In a $1-$2 no-limit hold’em cash game, an unknown player raised to $4 out of his $160 effective stack from first position at a nine-handed table and three players called. Hero decided to call from the small blind with A 9.

Hero’s call is reasonable, but he has to be careful to not lose too much money when he flops top pair with a marginal kicker and faces multiple streets of aggression. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to automatically check and call down with top pair with a marginal kicker in an extremely multi-way pot.

The big blind called as well. The flop came 8 7 4, giving Hero the backdoor nut flush draw and two overcards. Everyone checked to a player in middle position who bet $10 into the $24 pot. Only Hero called.

If the pot were heads-up, Hero’s call would be fine, but when the middle position player bets into five opponents, it is safe to assume he has a strong made hand or a premium draw.

Especially since Hero will be out of position going to the turn, he should trivially fold, despite his good pot odds. Calling flop bets with junky holdings from out of position will often lead to you either check-folding the turn or being in a dicey spot when you improve and face additional aggression.

The turn was the 10, improving Hero to an ace-high flush draw and an open-ended straight draw. Hero checked and the opponent bet $20 into the $44 pot. Hero min-raised to $40.

Hero’s min-raise is not a good play at all. The only time it makes any sense is when Hero knows the opponent views turn check/min-raises as extremely strong. With no reads, Hero can expect to get called almost every time, resulting in him going to the river out of position against a range that is difficult to quantify.

Hero should much prefer to call because the opponent has now bet into multiple players on the flop and continued betting on an incredibly scary turn. When someone bets multiple times, it is usually a clear sign of strength.

While Hero has a premium draw, raising the turn as a semi-bluff is only a good play if the opponent will frequently fold, which will rarely be the case in this spot due to the opponent’s strong range and excellent pot odds.

The opponent pushed all-in for $146 total, $104 more, into a pot that will be $336 if Hero calls.

Hero needs to win $104/$336 = 31% of the time to justify calling. Since he is likely against either a flush, straight, set, or two pair, he will only win about 24% of the time.

Hero instead decided to call, thinking he had 15 outs to improve, which he thought meant he would improve 30% of the time.

It is vitally important that you do not sloppily count your outs and see how often you will improve to a flush or a straight to determine if you should call, because you may improve and still lose (when your opponent has a straight flush or a set), and some of your outs are likely dead (when you are against a flush).

Instead of having 30% equity, against the opponent’s likely range, Hero only has 24% equity. Since 24% equity is way less than the required 31% equity, Hero simply must fold.

The opponent had Q 9 and did not get outdrawn. This spot could have easily been avoided by check-folding on the flop or check-calling the turn. Instead, Hero got all of his money in behind.

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Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT winner and the 2024 PokerGO Cup champion with nearly $9 million million in live tournament earnings, best-selling author of 15 educational poker books, and 2019 GPI Poker Personality of the Year. If you want to increase your poker skills and learn to crush the games, check out his training site at PokerCoaching.com/cardplayer.