Beginner Strategies
July 21 2008
One of the toughest skills that beginner poker players have a hard time figuring out is laying down big hands. It may be tough to let those pocket aces or pocket kings go, but you must do it sometimes to avoid dumping a ton of chips and throwing your money away.
When you are dealt a mammoth hand like pocket aces, examine both the board and your opponents’ play very closely to determine if you have a winner or not. Here are two examples. First, let’s say you’ve got pocket aces. You raised three times the big blind pre-flop and received a single caller. The flop shows this:
Your aces look really good on this board, but you’re not completely in the clear. You’ve still got to watch out for pocket kings, pocket queens and king-queen. Also, there’s a flush draw on the board. So what should you do if your opponent comes out with a bet double the big blind? There’s no simple answer to that question. You must decide whether to call or raise based on how your opponent plays. If they’re a chronic bluffer, you may want to raise and end up taking the pot. If you’re playing against a tight player, there’s a good chance he has one of your danger hands and a call may not be worth it.
In our second example, let’s say you’ve got pocket kings. Once again you raise three times the big blind pre-flop and receive a single caller. The flop shows this:
It really sucks when you’ve got pocket kings and an ace hits on the flop. Whenever this happens and you raised big pre-flop, your best bet is usually to fold unless you think you can get your opponent to lay down his or her hand. If your opponent has an ace, that may be impossible to do. If you can get a free card here, take it, because if you get lucky and a king turns up you could win a huge pot. If you’re forced to make a decision between a call and a fold, unless your opponent is a big bluffer your best bet is likely to fold. If you can’t fold pocket kings when an ace is on the board, you’ll never make it as a poker player.
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