After the Flop

After the flop, your manus is pretty much defined. Before the flop, you have got seen only 2 cards out of the sum 7 cards that volition eventually be in play. The floating-point operation gives you 3 more than cards, so now you are seeing 5 out of the 7 sum cards that volition eventually do your hand. As a result, the strength of your manus will change far more than on the floating-point operation than it will on the bend or river, with the exclusion of those times that you pull at a flush or straight.

For instance, before the floating-point operation an Ace and King of the same suit, such as as AhKh, is a good hand, with possible to go a immense hand. After all, with a great amount of fortune it could turn into a royal flush, the best manus possible. A small more than likely is something like top pair, with the best available 2nd card, a brace of Aces, with the King as your 2nd card (kicker), still a very good hand. However, if the 3 cards on the floating-point operation are 2, 6 and 9, with no hearts, you have got nil but a weak draw. The best you can trust for is that it is checked around, and an Ace or King come ups on the turn. Your great potentiality have turned to trash, and if there is a stake you should fold up unless the pot is very large.

At the other end of the scale, you could start with something like a Joule and Q unsuited, which you would hopefully only be playing in 1 of the last 2 places or the blinds, which is a weak starting hand. However, if you acquire lucky and floating-point operation something like J, Q, Q, your manus have just gone from edge to monster. In a lawsuit like this, your determination alterations from one of 'should I remain in' to 'how make I acquire the most money in the pot'.

The result that volition happen most frequently is that you set in a rise before the floating-point operation with insurance premium cards that have got got an chance to turn into a large hand, or you name a stake in late place with a weak, bad manus like a suited connector, and once you see the flop, you have nothing. In this case, you must check up on and fold.

This is the ground for lone playing bad hands in late place for one bet. They will not usually turn into anything and you throw them away, so you don’t desire to set in a batch of money which you are probably going to lose. The big insurance premium hands will however stop up turning into a good manus much more than than often, so you raise with those to acquire more money in the pot because you anticipate to win it.

After you see the flop, one of respective things is going to happen.

1) After the flop, you have got nothing. You have got no pair, no draw to a consecutive or flush, and there are cards on the board that are higher than yours. For instance, in late position, after 3 other players have got called, you name with a Jack and Queen of 2 different suits. The floating-point operation incorporates an Ace, a 9 and a 3, all different suits. Note that if person have an Ace, your lone hope is that both a Ten and a King come up up to give you a straight, or both a Jack and a Queen come, to give you 2 pair, or perhaps 2 Jacks or 2 Queens to give you 3 of a kind. In the latter 2 cases, your opposition could be holding an Ace and either a Jack or Queen, so you would still lose. The determination in this lawsuit is very simple. Check and fold up to a bet.

2) Once you see the flop, you have got a immense hand. For instance, you started with a pocket pair, and hit a 3rd of the same rank, giving you a set, or you flopped a flush or straight, or you hit top 2 pair. Once again, the determination is easy, stake and/or raise. There may be an occasional lawsuit where you desire to decelerate play, i.e. bank check and just name a bet. For instance, you raised before the flop, hit a 3rd ace, and it looks improbable that anybody could have got a manus where they could name a bet. However, at the low limits, there is no demand to be tricky. The players will name stakes and raises even when it should be obvious that they can’t win. One of the worst things that tin go on is that you hit your immense hand, while person else hits a very good 2nd best manus and would have got raised, so you be yourself money. Of course the worst thing that could go on is that you allow person draw cheaply, or for free, and they stop up beating your immense hand. This is very expensive, because your slow play cost you the full pot.

3) You have got a good, but not great hand. For instance, you raised before the floating-point operation with a brace of jacks, no cards higher than a Jack came on the flop, and there is no flush or consecutive likely. You probably have got the best hand, but it is vulnerable to bad cards appearing on the bend or river. Any Queen, King or Ace that hits the board may give person a higher pair, and the board could develop into consecutive or flush possibilities. Ideally, you would wish the individual on your right to bet, so that you can raise, giving everyone else the state of affairs of having to name 2 stakes instead of 1. You may have got to seek for a check/raise inch order to face people with calling 2 bets. You can only seek this if you believe person will wager after you check. If you are not certain that person after you will wager when you check, you should bet. What you desire to make if possible is to acquire players with an Ace, King, or Queen to fold. At the low limits, this is very improbable when they only have got to name 1 bet. Some of them will name all the manner to the end with an Ace and any other card hoping that you are bluffing. You may however acquire person to fold up little cards that would have got got got turned into a straight, a flush, or 2 brace if you had allow them pull for free, and this is still a good thing.

4) You have a mediocre hand, such as as top brace with a poor 2nd card, or you have the 2nd or 3rd pair. An illustration of this would be when you name from late place with A7 suited, hoping for a flush draw, and brace the ace, with none of your lawsuit showing, or phone call with a little brace like 44 or 55. Most of the time, these volition be losing hands. Especially if there are respective players in the pot, there is likely to be person with an Ace and a better 2nd card, putting you at a immense disadvantage. In the lawsuit of the little pair, you are hoping to floating-point operation a set (hit the 3rd card, such as as a 3rd 4, or 3rd 5) If there are respective people in the pot, and there is a stake before you play, just fold. If it is checked around, and no card come ups on the bend that would look to assist anybody, you may desire to seek a stake and see if they all fold. This is most likely to work if there are only a few people in the pot. The more than players there are in, the less likely that they will all fold. You must also be aware of how the players play. If you have got a player that volition phone call to the end with a slightly better hand, it may not be deserving a bet. Also, if you make stake on the turn, and acquire raised, fold. Not very many players at the low bounds will check up on raise as a bluff.

5) A state of affairs that haps often is that, after the flop, you either have got got no made hand, or a very weak made hand, but you have possibilities for improvement. For instance, you name from late place after 4 others have got called, with an Ace and 6 of hearts. The floating-point operation incorporates 2 hearts, but no Ace or 6. You are drawing at the nut (best) flush. If you acquire another heart, you will probably win the pot, otherwise you will most likely lose. To do a determination with drawing hands, you necessitate to see pot odds, implied odds, and your likelihood of making the manus you are drawing to, and winning. Note that in many lawsuits it is quite possible that you will do the manus you are looking for, and still lose. And utmost illustration of this would be hoping to hit a 9 to pair off the 1 you are holding. This would of course lose to anything, brace of Tens or better, and is a bad idea. A more than practical illustration is drawing to an unfastened ended straight, such as as 8, 9, T, J, with 2 cards of one lawsuit on board. If either a 7 or Queen hits, you have got a straight. However if that 7 or Queen sets 3 of one lawsuit on board you may lose to a flush. As well, if the 2 cards that you have got are the 8 and 9, person else may be drawing to a better hand, with a King and Ace for instance, in which lawsuit the Queen that gives you a consecutive gives them a higher consecutive at the same time, and is going to be you some money. As we will see when we speak about counting outs in another article, you must take these possibilities into business relationship when calculating your odds. There are many more than factors that demand to be taken into business relationship in each situation. How the other players play, position, the size of the pot, the exact constitution of the floating-point operation etc. These volition be covered in more than item in future articles. For the moment, this should acquire you headed in the right direction.

Copyright © 2005 A1-PokerInfo.com - All rights reserved.

This article may be freely distributed and published, providing it is distributed and/or published in its entirety, including the contact information and copyright.