READING THE FLOP

When you are playing poker, do you look at the flop correctly?

Example: You are 1/65 with 18 making the money. You have 100k and the next largest stack is 68k. Blinds are 2,000/4,000.You are dealt in SB. 68k is BB. Of course you raise and you notice the other player always call any raise to protect their blind. The flop comes three hearts all small. . You are playing in a big game and with a big payout. Now I'm sure you are thinking I have the nut flush draw. True? True. But you also only have one pair. If your raise said "big hand alert", guarantee someone is calling with ATC (any two cards). Now you need to look at the flop and ask what can beat me, if the heart does not come. At this point any random card on the turn should be a scare card, but you got aces right? Right. Just one pair.

Betting after the flop is just as important as preflop. You have to make some decision here for sure. Well the turn is another heart, . Your mind is going Woo Hoo! I got the nutz! But do you? NO! Look at the board again and their are several single cards that now have you dominated. . Reason being if they have either of these cards you cannot win on the river. You have the nut flush and they have the straight flush. You have to be willing to fold any hand other than a royal flush. If you have the lower end of a straight flush, it is possible they have the higher end of the straight flush with one card. Holdem is like that.

Your hand: Ace high flush
Winner: Straight flush

Reading the board is sometimes misleading. Some players like playing gapped cards, suited cards, suited connectors, ATC. So be prepared for what we may see as a bad beat. Trying to get a read on a player in online tourneys is harder than some may think. How can you put a player on a range of hands when they call every raise in any position. Just cross your fingers and hope for the best?

Complaining about the sneaky players is useless. You just have to get sneaky back. Will you check you trips when a flush draw is on the board or will you push all-in with one pair if you feel weekness? This may be a strategy that works for some. If you hesitate when making a decision, you probably need to fold. But it is called gambling and that is part of poker. Bad beats will come and go. I am sure I have given just as many as I have recieved. Keep being patient and the wins will come, along with the loses. Can't win them all, but never stop trying to improve your game. X

I don't know what this post is trying to point out, that i should fold my ace flush on that board b/c if someone pushes all in they've got an 8 or a 3???

"Now you need to look at the flop and ask what can beat me, if the heart does not come"

No you don't, your not drawing to the nut flush as a way to win the hand, your probably miles in front already, infact, putting it in pokerstove, if the big blind is calling with ATC to protect their blind you've got 79% equity on that board against 2 random cards.

You need to be seeing who else is in the pot and working out whether or not you can get someone all in on that flop, overpair with the nut flush draw, you can't be serious when you say you should be worried about the 3 or the 8 of hearts if a 7 comes on the turn there?? If you could fold the ace high flush if a 7 comes on the turn and someone pushes then i salute you b/c it's without a shadow of a doubt, something that i couldn't do

Or maybe this is about pointing out that the 'nut' flush would then be someone holding the 8h, but even if i knew the nut flush was actually the 8h, i'm still stacking with the ace in my hand, every, single, time hehe

The stacks arent even that deep. With 17bb effective its a no brainer I think.
Sometimes you get unlucky, but most of the times you would win, and the opponents equity is really bad.

How funny....

If you're big stack (1st of 65) playing in a big buy-in/payout tourney and you raise AA properly preflop anyone in their right mind is going to muck K8 suited rather than to risk getting KO'd on such a junk hand against the chip leader.

So...where is this article copied from? I'd like to play the writer sometime.

I read your blog 2 or times but I am still not sure about your thinking. Of course the other guy might have a straight flush but the chances of this are much lower than him not having it. It is not unusual for guys to call any raise in the BB but that does not mean they have the cards to fit the flop. You need to play the odds and the odds are heavily in your favour.

I'm not folding there, you can't fold because two cards can beat you. Hell there is way worse situations to be in. The one time someone has the SF will cause you to fold several other winners?