Explanation of River Rat
The term “river rat” essentially refers to a player who gets lucky by catching his hand on the river (sucking out). This is especially true when it’s perceived that the player in question made bad decisions at earlier points in the hand (such as calling without proper odds).
A good player who makes a correct play and then hits on the river would not typically be referred to as a river rat. The term “river rat” usually implies that the player is calling overly wide on the earlier streets hoping to get lucky. It’s therefore no coincidence that such a player would give the appearance of sucking out more frequently than others, they simply get past the turn with a wider range much more frequently.
Example of River Rat being used in a sentence -> Make sure to value bet well on the earlier streets, that guy is such as river rat.
How to Use River Rat as Part of Your Poker Strategy
It can sometimes be frustrating to play against a player who rarely folds on the earlier streets (especially if they are getting lucky a lot). It’s important to remember however, that it is good to have such opponents at our table. The fact that they are continuing with too many hands allows us to extract lost of value even with some of our more marginal value hands. Even if ‘river rats’ get lucky in the short term, they will miss most of their river cards in the long term.
