Texas Hold’em is a game of poker odds and luck. Many players will often try to robbery the poker pot by making small moves with superior hands like pocket 7’s or pocket 8’s. However, poker is a game of position; the later your position to the dealer button, the better your odds of getting certain pocket pairs or winning with a straight or flush.
The only way you can robbery the pokerace99 pot is if you’re in late position or on the button. Being on the button or near the button gives you many advantages such as getting a free card when your opponents don’t want one. Also, you can play a lot more hands because you’re in a better position to do so.
In early position you should only play pocket pairs, suited connectors, and suited cards over the pre-flop. You should not get involved with any other hand. Between the size of the chip stack of the players in front of you and the size of the chip stack of the big blind, there’s no reason to be in a hand with less than A-A-2-3.
If you have a top pair such as AA, KK, QQ, or AK and there are flush draws showing, you should bet the flop. Continue doing this if there are no obvious flops. Maybe this is the time to get a little crazy, as the poker odds have to be in your favor. If you bet the flop on the turn as a bluff, it might work, but it will probably end up back firing. Your expected value has to be extremely high for this play to be profitable.
This concept is much easier to explain with an example. Let’s say you have a nut flush draw with As-J-Q. There are three players in the pot. You bet the flop and get a call from the button. The turn is a T, and the players in front of you check. You decide to bet the turn as a continuation bet. If you hit your hand right, you can win the pot with a bet on the river. There are only two cards that can beat you, so the odds are 2-1. Even if someone has a better hand than you, you will probably only win the pot about a 50% of the time.
However, you still want to show your hand. If you make a hand and get a check from the button or a call from the small blind, you’ll win the pot a 50% of the time, for a total of 46% win odds. Pretty good, right? Now, if you wait until the river and bet only on your strong hand, you’ll win about 48% of the time, for a total of 54% win odds.
As you can see, waiting for two cards to come to make a hand is a very risky play. It could mean a lot of money for a lot of hands. But, if you’re in late position and everyone before you folds, you could catch a big hand to steal the pot. Don’t call unwise bets, just make a big fold and wait for a better spot.
Cassidy Nguyen is a professional poker player and founder of One Up Bingo. She has played in some of the top poker tournaments including the World Series of Poker. She also blogs for One Up Bingo and hopes to inspire and motivate her readers to play poker. You can visit her athttp://www.OneUpBingo.com.