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.

Tags: Poker Strategy