Hold'em table

King-high on the button in a 3-handed game is a standard open; a 3x raise applies pressure and leverages position even though kicker strength is weak.

5-3 offsuit is too weak to continue out of position against a button open, especially with the big blind still to act.

Facing a 3x open from the button, T5s is too weak to defend out of position.

Button open with suited T6 in three-handed; a small raise is better than limping or folding a playable suited hand.

Folding J8s in the small blind facing a button 2.5x open, as it plays poorly out of position and leaves us vulnerable to squeezes from the big blind.

77 is a playable pair in position; calling 150 keeps the pot small and sees a flop cheaply against an early raise.

I flopped a set of sevens, the effective nuts on this dry board, against the preflop raiser. Checking induces a continuation bet so I can raise or trap for maximum value on a deep 100bb stack.

T6s completely missed this dry 7-2-5 flop with no pair or draw, so checking back preserves the pot rather than bluffing with no equity.

I hold top set (77) on a 7d2h5c5s board and we're heads-up with both players checking the flop. Betting the turn builds a pot with very strong position—likely I'm ahead of any pair or missed draw.

Ten-high with no pair or draw against a turn bet; calling is unprofitable and raising would be a pure bluff into a paired board.

J4s is slightly too weak to open profitably from the button even in 3-handed play, so folding is standard.

Heads-up after the button folds, calling 50 into a 150 pot needs only 25% equity, and 84o has roughly 38% against a random big blind hand, so completing is clearly +EV. Raising would overcommit a weak hand that plays poorly postflop.

A2o is too weak to raise for value against the small blind's limp, and checking is free, so I take the flop and reassess.

I only hold board pair of queens with a weak 8 kicker and just a backdoor club draw; betting would fold out only worse missed hands while building a pot I can't defend. Checking is free and preserves showdown value against the big blind's checked range.

Ace-high with no pair or draw on a paired queen flop has little showdown value and no strong bluff equity, so checking behind is best.

Both of us checked the flop, so the big blind's range is wide and weak, and the Kd turn is a good card to represent strength. A small 1.5bb stab has enough fold equity to be profitable with 8-high, and I can cheaply give up if called or raised.

Ace-high with no pair and no draw is too weak to call a turn bet on a queen-paired board with a king.

T9s is a strong suited connector and I'm on the button 3-handed, so I have position and wide opening range; raising to 3x applies pressure and builds the pot with a very playable hand.

AK offsuit is a premium hand and the button opened to 3bb, so I 3-bet to 10bb to build the pot and deny equity while still leaving room to fold to a large 4-bet.

Holding 85 offsuit facing a button open and a small blind 3-bet is an easy fold.

Ten-nine offsuit is far too weak to call a 3-bet from the small blind, and 4-betting a bluff with this hand would commit too many chips. Folding and preserving my stack is clearly best.

Q7o is a standard button open in three-handed play; a 2.5bb raise applies pressure on the blinds and realizes fold equity better than limping or folding.

Folding J5s from the small blind facing a button open, as it lacks sufficient playability and equity out of position.

AQ is strong heads-up; 3-betting builds the pot with position on the button raiser and denies cheap equity.

Q7 offsuit is too weak to continue against a BB 3-bet after my button open; folding saves chips.

Q6o is too weak to open from the button in 3-handed play.

Heads-up against the big blind, J5s has roughly 40-45% equity versus a random hand, and calling 50 into a 150 pot only requires 25% equity. Completing cheaply and playing the flop in position-neutral heads-up is more profitable than folding.

Q3s is too weak to raise out of position against a completed small blind, and checking is free. I will see a flop and continue only with equity or a favorable board.

J-high with only a backdoor club draw on an A-high board, out of position against the big blind; checking keeps the pot small and lets me fold cheaply to any aggression rather than bluff into a checked-wide range with no equity.

Queen-high with no pair or draw on an ace-high flop has little equity, and the small blind's check does not justify betting into a range that often contains an ace. Checking keeps the pot small and realizes a free card.

I only have jack-high with a gutshot to the wheel (a 3 completes A-2-3-4-5). Betting J-high into the big blind's checked range on an ace-high board has little fold equity, so I take a free river card instead.

Queen-high with no pair or draw has little value as a bluff on this ace-high board, and checking is free after the opponent checks the turn.

My pair of jacks beats most of a range that has checked four straight streets (tens, fours, twos, high cards), so a minimum value bet into the small pot extracts chips from worse hands while keeping the loss small if I'm behind to an ace, set, or two pair.

Queen-high with no pair or draw on this board has too little equity to call a river bet of 100 into 300.