and linger on it. Just quickly hit the fold button and move on. The longer you tank, the worse you will make it on yourself.
I should mention however that there is one scenario where calling a river re-raise can be fine. Fish will sometimes mini-raise the river in a small pot with something silly like middle pair or top pair no kicker. It is fine to call here if you have TPGK or better.
These spots are pretty rare though. In a decent sized pot, when facing a legit raise (3x or more), if you have a one pair or worse hand, you are almost certainly beat, regardless of your opponent’s player type.
