The right post-flop strategy
On the flop, you need to discover the potential strength of the board and your hole cards, as well as, determine what could possibly be out there to beat your hand. On top of understanding your cards, and how they can potentially stack up against your opponent’s cards, it is equally important to have a look at the size of your opponent’s stack.
Made Hand or Draw
Once the flop is dealt, you can either have a made hand or a draw. A made hand means that your hand seems to be the best right now, whereas a draw would need one or more favorable cards to come on the turn or river, in order for you to win the hand. Sometimes the situation might also be so that you have a weak made hand and a draw, like middle or bottom pair and a flush draw.
If you have a draw, it is important to know how many outs you have. If you have two overcards to the board, you have 6 outs, if you have an open-ended straight draw, you have 8 outs, and with a flush draw, you have 9 outs. That means that you have a 24 – 38% chance of finding a winning card on the turn or on the river. Those are the percentages that you need to use to decide whether you are willing to pay the price to see another card.
If you have top pair or better, then you have a strong hand and you should usually bet. Take a look at the board though – does it look like your opponent might be drawing? A flop like Jd-Td-Qs is dangerous, and if you were holding T-Q, you will want to bet strong and charge your opponent for chasing that flush or straight!
At the same time, in a situation like this, take a close look at later cards. Did they complete the draw you think your opponent could have?
In any case, it is important to consider who was the aggressor pre-flop. If you raised preflop, the flop comes A-Q-3 and your opponent checks to you, you may want to bet no matter what you have. The Ace might scare your opponent enough for him to fold. Making a so-called continuation bet or c-bet is often successful if you were the preflop raiser. Careful if you get called though – he might actually have the Ace.
Always be looking ahead
Certainly, one of the critical indicators of prosperous no-limit Texas Hold’em competitors would be to contemplate in advance, what precisely may be accomplished or carried out on the turn as well as the river. This will obviously be determined by the additional cards, which are to be dealt, nevertheless, it is prudent to be planning in advance for upcoming betting rounds. It’s actually not wise to make decisions on the flop supposing all is going to be good once the next and final card is flipped over. A profitable flop strategy involves planning beyond the flop.
Upon examining the flop, it helps to categorize your own hand strength. A weak hand would probably consist of a weak pair, top pair with a weak kicker, or a hand with poor drawing opportunities. Allowing the weak hands to be discarded will reduce losses, which is as crucial as boosting returns.
Missed the flop
As an illustration, assume that you are dealt a strong, however unmade, hand pre-flop along the lines of A, K, or perhaps A, Q. A flop of 7, 7, 10, is definitely not ideal since you do not have any pairs or straight and flush possibilities. It is still possible you have the best hand, and that other competitors in the hand are not holding a 7, 10, or pocket pair, but the truth is you need to give serious consideration to continuing here. You have got only six outs to make just top pair, but there are many hands that out-gun you. Whenever the flop does not work out as planned, the expertise in analyzing the circumstance to incorporate exactly what your opposition could be holding is essential. Frequently it is important to dump hands that appeared favorable pre-flop and preserve your cash for the situations in which the flop in fact improved your hand.
When you are looking at establishing a value for marginal hands is important to decide whether this is a poor marginal hand or actually a good marginal hand. Once again, this is dependent upon many factors, do you have a top pair or do you have an ace, does the ace have a weak kicker. Any of these factors may just as well put the hand into the poor category and unless you get to see the next card free, you are better off just dumping these types of hands. Depending on the position you are in you may take a chance at another card, provided you are able to look at it for the right price. Hoping for cards without getting the correct pot odds is a recipe for financial disaster. Once again, you are better off to dump your cards and wait on a good starting hand combined with the right flop.
Moreover, when it comes to uncertain hands you can look at the likes of top pair a possible straight or flush draw, or even an Ace with a king or queen kicker. Again, with these cards, you need to be cognizant of what the players are doing in front of you and just how many players got a chance to see the flop. Do not confuse the fact you have a marginal hand as opposed to a strong hand.
Now let’s assume that you flopped a strong hand. A strong hand would include a straight, flush, two pair, three of a kind, or even a full house. While we do not see the full house very often on the flop, it is certainly possible for this to happen. Flopping a big hand can be fun and profitable but it is also important to pay close attention to what is happening around you. There is no guarantee that just because you flopped a big hand it is not possible for one of your opponents to have done so also. Is important to understand when you have the nuts, and how to go about playing it.
For the most part if you have a strong hand you should bet and raise. You often see players trying to slow play these good hands but if you do not bet on the flop and get the players to put in money, there is less of a chance to have them put in money on the next card. Also, there is always a risk that allowing them to see the next card too cheaply results in the loss of the pot.