A♣5♣ BB vs UTG, flop on T♠ 7♠ 7♦, 70 bb
The spot
- You: BB
- Opponent: UTG
- Your hand: A♣5♣
- Board: T♠ 7♠ 7♦
- Effective stack: 70 bb
- Pot: 9 bb
Hero chooses between call, raise, and controlled passivity.
What action keeps the highest practical EV?
See the answer
Best play: Call
Why
On T♠7♠7♦ the UTG raiser holds the range and nut advantage; hero is OOP in the BB and capped. Hero has A♣5♣, which is only ace-high with a backdoor club draw (the board is rainbow of clubs, so no live flush) and no straight draw. Check-calling the c‑bet is fine: ace-high blocks villain's value, the price is small relative to pot, and on a paired board villain barely improves, so this bluff‑catch with backdoor equity beats folding from out of position.
Key idea
OOP on a paired board, ace-high with backdoors is a fine cheap bluff‑catch rather than a fold.
Common mistake
Folding ace-high too readily, surrendering equity that beats villain's missed bluffs.