Part: Part Eight - Making Moves

Abandoning the move

Flop
Heads-upPot 2,600 (6.5 BB)J♥10♥8♣COA♥K♣● 16,000 (40 BB)YOUovercards, betting leadBB● 16,000 (40 BB)CallerchecksHJ● 16,000 (40 BB)CallerchecksD

You opened and got two callers. Flop J♥ T♥ 8♣ - very wet - and you hold A♥K♥ (overcards plus a flush draw and gutshot). Both check.

A wet board, three-way, but you have real equity (draw + overcards). Best?

WhyEven three-handed, a flush draw, two overcards, and a gutshot is enough equity to bet - you can win it now or improve to the best hand. A move with this much backing behind it is worth starting.
What happensYou bet 1,600; one player calls, the other folds. Pot 5,800 (14.5 BB) - heads-up with a live hand.
Turn
Heads-upPot 5,800 (14.5 BB)J♥10♥8♣2♣COA♥K♣● 16,000 (40 BB)YOUmissed; a caller remains on a wet boardBB● 16,000 (40 BB)Callerbets 3,000 (7.5 BB)D

Turn 2♣ - you miss, and now the remaining caller leads into you for a big bet.

You whiffed and the caller now bets big into you on this wet board. Best?

WhyHe peeled a bet on a soaking-wet board and now leads into the pre-flop raiser - that's a made hand, not a bluff, and your ace-king high improved to nothing on the deuce. The conditions that justified betting are gone. Firing again is throwing chips at a bluff that's already dead.
What happensYou fold. Making a move includes knowing the moment it's finished - and this one was over.
You began a semi-bluff with real equity, but when a caller stuck around and led into you, the move was dead - so you let it go rather than fire into obvious strength. Knowing when to abandon a move is part of making one.

Starting a move and finishing it are two decisions. When the preconditions collapse - strength shown, equity gone - the discipline is to fold, not to double down.