With J-10 in a four-way unraised pot I flop an open-ended straight draw. The flop is King-high and my opponent bets the minimum. This is an oft-repeated mistake. He almost certainly has the best hand right now and he’s charging no sort of price to knock me out as well as failing to make any money on his superior hand.

I make the call while the blinds fold. The turn brings an Ace and my opponent again bets just the minimum.

I could call and hope to make my straight but I decide to make a semi-bluff here by raising. He appears weak and there’s a decent chance that I can win the pot with the Ace working as a scare card for me. By representing the Ace I’ve also given myself the option of bluffing on the river.

My opponent calls the raise and the river card brings a Queen to make my straight. He checks to me, I bet three quarters of the pot and he pays me off.

Often I would be tempted to bluff the river anyway if I’d missed the straight, as my opponent has played the hand so passively. But at these small stakes tables it will often prove to be a mistake as players find it hard to fold any kind of marginal hand.