Any beginning poker player can figure out that the flop is an extremely pivotal part of a hand. Most players won’t even make it to the flop after mucking their poor hands while those who remain have tons of decision to make.
Sometimes a person will get lucky and already have a made hand here while the large majority of players are looking at drawing hands or hoping to hold onto the advantage they have. But no matter what you’re looking for, you simply cannot fall in love with a flop.
For instance, let’s say you were able to limp into a pot with Ks-Qh and see the flop for cheap. The flop comes up Kd-9s-4d which means you’ve seemingly got the advantage at this point with top pair. And by having top pair, it would certainly make sense to throw out at least a pot-sized raise so you can push other players out of the hand who will be looking for that flush draw. But what if your raise doesn’t push everyone out of the hand and one person is willing to call?
You are still in good shape with what seems to be top pair on a raggedy board which is only saved by the flush draw chance. If the turn comes up 6h then you’re still looking good because that possible flush hasn’t landed and there is no potential for a straight either. The only chance the person has you beat is if they’re holding some kind of set which does actually happen on these boards – especially when dealing with the big blind! So another raise should be in order so you can get the other player to pay for the river or fold.
But if the person stays and the river brings up a 10d then you’ve really got some issues to deal with since they could have a flush or even the aforementioned set. This is when many players will make a raise or call anything their opponent throws at them because they fell in love with the flop.
Sometimes a person will get away with falling in love with the flop while other times it will really burn them The key is knowing your opponents at the table as well as knowing when to get out of a hand even if you hit the flop.
Tags: Betting, News, Poker Hands
