Texas Holdem Flop
Playing the flop
Defining moments are crystallized instants in time, forever frozen in memory, imprinted into consciousness, never to be forgotten. Like Armstrong walking on the moon, and the first home run you hit in Little League, these magical moments shape the way that you perceive and value the world around you.
When you see the flop in Hold’em, you’re looking at five-sevenths of your hand. That’s 71 percent of your hand, and the cost is only a single round of betting.
The implications of this should be abundantly clear: If the flop does not fit your hand, be done with it. Playing long-shot holdings after the flop is a sure way to lose money. After the flop, the relationship between the betting and the cards to come is reversed. Now, you’re looking at spending 83 percent of the potential cost of a hand for the remaining 29 percent of the cards!
Fit or fold – That’s the concept. Fit can take one of three forms: The flop fits because it improves your hand; it offers a draw that figures to pay off handsomely if you hit it; or you hold a big pair before the flop.
No matter how sweet your first two cards may appear, an unfavorable flop can render them nearly worthless. If the flop doesn’t strengthen yourhand or offer a draw to a very strong hand, you should usually release it.
Flops that you’re going to love — While you’re not going to like the flop most of the time, there are those rare instances when it fits like a custom-made suit. When you’re lucky enough to flop a straight flush, four of a kind, a full house, or the nut flush, your major worry is not whether you’ll win, but how much money you can extract from your opponents.
Your first order of business is examining the texture of the flop. Based on the betting pattern prior to the flop, try to determine whether one or more of your opponents has made a hand or has a draw to a hand that would be second best to yours.
Lovable Flops
Straight flush: Bet the house, the farm, and mortgage your soul. You shouldn’t lose.
Four-of-a-kind: If there are two pair on board, and you have the smaller of the two pair, it is possible -though very unlikely – that you can lose this hand. But if there’s only one pair on board and you have the matching pair in your hand, you have the practical nuts. You can lose only to a straight flush or royal flush, unless a bigger communal comes along and someone else has a bigger four-of-a-kind. But don’t worry; you’ll seldom, if ever, lose with hands like these.
Full house: A terrific hand, but you have to examine the board to make sure that yours is the best possible full house before you bet the farm. But don’t be afraid to raise with a full house; it’s probably a winner.
Nut flush: If you have an ace-high flush when all the cards have been dealt, and no pair is on the board -which means that a full house or four-of-a-kind is not possible – you’ve got the best possible hand. Just keep betting or raising and don’t stop.
Nut straight: If you have the highest possible straight, and there’s no possibility of a flush or full house, you’ve got the best hand, period. Bet and raise for all you’re worth.
Trips: If you have A8 and the flop is 887 you’ve got trips. It’s not quite as good as it would be if the pair were in your hand, because anyone holding 87 will have flopped a full house. But that won’t happen very frequently, so go ahead and bet and raise as long as the board is not threatening.
Two pair: If you flop two pair but they are not the top two pair, you have a good hand but one that is still vulnerable. Stay with it, however, unless it appears obvious that you are beaten.
Top pair: A lot of Hold’em pots are won with one pair, and that one pair is usually the top pair on board. Your primary concern with top pair and an apparently safe board is determining whether your kicker is bigger than your opponent’s.
Overpair: If the board is 874, and you hold AA you have a pocket pair that is higher than the highest card on the board. In poker parlance, that’s called an overpair. It’s better than top pair, and usually a hand to consider raising with.
Dangerous Flop
Kicker Trouble: Even if you flop top pair, your hand is only as strong as your kicker. Its alot nicer to make top pair with an ace kicker than a weaker one.
Suited board: Flops where all the suit are of the same sequence are dangerous. Someone may already made a flush and your top pair or over pair may not be good enough.
Flopping a draw
When you flop a four-flush or a four-straight, you’ll have to decide whether to continue with your draw. Here’s how to make that decision:
You’ll need enough opponents so that the size of the pot offsets the mathematical odds against completing your hand. How many opponents do you need? If you’re facing three or more, its typically worthwhile to draw. If you’re holding two large cards, like A-Q, you’re probably favored against any lone opponents regardless of whether you make your hand. You might also win by pairing either of your cards on the turn or river. Sometimes just two big cards will be sufficient to win in a showdown.
Beyond the flop
As a general rule, you shouldn’t continue beyond the flop without a strong pair and a decent side-card (or kicker), or a straight or flush draw with at least two opponents to ensure that the pot is big enough to make it worthwhile. Because of the communal cards, players frequently have the same hand, with the exception of their unpaired side card, or kicker.
When that happens, it’s the rank of each player’s kicker that determines who wins the pot in question. That’s why most Hold’em players love to be dealt A-K (or “Big Slick,” as players call it). If the flop contains either an ace or a king, the player holding Big Slick will have the top pair with the best possible kicker.
Game texture -the relative aggressiveness or passivity exhibited by the players – is also important in determining whether to call that bet or raise. But a feeling for the game’s texture and how it should influence your play can be obtained only from live game experience. In the absence of that experience, err on the side of caution. It costs less. Success at Texas Holdem demands that you be patient, pay close attention to position, and take comfort in the knowledge that good hands are run down less often than the best Seven-Card Stud hands.