| |
Giving
or Not Giving a Free Card in Practice
We'll look at two hold 'em hands to see the difference
between a situation where you should bet and another where
you might consider checking.
With two jacks you should bet in an attempt to win the pot
right there, even if you think only a better hand will call.
If you give your opponents a free card (with what would have
been the best hand) and an ace, king, or queen falls on fourth
street, you are clearly in trouble. Thus, you don't want to
give your opponents a free chance to draw one of those cards
to make a higher pair than yours. Even if an ace, king, or
queen doesn't make an opponent a higher pair, your checking
on the flop gives anyone the opportunity to bluff you successfully
if one of those cards falls.
With aces you can give serious consideration to checking on
the flop. Having two aces instead of two jacks has not significantly
affected your chances of having the best hand since we'll
assume that in both cases there has been no reason to think
you are up against two kings or two queens in the hole. With
two aces, however, you are not worried about as many fourth
street cards as you would be with two jacks, and so you might
as well check just in case someone has made three l Os. Assuming
no one has a 10 in the hole, an additional benefit of your
checking your pair of aces is that you have disguised your
hand. Not only do you not fear a king, queen, or ace falling
on fourth street (as you would with a pair of jacks), you
would welcome it, since any of those cards, as well as a jack,
might give an opponent a playable second-best hand.
Of course, you should nearly always bet if you think a worse
hand will call. You should also bet if the pot is large, since
a large pot is worth the risk of running into three 10s in
order to shut out the possibility that a miracle card will
fall for an opponent on the next round. With a large pot it
is also more likely that an opponent will call your bet with
a bad hand like.
Now let's suppose you are in another hold 'em hand. With two
jacks you would once again be more inclined to bet since there
are more free cards that will beat you. But with two kings
in the hole, it might be better to check in case someone has
made a pair of aces. If you do have the best hand, you have
less to lose by giving a free card since fewer cards will
beat you than when you have two jacks.
The basic concept to be emphasized is that you do not want
to give an opponent with a worse hand a free card that might
make his hand better than yours. Therefore, if you expect
to be called, always bet what you think is the best hand unless
you figure it is better to try for a check-raise. Except when
you have reason to slow play, either because the pot is small
or because you have a monster hand, always bet the best hand
even if you don't expect to be called. You gain most when
your opponent folds if there were sufficient pot odds for
a call. However, even when your opponent isn't getting good
enough pot odds to call and figures to fold, you should bet.
You would prefer a call when that opponent is making a mistake
by calling, but making him fold is still better than giving
him a free shot to outdraw you.
|
|
