Wild card.
Everyone has seen this at some point in their lives. You are folding, you have not seen any cards for ages and an Ace on the flop beats you practically every time. At least that’s how it seems, anyway. There are in fact some people who claim that it’s impossible to have the same flop twice in a row. Except, you know, for some crazy people.
Look, the number of hands that you see is fairly small in comparison to the number of millions of hands that are being played in every game. Still, it’s possible to have a fair probability of it happening. And if you’re playing online it’s even trickier because you can’t see the cards. Still, some very unlikely circumstances can happen and you might get a James Bond- trembling hand when your Royal Flush comes, so you should be prepared.
An Overpair.
What’s that? An overpair is when you have a pair and one of the pairs is higher than the other two. Like AK vs AQ. Or QQ vs 22. Have you? I know I have! Going overpair is one of the pitfalls of Texas Holdem that is really quite easy to fall into.
My advice is to never do it. If you have QQ and the flop is Qh-3h-2h, if you have the flush draw improve to at least an overpair to guarantee at least some money if not the whole pot, if nothing else.
Overpairs come in a variety of forms. Sometimes you get low overpairs that aren’t worth much, like 2h3h4s5h. More often you’ll get trips that are very nice, like 8h9hTc. Any hand with two neighbors, even if it is the lowest, usually will at least make you have a chance to win. Better, even! So just say you have a hand of QQ. Don’t be so slow to throw away a top pair, especially if there is a flush draw as well. Everyone knows how to look for a straight, but not everyone knows when to stop.
Another trap is a low overpair. Here, you’ll probably really enjoy the hand since you might catch a third one. But if you’re playing for the low, there’s a good chance you’ll loose it eventually. Now you have to be careful, only call an all-in if you’re nearly sure you have the best. Even that overpair can be tricky, if the person in front of you is a nut, or you have a read on them.
It’s easy to fall into a pattern, to get comfortable with your decisions. But what you have to remember is that decision A has the same value as decision B, if both you and the person in front of you decide to call. So this should not be the sole basis of your decision, you should also consider that the odds of the game might change. Consider that a bluffing hand might not work, and slowplaying might backfire. Also when you’re sure you have the best hand, try and get betting. Only slowplay if you’re sure, but at least it’s guaranteed money.
Switching Gears
You’ve read Texas Holdem is all about shifting gears. You should try and do the opposite of what your comfortable doing. If you are tight, play loose. If you are loose, play tight. Tight and loose are usually the only two possible slots in a 9 or 10 handed game, so that’s what you should pay attention to. When you play tight, there should be no question of going all-in, the betting will occur. When you play loose, they will call you without fear.
If you know a person is conservative and maybe doesn’t play a hand very often, they may be betting with something like high to low. It could be anything from low cards, like Keluaran Togel Hk, to high cards like K J. If the cards are not terrible, they will at least consider a punt.
Even if they only play cards that are in the middle, they’re probably sitting there waiting for a high card. With hands like these, a high card means a lot of money could be in the pot. If the flop doesn’t come, and you have some control on the betting, that’s a good outcome. The idea is to gamble if you have some control on the betting. If you don’t, you might as well call it a night.
There are different strategies to be used with aggressive and passive play. Start out carefully and realize that passive is a disadvantage and almost a waste of time.