Flopping Top Pair

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A lot of new texas holdem poker players think top pair is a good hand and they often put to much money on that hand. Top pair is not a bad hand, but depending on the cards on the table, it may be worthless, even with a great kicker.

Reading the Board
Playing top pair is really about your ability to recognize a safe board from dangerous one. Pre-flop, the game plan is usually simple: Limp in or raise with a strong hand. After the flop, and when you have top pair, don’t get excited just yet. Take the time to look at what’s out there first.

Let’s say you had Jh-10d in your hand and the flop was Js-7h-6s. Although you have top pair, there are risks associated with this particular flop. First, someone could have a flush draw, someone could have two pairs, someone could have a straight draw, and someone could had trips. And of course, someone could have top pair with a better kicker. The more players that are involved in the hand, the greater the risks. If everyone was allowed to limp in, consider that it’s quite possible that opponents got a cheap flop with a bad hand, and that a band hand can actually turn out to be a pretty good hand with a flop such as this one. If a lot of people limped in, beware. If someone has a flush draw or a straight draw, beware.

End the Poker Hand
Basically, what you want to do at this point is end the hand. The only way to do this is to come up with a significant raise. It has to be big enough to discourage the person with the flush draw to peruse it. If people stick around for the turn card, consider the possibility that you are beat. If the turn card comes up as a spade, then you have 3 spades on the board so it’s possible someone made a flush. If the card comes as anything in the range of a low straight, it’s possible someone made a straight. If you stick with poker math only, odds that someone made those hands are low, but we all know it happens.

Poker Hand Strenght
At this stage, you have to make a decision about the strength of your hand. Either you keep pushing, risking loosing more in the event that someone already has you beat, or you slow down and invest as little as possible because you think you’re beat. Depending on your table position, you may get to see how everyone else acts before you play so that can be a great help. If you’re the first to go, you don’t have a lot of information to benefit from. Ultimately, keep in mind that you have a strong hand but it’s quite possible you are drawing dead already, especially when there’s a lot of players still in the hand. When you are unsure, you may want to simply back off or even give up the hand when faced with a raise. You’ll loose a little, but you could have lost a lot more. Sometimes, folding is the best move. If you are in a tournament and are running low on chips, you may need to be over aggressive and go all in after the flop. That’s what I normally do when I really need to double up. And it often works out to my advantage, but not always.

Raise with Top Pair
Just remember, when you flop top pair, always raise on your turn (unless someone raised before you of course), and always study the board to identify “danger flops”. This will help you gage the size of your initial raise. And of course, always study opponents carefully after your play. See how they react and get a sense of the strength of your hand. When facing a “danger flop” don’t commit all your chips unless you are desperate. In the event that you loose, at least you’ll have something left to climb back up the ranks. When your top page is a low or middle card, keep in mind that anyone with high cards who stay in can take you down on a lucky turn or river. That is why you need to push people out of the hand sooner than later.

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Trouble Hands in Texas Holdem

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Just as there are many hands in Texas Holdem that will win you a lot of money, there are a number of deceptive hands that may lead you into believing that they are profitable when in real fact they will often lose you decent sums of money from your bankroll. The sooner that you learn about the hands that are costing you dearly, the sooner you can start saving yourself from losing money. This article will address the most common hands that novices play with and highlight the reasons as to why they can be dangerous hands to play.

Chasing a flush in Texas Holdem Poker
The “any two suited cards” is a very popular hand that all varieties of beginners like to play. A flush is a pretty strong hand in the game of Holdem, and so if you manage to make one there is good chance that you will win a nice bit of money with it. Therefore many new players to the game will be prepared to enter pots with any two cards as long as they are suited just in an attempt to catch a flush at some point during the hand. There are two reasons as to why playing any two suited cards is dangerous.

Firstly, it is not that much more likely that you will make a flush just because your cards are suited. The probability of making a flush in Holdem is pretty low, and so it does not justify calling bets and raises in an attempt to catch one on the flop. On top of this, amateur players will often continue to call bets and raises with bad pot odds to make a flush on future streets, which just adds to the problem of playing such hands. The second reason is that you can catch half a hand like second pair on the flop, and end up losing money to another player that has formed a better pair than you. So by playing random suited cards you are setting yourself up for two great opportunities to leak money, so don’t do it.

Playing Low Unsuited Connectors
Another type of hand that always manages to cause the beginner poker players a problem is the low connecting cards. These are almost identical to the problems caused by any two suited cards and can help players to lose money over the long run. It is not too likely that you will form a straight every time you enter a pot with connecting cards like 5c 6h, so don’t enter the pot under the false pretences that you will. You will simply be losing more money in the long run, as well as losing money in pots where you catch half a hand and your opponent catches a stronger one. So save yourself some money and fold before the flop.

Aces With Bad Kickers
One final hand that amateur players get overly attached to is a rag ace. Rag aces are simply aces that are accompanied by a low ranking holecard below a Ten. The problem that these hands cause is that players find it difficult to let the hand go after they pair their ace, and so they will often end up losing a lot of (if not all) of their stack to a player that also makes a pair of aces but with a better kicker. The best way to play these types of hands is to exercise a little self-discipline and fold them before the flop. It is unlikely that you will win a big pot with them, but it is likely that you will lose a big one. Save yourself a bit of money by folding and catch out the other amateur players the next time when you hold a stronger ace than them.

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Stealing Blinds

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Stealing Blinds Introduction
When people refer to blind stealing in Texas Holdem poker they are talking about raising from late position in an attempt to take down an uncontested pot. The theory behind this is, if the players who have posted the blinds have weak-medium hands they will fold to you and the chips will be yours. This is a simple concept but one that gets players into a lot of trouble. Strategy on using the blind stealing tactic will differ from cash games to tournaments as well as from the blinds to chip stack size ratio.

It is important to have a good grasp of the concept and to find a happy medium between blind stealing and protecting your blinds. It may well be the deciding factor to whether you take home the big prize in a tourney or get mixed up in a big pot in a cash game.

Stealing Blinds in Tournaments
Stealing the blinds in Texas Holdem tournaments can become vitally important, specifically in the later stages. Early on it is not much of an issue because the blinds are relatively small in comparison with the chip stack sizes. But as we progress in the tournament our strategy must change as we can find ourselves vulnerable to the ever increasing blinds. The key to successful blind stealing is picking the right times to do so. Picking the right time can come down to a couple of factors. The first thing we have to think about is how our opponents that act after us have been playing. Are they loose aggressive? Are they tight passive? This should play a key role in deciding how often you to steal the blinds and with what kind of hands. The other element we have to think about is quite an obvious one, our position on the table. The later we have to act, of course the better it is before us because there are less people who act after us. This means that the best position will be the button, followed by the cut-off position and so on.

In Texas Holdem tournaments we must next think of our situation in the tournament itself. To put simply, I mean what is our chip stack in comparison with the average stack and the blinds? The other situation we have to think about is our opponents chip stack in relation to these two variables. If we see that the person on the big blind has a short stack then it means he is going to go all in on many more occasions than he normally would. We have to take these things into consideration; much of this is simply thinking about the game at hand and having common sense. At the same time it can be easy to forget to take notice if you are playing a long session, especially online. When we take a look at our own chip stack you have to realise that now stealing the blinds is vital to our success. We should look very closely at doing this in the best situations because the blinds will be increasing our overall stack size by a larger percent than normal. Once again, think about what situation you are in, and play accordingly.

Stealing Blinds in Cash Games
In cash games I can’t really see any real point in trying to steal the blinds unless you have little money left on the table or you are playing above your bankroll which you shouldn’t be doing any way. One of the few advantages to stealing the blinds in Texas Holdem cash games is to set a table image for yourself. Letting your opponents think that you are willing to sacrifice chips just to steal the blinds and that you are aggressive can be a good ploy but a risky one. I wouldn’t advise doing this too often because there are much better ways to achieve the same thing. The other reason why you attempt to steal the blinds is because you are confident in your post flop play. If your opponent calls you will have position on them and have the ability to out play them after the flop. This will put them in a bad position and one that you can take advantage of them if played right.

Summary
When you decide to steal the blinds in Texas Holdem you have to be smart about it. Be aware of all the stack sizes at the table and pick your spots to steal appropriately. Learn how the players on the blinds play and change your tactics to suit. Make sure that you take advantage of the benefit of the large blinds in the later stages of tournaments but don’t overdo it or you might be caught out. Don’t worry too much about stealing blinds in cash games because they can be of little value to you. Only do so when you have a specific strategy in mind, outside of picking up a few extra dollars.

Tags: Poker Strategy, Stealing Blinds