The appropriate timing and decision when to bet or fold in Texas Hold’em depends on many different things. Bet big with strong hands like pocket Aces (31% win rate in 10-player games) and raise from later positions – this will let you have more information to work your bets on. It is a good idea to fold your weak hands like 7-2 off-suit which on average will make you lose more money than eventually win, especially if used as an under-the-gun hand. Find out your pot odds and anticipated value, if the chance of a flush is 35%, then you should call $20 into a $100 pot. Reading the opponent & Board texture also helps; it means a tight player is unlikely to raise you, so fold your hand the same as if you suspected a bluff bet.
Starting Hand Strength
John smirks and says, “I have Aces in my pocket.” In a full 10-player game of No Limit Texas Hold’em, Pocket Aces (AA) are the best starting hand and will win nearly 31% of the time.
Emily looks down at hole cards 7-2 off-suit. “Not a second glance,” she mumbles, folding. The lowest probability of improving, relative to the six cards you have seen (the 7 and a random card on the board) with four cards still to come.
Next in the order of play is Sarah, she looks at her hole cards and sees J-J (Pair). But she thinks, “I got a solid pair; I can push here,” and then sticks the chips out into the pot. Pocket Jacks are a strong-but-vulnerable hand, one that will come in around 20% if your full game.
Mike (with 9h8c) in the small blind. He rubs his chin: “These could get smart,” he says, as pens the raise. Suited connectors can make straights or flushes, and although they do not have many pre-flop equity in most cases, their value comes from the potential to draw strong hands post-flop when played strategically.
Lisa is on the big blind and peeps Hole cards- Aces, Queen. She thinks, “tough but rewarding,” and calls. Ace-Queen off is a powerful hand, but it will always be dominated by AK or one of the stronger pairs. If played in full games it only wins about 18% of the time.
The flop is turned, and suddenly everybody turns their attention to the community cards. John still has his pocket Aces, but he’s hesitant. “Surprises, gotta be ready for them always,” he thinks. Sarah Maddocks has a dry set with pocket Jacks, no longer the nice hand possible, however she’s going to nonetheless be cautious. “Be vigilant, but not intimidated,” she tells herself.
This leaves Mike with a potential straight draw—suit connectors. “Could be any number of things,” he figures out his next step. Lisa’s Ace-Queen off-suit is not working for her on the flop, and now she feels a little more unsure about it. “Gonna have to let this one go,” she wonders.
Position at the Table
Playing position in Texas Hold’em has a big part to play when it comes to whether you should bet or check.
Early Position:
Sarah is under the gun (UTG). She looks at her hole cards to see a King of Diamonds and Ten Spades. She sits there and thinks, “Not the best… but this isn’t the worst.” In early position, she recognizes that she needs to be prudent. She mutters to herself, “So many players left to operate,” and folds.
Middle Position:
Mark looks at his cards in middle position and has Ace-Jack suited. “Hmm, this could work,” he thinks. He decides to bet $15. He can open raise wider in middle position, especially with a hand that has great equity as Ace-Jack suited.
Late Position:
John, directly to the left of the dealer (late position), peeks at his hole cards: 7-6 of clubs. “It would be planted in our heads, ‘Time to get out of here,'” he’d think. On the button, John gets to see how all but a few players act before he has to make any decision. He makes it $20, taking advantage of his position to either steal the blinds or limp in for a relatively cheap flop.
Dealer Button:
Emily is on the dealer button and smiles at her hole cards, which are Ace-Queen off-suit. “Good place to live big,” she thinks. Using her primo location to pressure raises $30,
Small Blind:
Mike has a pair of 7s in the small blind. “Tricky spot,” he muses. He makes the call of $30 behind. This is going to be tough to play as he will always act first in future rounds from the big blind. He knows his pocket pair is strong enough to call, but the hand has drawbacks from OOP.
Big Blind:
Lisa is in the big blind, she looks down and sees 10-9o. “Let’s find out,” she muses. But considering she’s already been forced to pay the big blind, so there is an additional $10 bet waiting for her on David’s signatute. She has a weak draw to the nut hand, but currently, she is getting massive pot odds referring back from where it started.
Your position at the table will factor into every decision each of you makes. Many seasoned players say, “Position is power.” Later positions open the door for more educated decisions, early positions require tighter and conservative play.
Board Texture
The strength of your poker hand can be turned upside down by the community cards.
Flop Analysis:
John looks at his flop: 8h, 9s, and Kd. With King-Queen, he said to himself “top pair decent kicker. I’m in a good spot.” For protection and at the same time extracting value from weaker hands, he bets $20 for his top pair.
Emily, with 7-6 of Hearts, has an open-ended straight draw. She calculates, “5 or 10” She now has the potential for a straight, making her hand strong on this board and decides to call John’s bet since she can hit about 32% of straights by river.
Mike is holding Ace-Jack off-suit; he reluctantly gets to see the flop. “Useless,” he mumbles as his card reads, to the one who helped him decide on folding. No pairs, no draws, & not any real implied odds for Mike, so he knew the right play was to step with his arms up and side it off.
Turn Analysis:
Turn 5 of Spades. Now the board shows 8H-9S-KD-5S
John, confident as ever with his top pair, makes it another $30 to go. He decides to “keep the pressure” but wants no actions from worse hands or draws.
Inside, Emily is smiling as well because she has a runner-runner straight. “Great, I have the nuts,” she thinks. Knowing this, she eventually chooses to flat with her hand and call, hoping for a secure river to get stacks in on.
Since I don’t know the exact cards, all I can say is Lisa feels she has middle pair with 10-9 off-suit. She folds, saying, “Not strong enough against this action.” She knows that a pocket pair is not likely to be the best hand when it gets this nutty pre-flop.
River Analysis:
The river is the 2 of Clubs. The final board is 8h-9s-Kd-5s and the river, as they say in poker terms: a humble deuce of clubs.
John decided to bet $50 at this time, as his top pair and likely best hand wanted value. He wonders, “Who will pay for it?”
Emily leads for $150 with her straight. Thinking – “Time to get paid” – she’s expecting John will call this time, given how cheaply he bet.
John raises to the button and re-raises (by saying “raise”) so John has an opportunity to take a moment with everyone still in hand. “Could she have a straight?” he wonders. His hand strength & realization that this might be a raise if someone would play back at him makes it for him to think twice. He thinks about it for a while, but ultimately lays his hand down as he believes in that spot, he has got to be behind.
Dynamic Board:
Now you have a flop with Ace of Spades, King of Spades, and Jack of Spades. Sarah – Royal flush draw holding (Queen of Spades, Ten of Spades) Let’s break it down: what jungleman could possibly have, she imagines “best draw possible” and bets accordingly to build the pot.
Mark – wired pairs with A-K, has top two pair but is wary of potential flush and straight on the board. “I have to protect my hand,” he thinks, and re-raises Sarah.
Mike has a flush with 9-8 of Spades. He thinks, “Strong but weak versus a higher spade”, and makes the call to see one more card.
Dry Board:
A dry flop, such as 2 of Diamonds, 7 of Clubs, and Queen is usually a relatively boring one.
John has to bet with top pair and Queen-Ten. He has top pair on a dry board, time to get some value he thought.
There are few ways that Emily, with pocket fives, can improve. “Fold, fold,” she declares.
Players can easily decide to bet or fold by understanding the board texture. As the pros say, “Know the board know your odds.”
Opponent Behavior
In Texas Hold’em, the biggest question is whether or not to bet and this all comes down to reading your opponents.
Pre-Flop Behavior:
John watches Emily, who normally plays pretty snug, just made an open raise preflop. She is tight most of the time, then she must be hiding something big. John is holding pocket sevens and decides to just call rather than re-popping, showing respect for her more +ev if he makes another tough situation.
In turn, Sarah has watched Mike play extremely aggressively. He raises a lot to apply pressure. “Maybe he’s trying to bluff his way through,” she thinks and re-raises with her Ace-Queen offsuit to gauge that aggression.
Post-Flop Behavior:
The flop: (Kc) 2d)(9h). This psychs-out Mike, who has already demonstrated an aggressive betting style – he opens the action by pumping up his bets. “You think you can scare us away, huh?” Sarah thinks. She bets as a bluff, sensing that he has something relatively weak. The dream flop may not come, and John releases his pocket sevens. Heavily whispering “No set, no bet,” a common poker adage.
Turn Behavior:
The turn brings a 5c. Mike quickly bets again. Sarah senses something off. “He’s too fast, he’s trying to muscle me,” she thinks. She elects to raise here, putting the pressure back on Mike. Mike hesitates and seems pretty uncomfortable… he calls. “He’s not as tough as he wants me to think,” she thinks.
River Behavior:
The river is the 10 of Clubs. Mike checks, looking to abandon the aggression of two hands before. Sarah registers it as, “Gotcha — he missed his draw or has a weak made hand.” She puts out a confident bet and Mike wishes he folded. “Told you,” and she shrugs as she gathers up the winnings.
Bluffing Patterns:
Mark was a big bluffer and when he missed his draw… On the board 4s5sJdQh he fires a big bullet. Emily (blocking King-Queen) suspects a bluff. “He hit his spades,” she thinks, and makes the call.
Mark checks on the 8 of Hearts river and now Emily is positively certain she’s ahead. “He’s checking,” she says more of the same for value. Mark folds, her read confirmed. He smiles, “She bluffed me out of a monster.”
Tells and Timing:
Lisa sees a tremor in John’s hand as he fires at the flop. From previous contests, she remembers him only doing this when he has a monster. She trusts her read and folds as well with a marginal hand.
It happens that in another of the hands with Emily, Sarah watches as she takes an unusually long time to think before making the call for a large bet. “Oh, shit,” Sarah reasons out “She’s not sure.” Sarah opts to lead again on the turn, wielding her strong hand as she can put Emily drawing and unsure.
Betting Patterns:
When Mike has a strong hand, he tends to bet small and value-y; when he is bluffing, his bets are larger and more aggressive. He continued with the flop trio of 3 Diamonds, 7 Hearts, and Ace Spades for a small bet. Sarah, with Ace-10, senses strength. “He has it,” she concludes, simply calling to control the size of the pot.
Mike is more likely to be bluffing when he overbets the pot on a similar board later. “Man, he’s spewing off,” she discerns as she flat calls with a bluff-catching medium-strength hand and pegs Mike for attempting to represent more than what he has.
Grammar and Body Language:
Emily is a social butterfly on hands, especially at shallow stacks. King of Clubs, Queen of Diamonds, 10 of Hearts, she calls a big bet and is totally quiet in a very rare poker moment. John (Thinking he got the point): “You are not strong as you think”, and here was me assuming something else. “She is on the fence,” he imagines, so recently placing a large bet putting pressure on her now makes Emily fold with an inferior hand.
As the saying goes, “Poker is a people game. The first part of reading an opponent comes from watching their behavior, whether they are betting patterns or physical gestures.”
Pot Odds and Expected Value
Calculating Pot Odds:
Emily: (Flush draw) She has 8-9 of hearts and the flop is 2 Hearts, 6 Hearts, King Diamonds. Mike makes it $20 into an $80 pot. Emily angles the pot odds.
“Fine, it was checked to me in a $100 pot and I have only got to call 20,” she contemplates. She’s doing this to find out her pot odds, the amount she needs to call divided by the total in there after shoving into a short stack. “$20 to call into a pot that is $120, including her call. Odds 1:6,” she works out as the hand history plays for thousands around the world who cannot believe what they are seeing with their own eyes and hear using their very own ears or read within four lines by James Guill “Pre-flop action-. Emily now has a flush draw and expects to make her hand about 59% of the time (leaving out any raises unfavorably)- She is getting better pot odds, so she decides this favorable wrt rates and calls.
Expected Value (EV):
It gives players an idea of whether or not a certain act will be profitable to take over the long term. Take John, who is about to call 50 bucks on the river. If he calls, $200 more to pot ($250 total).
John has a hand like Tens and is going to expect to win the pot about 40% of the time.
“I should call $50 to win potentially 0.40*$250=$100, so my I am losing -$50 this but the overall EV calculation is $100 -$30, for a total of +EV :+70$. As he cocks it and points at the sky for luck, “A good call in a life-long run,” he decides to push.
Pot Odds and Draws:
Mark opened on an up-and-down straight draw with 7-8 of spades. The flop is 9cTd2s. Sarah fires $40 into a pot of $60.
Mark just got finished calculating his pot odds. He wonders, “I have to pay $40 for do not understand – hundreds of Dollars.” That means pot odds of 1 to 2.5 (or 28.57%). With a 31.5% chance to hit his straight by the turn or river, and favorable pot odds he makes that call.
Implied Odds:
For example, pot odds are sometimes not enough and you also need to take into account the implied odds or future bets. Example: Lisa [6h_9d] flush draw with the pot $50 John bets $20. Even though the pot odds in this scenario are not quite there, Lisa thinks that when she does hit her flush on the turn or river later in hand, she will win more value.
An inner monologue ticks for her attention, “I’m not out here to play just this pot. I COULD WIN ANOTHER $40 OR MORE IF I HIT again.” Taking these implied odds into account, Lisa calls the bet of $20.
Reverse Implied Odds:
However, Reverse Implied Odds thinks about the money that you can lose if such a hand hits its draw but does not have a better get ranked. This is a situation that Emily runs into while she has Ace of Hearts and Jack of Hearts on the board reading King of Farts Queen Bright with 3 Diamonds. Mark then bets very strongly and Emily thinks he has either a straight or set.
She knows: “If I get my flush and he has a full house — am fried.” Realizing the capacity for expensive second-best hands, she folds and steers clear of an EV- situation.
Using Pot Odds in Combination with Reads:
Top Pair – The best available pair on the board, Three of a Kind or Better if possibleGutshot Straight Draw (4 outs). The term gut-shot originates from when you would only be drawing to make your hand with intermediate cards. E.g. 5-6 in this example…isNaN Bob bets $200. Mike has? Needing a [7] to complete his straight… The pot is $40 and Sarah now bets out for a measly $10. Mike has 1:5 pot odds, which means he would hit his straight on the river about one out of six times or roughly a 16.5 percent chance to complete it in time.
“Long-shot at best, but prima facie Sarah’s getting the draw,” Mike murmurs. Based on his read that Sarah might fold to a future raise if the right card hits, Mike opts for making some kind of call.
“Maths and psychology,” Mike mutters. “That’s poker.”