T♣8♣ BB vs SB, river on K♠ T♥ 7♠ 6♣ 2♠, 70 bb

Best play: Bet 40% pot

Why

River: K♠ T♥ 7♠ 6♣ 2♠ — hero's T♣8♣ makes a pair of Tens (second pair) with an 8 kicker; no straight (need a 9) and no flush (hero holds no spade). Against a capped SB that has given up twice, this is a thin merged value hand: it beats 7x, busted draws turned bluff‑catcher, and worse Tx, so a 40% bet extracts value from those worse calls while keeping the pot small enough that Kx does not punish hero. A check would forfeit value the capped range pays off, and an overbet only gets called by Kx and better.

Key idea

Second pair against a capped, give-up-heavy range is a thin value bet, not a check-down — size small to get called by the worse hands that make up most of that range.

Common mistake

Checking second pair out of fear of Kx, missing the value the capped range's many worse hands would pay.