The Best Online Poker Sites Guide To Dealing With Draws With Big Hands
In money and online poker sites games, with connectors (preferably suited), one hopes to hit a Straight or Flush. Most of them usually are usually completed during the Turn or the River.
With small connectors, like 7-6, with a flop like 5-4-K, you can play your connectors slowly with the hope you can hit the Straight, or you can play it quickly by betting large and/or raising because your opponent may fold, and even if he calls you, you still have your draw.
In this case he may have K-Q or K-J, and a Pair of Kings is just one pair, and he may play it very cautiously, because with your strong play he may think you may have a King with a higher kicker (or even a 5-4, because they will be suspicious of Two-Pairs accidentally made with connectors).
First off lets define what the Trips hand is – it is a type of Three of a Kind hand but with a subtle difference – a difference that can make or break your hand. How? Read on….
To distinguish:
A Three of a Kind is a poker hand composed of three cards of the same rank and two others different in rank from the three cards and from each other. For example:
If you have J-9 and the board comes 9-6-A-9-5, you have a Three of a Kind.
If you have 6-6 and the board comes 6-3-2-10-A, you have, again Three of a Kind.
The first type, whose example is with the J-9, of Three of a Kind is Trips. One pocket card plus 2 community cards.
The second type is the Set, which is composed of a pocket pair plus one community card with the same rank.
Sets are difficult to beat and nice to have. Trips, however, are more shaky.
I will show that when someone else is in the pot with you when you have Trips, you should be careful because Trips, while nice to have are easier to beat than a Set.
Why? Because in all likelihood any good players will not be with you if you have Trips unless that player knows that he has your Trips beat.
For example, you have 7-6 and the Flop comes 7-7-10.
Now you bet out because you want to give your Trips additional value, but here someone with a lower pocket pair will fold. As well as someone with A-Q. And even those with A-10 or J-10 will fold because your bet will indicate that you have a Seven (or at least they move out of the pot because they know they can’t improve much).
But if you get called, you should proceed carefully.
If the next card comes a Jack or an Eight, your Trips are in grave danger because there is a Straight possibility and you could not easily get away from your Trips.
Finally, suppose you have 7-6 and the Flop comes 7-7-2.
There are no possible Straight or Flush possibilities. If you bet, expect that everyone will fold, because this board is a board one other players could afford to ignore, because no one figures to make much out of this board.
Someone with an overpair might tangle along, but you may not earn much profit because someone else may fold an overpair after a substantial bet from one representing the Seven in this board.
Unless that player has A-7 or K-7 – and he has your Trip Sevens wiped out. If he’s in there with you, he may have a higher kicker for his Trips.
If the Turn and the River fall – and your opponent suddenly speeds up playing, he may have paired his kicker and is preparing to nail you with a Full House. So your Trips might be in danger (if yours didn’t improve to a Full House).
It is difficult to get away from Trips because it has the same rank as a Set, but the Set is much more lucrative, since, among other things, it is so much more hidden from view.
If the Flop comes 8-K-3 and you have 8-8, anyone else with A-K is in a deep sinkhole.
But if the Flop comes 8-8-J and you have 8-7 or 8-6, be careful; someone may be there with you with a 9-8, A-8 or 10-9 which may develop later.
And someone else with A-J is not likely to play as strongly as the one who had the A-K in the former example.
I hope this was thought provoking, isn’t poker frustrating at times! A hand that might appear great isn’t if it’s telegraphed to the rest of the table and with trips that risk is there.
So go and practice your poker online and play at the best online poker sitethat’s free about, NoPayPOKER, make mistakes and don’t lose money, get it right and you win it. Nice.
Lets say you have A-K and the Board falls 10-6-J-10-5 with relatively little action in the Flop and the Turn (say, a small bet on the Flop which you called and checks on the Turn), and suddenly your opponent bets half the pot, or even the pot.
What now? What might be going on?
You suspect that your opponent has, say, K-Q, A-Q, or 9-8, because a c-bet on the Flop may mean weakness, and the check on the turn further implies weakness, so a river bet should be inconsistent.
Notice that there are no Straight or Flush possibilities. Now, all of a sudden, you call.
You feel by instinct that your opponent has nothing and your King kicker gives you confidence on Ace High, (even in the board above, an A-Q is still beat.)
This is an extreme situation: Usually if you feel your opponent has nothing you can raise your opponent.
You can raise your opponent if you have a weaker hand (say, 8-7) and you raise because the only way you can win is if your opponent folds, so you have to play your hand strongly, or not at all.
And if your opponent calls and reveals a Pair, you can still muck and your opponent will never know what you had.
But if you have A-K and you believe you have the best hand, with the conviction that you will not fold unless the bet is extraordinarily big, it will be better to call.
If you raised, your read may be wrong, and it will cost you your chips.
And because your opponent will not call your raise anyway with nothing, you might want to end the pot right there.
Furthermore, if you call with A-K and you suddenly, elatedly, know that you won the pot, your opponent will have some sort of reputation as a bluffer, and if he knows that other players know it, it can cramp his play.
You may also call with Ace high on a board of 6-6-3-3-10.
> If your opponent had a Six or a Three he should have reminded you on the Turn.
> If he catches the Ten, well, pay him off. He just lucked out with the Ten.
> But do not do it on a board of Q-Q-8-8-3.
> It is more likely that your opponent may have the Queen (or the Eight from a connector) and that he’s value-betting it.
It also matters what Ace high you are calling with.
You can have faith with A-K and A-Q, but less with A-J lower. In a scattered board of 10-J-7-3-2, if you are confident your opponent may be bluffing, it is okay to call with A-K or A-Q, but not so much with A-9 lower (unless you Paired), because your opponent may also be bluffing with Ace high.
Ace high at the river is just one of a multitude of situations you’ll come across in poker. To be really good you need to be aware of the what and why in these situations and play with your gut backed up by proper knowledge of the probability and consequences. Until you have that it is best to learn cheap, so play free at NoPay and learn why you earn and don’t lose money!
Continuation Bets – What Are They and How and When To Do Them
A continuation bet (or c-bet) is a bet made after the Flop by a player who showed signs of strength preflop.
If you raised with A-K preflop and the flop comes J-5-2, you usually slow down. Someone may have the Jack or not. If you’re not first to act, the one having the Jack, of course, bets, and you fold.
If you’re first to act, how would you know if the other player has a Jack (or a Five or weaker)? You check, waiting for a bet, then upon so doing, you fold.
But it is also possible that the Jack may not be in your opponent’s hand, so why not try a continuation bet after the flop?
In the preceding example, you showed strength by raising with A-K and then proved you are consistent by betting again on the Flop.
Your opponent who had the Jack may not be comfortable, because your bet may indicate that the community cards somehow helped your hole cards, and the Jack in your opponents hand may be out-kicked.
For that very rare occasion when you get pocket aces here are some pointers on how to play this most controversial of poker hands.
So – why is it that Pocket Aces seem to rock preflop, but rattle away in strength postflop?
In a tournament, A-A is very strong preflop because you can move all-in with it when you are short-stacked and you can call someone with it after someone moves all-in, which happens frequently to avoid the danger of blinding out ignominously.
A-A enjoys about a 19-to-1 edge over A-x (and this includes A-K and A-Q), a 17-to-3 edge against any two unpaired cards, and a 4-to-1 edge against a lower pocket pair.
Of course, K-K and Q-Q are the biggest casualties here; even big stacks in a torunament explode because of these two hands facing A-A.
However, postflop, A-A seems to have less and less of invincibility.
Consider the following AA examples:
1. If the Flop comes K-Q-J, you have a Straight draw, but someone may have a made Straight, or even Two-Pair.
2. If it comes 8-5-2, a player will not be in there with you unless the player has 8-x (and don’t expect that player to continue betting big unless that player has 8-8) or 7-6.
If the Nine or the Four comes you and your Aces will be drawing dead.
3. With a Board of 9-Q-Q-10 you should be scared of the extra Queen especially if the other player keeps bashing on you.
And, since you are holding A-A, it is psychologically difficult to give up.
It would not be as hard as to give up smaller Pairs (like J-J).
Do not hope of building up a large pot with A-A beyond the Flop.
At the end, if A-A is the only hand you have, then do not be surprised once they get racked by a Straight, a Flush ot Two-Pair – It is once mentioned that Two-Pair is the average winning hand in Texas Hold’em.
> A player does not hope to be in there unless he has a premium strength made hand or at least Two-Pair, and players, at the end, do not play top pair strongly.
> Thus, in a board of K-10-6-5-3, if you want a large pot with A-A, you should have played strongly at the Flop and gambled that your opponent had K-Q or K-J.
> If both of you get all your chips on a Board of K-10-6, this is what you want with your A-A.You are still the favorite at this point.
> Whereas, if the Board reaches K-10-6-5-3, your opponent might not play K-Q or K-J strongly, and so will just call small bets and fold to large ones.
> Perhaps your opponent will suck you out – with a 6-5.
Finally, the last weakness with A-A is that it breaks down in the presence of a Set.
Because a Set is difficult to read, if you have A-A in a flop of 10-5-2 (all relatively rags), your opponent plays strongly.
You suspect 10-x or an overpair, and then and you suddenly play A-A more strongly and your opponent calls – with a 10-10 or 5-5.
You’re almost finished. There are no overcards, so you will not be tempted to fold, (K-K does not suffer from this defect in that in a flop of A-x-x, it will be easy for you to give up K-K or play is slowly.
Both of you – the one with the 10-10 and you with A-A – should get their chips in preflop.
If 10-10 wins, it’s just bad luck for you. If, postflop above, if 10-10 wins, it’s both skill for him and bad luck for you.
Of course you want a large pot preflop with A-A. Just move all-in and hope that someone has a strong hand like Q-Q or A-K to call you.
> That is the most probable way to win a large pot. If everyone folds, still the pot is yours.
> Postflop, control the size of the pot (unless you hit a Set or a Full House).
> Try to win a small pot.
> Big pots postflop should be typically won with complete five-card hands like Straights or Flushes.
Pocket Aces Tips and Examples Poker Videos
It is rare to get pocket aces but it is good to know what to try and do when you get them or you’ll panic! As it is so rare you need to play a LOT of poker hands to get them. That can be an expensive way to learn. So instead play poker free online at NoPayPOKER where there is no risk of losing money, thus you can practice your game as much as you like for free, the only cost is your time and maybe some sanity!
This poker hand puzzle is a classic hand from the World Series of Poker.
Just so you know there is no answer at the end of this article, this is a question for you to think about and research more. It also links to some of the other recent articles, in particular the one on representing, there is a lot of representing going on here!
Blinds 50k/100k
PREFLOP:
A has 2-2 raises to 275k
Of course A will raise with a pocket pair in early position. Look at B’s next action, however…
What kind of poker hands are we talking about in the title?
Can’t give or get away from what?
There are some types of hands we just can’t give up even if we know we are beat. What matters, however, is even if we know we are beat, our call is still within sense. This hand was shown on the Turn. (Pot 540k)
BOARD: 7h-4c-Qs-7d
> A checks
> B bets 350k
> A calls 350k (Pot 1.24m)
The small pot (after the Flop) and the check-call from A (during the Turn) implies that A has a hand which could fare well in a paired Board.
How do you want to get chips from your opponent? You may want to bet and bet if your opponent is a calling station. But sometimes your opponent may be the one betting and betting, and here is how to get chips from him.
BLINDS: 80k/160k
PREFLOP:
> A has Ad-Ac, raises to 425k
> B has Kh-10s, is on big blind, calls 265k (Pot 1.07m)
FLOP: As-3s-8d
Here is a board which could serve the purposes of pocket Aces very well.
There are no intermediate Straight draws. It is very unlikely that B’s call from the big blind consisted of two low cards that could comprise a wheel draw (especially if A has position over b).
Only the Spade draw should worry A, but it seemed that he didn’t, based on his Flop action.
Poker Tactics and Tips – What To Do In a Best Hand versus Favorite Situation
Here is a tricky situation where during the Flop, the best hand is not the favorite to win the pot, and what the players did.
BLINDS: 50k/100k
PREFLOP:
> A has 9s-8s, raises to 300k
> B has Kd-10d, calls 300k (Pot 915k)
FLOP: 6d-9h-Qd
In this situation, A’s Pair of Nines is the best hand, but B has a Flush draw (completed with 9 Diamonds), a gutshot Straight draw (4 Jacks), and two overcards (3 Kings and 3 Tens). That gives him 9 + 4 + 3 + 3 – 1 (minus one so as to avoid duplicating the Jack of Diamonds) = 18 outs to make the best hand on the later streets.
Multi Way Pot Poker can be full of intense drama and labyrinthine speculation, to win you need to be sharp, there is a great example hand with video support.
Plenty of things can happen in a multi-way pot. In a four-player pot for example, you have three other hands to guess. What weapon will you be relying on, if you want to win the pot?
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