Calling is never "right" on the river. If you have the best hand, you should be raising; if you have the worst hand, you should be folding.

- Phil Gordon

Comments please

btw, Greetings I am new to the forum. Looking forward to improve my game and learn through this website.

Theoretically, maybe, but it's a gross oversimplification the way it's stated.

You're playing against ranges rather than specific hands most of the time. Meaning, your opponent has a strong hand and you have a strong hand but can't put him on something specific. You have AA on a board of 8s7s3h-2c-Jd. Your opponent check-raised on the flop, continued on the turn, and bet the river. All the draws missed and you have a strong hand. Now it's time to decide whether he's betting a missed draw or actually has 2 pair or better. If you raise, 2 pair or better is callingd an the busted draws are folding, which makes raising ridiculously poor. Calling limits your losses against better hands and gets the maximum out of the missed draw (since he probably wont' rebluff you if you raise).

I do this for a living, and it seems odd that he would state it this way.

DealtToHero.com

I agree. You don't always know you have the best or the worst hand. If you aren't sure, sometimes it's just safe to call. I bet if you go through any of his televised games you'll find him not following this advice.

There is only one way to know if you have the best hand. You have to read the board and know what two cards give you the best possible hand with all 5 community cards. Take the example from DealtToHero above, on a board of 8s7s3h-2c-Jd the best "possible" hand would be a set of Jacks. This is the highest 5 card hand that is possible with that board. Having said that, what is the next highest hand??? Set of 8s, Set of 7s, set of 3s, set of 2s, Two pair J 8, Two pair J 7, Two pair J 3, and so on untill you get to your one high pair of AA. Now a pair of As still beats any one pair that is on the board and even all other non-tripped pocket pairs. Dosen't look so good when there are all those other possible hands out there.

Now here is where it gets interesting. What hand does your opponent really hold? The way the hand plays out is what gives you the information to determine if you have a"better" hand than your opponent. You will rarely have the best possible hand but when you do have the best possible hand, yes, raise. Get it all in and hope that someone didn't read Phil's advice and calls you. If you don't have the best hand, then you have to evaluate your hand against what you think your opponent has. In this case, don't fold because there are still hands that AA can still beat.

I agree too that Phil is over simplifying this, but mayber his audiance is the beginners that are still learning the game.

actually the best possible hand in 9x 10x, most likely spades since he c/r flop and bet and hopefully shoved river with the nutz. For discussion sake we will assume that Dealt to Hero meant Qd

otherwise agree with what everyone else said

I aggree with wot every1 else has said , with Phil I tend to disaggree , or rather to clarify
I would only re-raise on the river if u have the absolute nuts ... but I would guess this is obvious ... lol

What if you have an 8 high flush and you are pretty sure your opponent has a flush as well...I am comfortable calling a big bet with such a hand but I don't want to reraise with it as I could easily be beat. And sometimes if you put your opponent on a bluff raising is pointless b/c they will fold anyway, calling is the much safer play

I guess wot makes more sense is the saying I heard somewhere
"only call with a hand you can raise with" I take this to mean only call/raise with a hand
that if some1 raises/re-raises, you can call , if you fold then maybe you should never have
played the hand anyway ....
Thats what I take from the saying anyway (if it goes like that ..?)

I guarantee that Phil Gordon doesn't follow his own advice on that one, because I belive he's wrong. Value betting is the key to winning online, IMO. And this means putting in bets and raising where appropriate. But sometimes you have a very good hand, and it's worth a river call - but you're against a tricky player who could be ready to 3-bet with the nuts. Now you might say a fold would therefore be in order, but sometimes it's worth just playing safe and calling.