J♦9♦ BTN vs BB, river on K♠ T♥ 7♠ 6♣ 2♠, 90 bb
The spot
- You: BTN
- Opponent: BB
- Your hand: J♦9♦
- Board: K♠ T♥ 7♠ 6♣ 2♠
- Effective stack: 90 bb
- Pot: 20.5 bb
Population tendencies shape exploit windows in this high-EV branch.
Choose the strongest exploit-aware baseline.
See the answer
Best play: Check
Why
River, board K‑T‑7‑6‑2 rainbow-ish (three spades K7-2 but hero holds no spade). Hero J9 makes nothing: no pair, no flush, just jack-high busted air after the 6 and 2 bricked the gutshots. Against the capped BB the only options are bluff or give up, and with no spade and no relevant blocker an overbet has no fold-equity edge; checking realizes the rare chops and avoids spewing into a range that can hold the spades and Kx. Take the free showdown.
Key idea
On the river your hand is final: a busted draw with no blocker value is a pure give-up, not a bluff candidate. Pick bluffs by what they block, not by hope.
Common mistake
Auto-firing an overbet with the busted draw 'because it was a draw'. The draw is dead on the river; betting only folds out hands you already beat.