A♥J♥ BB vs BTN, turn on J♣ 8♦ 5♠ Q♠, 95 bb
The spot
- You: BB
- Opponent: BTN
- Your hand: A♥J♥
- Board: J♣ 8♦ 5♠ Q♠
- Effective stack: 95 bb
- Pot: 13 bb
Hero arrives on turn with equity and blocker leverage.
What action realizes the most EV in solver baseline?
See the answer
Best play: Call
Why
The Q♠ turn on J♣8♦5♠ is an overcard that demotes your jacks and favors the BTN's broadway-heavy in-position range. Your A♥J♥ is now second pair (a pair of jacks behind the queen) with the ace as a strong kicker and a backdoor Broadway draw needing K‑T. Out of position facing the BTN's turn bet, calling is correct: you have a pair with showdown value plus the ace blocker against his AQ/KQ value, so check-calling realizes equity cheaply rather than turning a made hand into a bluff with a raise.
Key idea
When a turn overcard demotes your pair, a pair plus a value-blocking ace is a check-call, not a bluff-raise.
Common mistake
Folding second pair with the ace blocker overfolds to a queen the BTN often doesn't have, and raising turns a showdown hand into a bluff.