A♣5♣ SB vs BTN, flop on T♠ 7♠ 7♦, 70 bb
The spot
- You: SB
- Opponent: BTN
- Your hand: A♣5♣
- Board: T♠ 7♠ 7♦
- Effective stack: 70 bb
- Pot: 12 bb
Hero chooses between call, raise, and controlled passivity.
What action keeps the highest practical EV?
See the answer
Best play: Raise
Why
T♠7♠7♦ is a low paired board that misses most of both ranges, so neither player has a strong range edge; hero is OOP in the SB. A♣5♣ is ace-high with no pair and only a backdoor club draw. Check-raising works as a semi-bluff: the ace blocker and overcard equity let hero pressure the IP raiser's weak Tx/air-heavy c‑betting range and deny equity on a board where villain rarely has trips or a big pair.
Key idea
Low paired flops are good check‑raise bluff spots OOP because both ranges whiff and an ace blocker adds fold equity.
Common mistake
Folding ace-high outright and giving up all the fold equity and overcard outs a check‑raise captures here.